Summer…. At Last?

After weeks of grey skies and occasion (sometimes heavy) rain it looks like the weather has finally turned a corner. Today we had wall to wall blue skies (my favourite) with occasional fluffy clouds and rising temperatures (high of 64 degrees). One other thing that will be rising – apart from hemlines – is the pollen count. Fortunately that’s not as big a problem as it used to be. In my late 20’s to late 30’s I really dreaded the summer months. Essentially for 3-4 months I had a heavy cold complete with temperature, headaches, sore throat and constant running nose – and this was despite being on daily anti-histamines. It was no fun at all. The only real relief I had was being in an air-conditioned building. Not only was it a lot cooler but the air tended to be filtered.

It all started in my mid-20’s as I was due to leave University (the doctor blamed stress) and I tried the first over the counter medication I could find which proved to be of limited use. After much trial and error (and some helpful advice from a friend) I settled on a drug that helped me get through the day – not perfect but at least I could function (after a fashion). I did try everything to limit the symptoms especially at home. I didn’t go out much in the summer – ending up even pastier than usual – and has several air filters running all day whilst I was at work. Again they helped after a fashion. I supposed that this was just my life now. It was pretty miserable though. I’m quite fond of breathing – especially through my nose – which I found difficult throughout both the summer and the winter. Bummer!

Then, after only 15 years or so things began (slowly) to ease off. It was something I hardly noticed at first just thinking that my luck had changed and the pollen count just happened to be lower that day, that week or that summer. After about 20 years or so I stopped taking medication ahead of the summer months in order to build up some immunity. Whenever I felt my eyes starting to burn or the sniffles start I’d pop a pill and see the symptoms ease off. Sometimes I’d take a daily pill a few days in a row but overall I wasn’t popping pills anywhere as regularly as I had been. So around 30 years after I was regularly floored by the pollen (after pretty much ignoring it through my entire childhood and teenage years!) count I started to largely ignore it.

These days – indeed at this very moment – I can feel a mild irritation at the top of my nasal cavity and my eyes are burning a bit but it’s hardly a bother. At the beginning of this pollen filled journey I’d be blowing my nose every few minutes and feeling like death around now. I think it’s equally weird how my immune system has now started ((largely) to ignore pollen as it was weird when my system – for reasons unknown – went into overdrive whenever trees started feeling sexy. Most hay fever sufferers (so I understand) are allergic to either tree pollen or grass pollen. Some unlucky bastards are allergic to both. With me it’s always been tree pollen. So I get my symptoms early in the summer. Weirdly (again) on holiday with my ex in Portugal about this time of year (and fully expecting to suffer) I had zero symptoms the whole time being away. I can only guess that the trees spraying everywhere where different enough that my immune system ignored them. Of course as soon as we got home my nose immediately started running away with itself.

So I’m lucky in several ways. It looks like my strongly adverse reaction to tree pollen isn’t coming back any time soon and is, in fact, continuing to ease off and my strong immune response is pollen related only. I know several people with severe food allergies which I would be horrified to have – nuts, dairy, wheat – so I thank my DNA every day that I haven’t been visited by that particular (occasionally fatal) nuisance. But I am so grateful that 30 years of sneezing is about the end of it. Phew.