aqua fortis

Tuesday, March 28, 2006

Going Out with a Whimper

The beginning of the end of my twenties was ushered in with yet another head cold, which is why you've heard nothing for several days. Friday, my actual birthday, was a pretty darn good day, until about 8 p.m. when my body decided to fall apart for a while. I'd had a sore throat for a couple of days, but figured it was probably just allergies. I was wrong.

Along with the cold came a renewed bout of my renewed bout (yes, you read that correctly) with hives. A couple of weeks ago, I was crushed and outraged to find that they had started to come back, a result no doubt of allergies combined with extreme stress. For those unaware, about three years ago I had a six-month bout with chronic hives. No apparent allergy, no single discernible cause. I spent months trying different combinations of prescription antihistamines, getting occasional shots for random face swelling, and finally ended up taking 10 days of Prednisone, a steroid. Whee. That's the short version of the story.

Anyway, the hives came back a few weeks ago, several days after I had gotten over a cold (a different one) and had suffered a few hay-fever-related coughing fits. I went back to the doctor, got some more crazy loopy-pills, and started meditating again. The hives started to go away after about a week and a half, but then I caught this latest cold (or relapsed) and back they came with a vengeance. I spent Sunday in the house, refusing to go out because my eyes and lips were swollen and freakish-looking.

Aside from that, though, I had a good birthday. I received the following cool items: an iPod Shuffle (AWESOME), some China-related books for our upcoming trip, the latest Harry Potter DVD, the first season of Home Movies on DVD, and a 1.5-year-old laptop kicked down from my mom, who got a new one from work. We went out to dinner with my mom, who was up visiting, and generally speaking, vegetated. I had no choice about this, of course, what with the being sick and all. So anyway, if you haven't heard anything useful or productive from me in days, that's why; though, in my defense, I also have a Mon-Wed job now, too.

4 comments:

tanita✿davis said...

Oh, UGH, hives!? I would be on all kinds of narcotics if mine ever flared up for more than ten minute episodes. Why, oh, why is the cure almost always worse than the cause with allergies? It's very likely drug-related. I'm SO sorry you had to go through that. What a way to suck the fun out of a birthday. The meditating thing helps, though, huh? Very cool - hadn't thought of that as an option (even though mine are very obviously stress-related). Good for your doctor for actually suggesting alternate therapies.

I haven't yet seen the latest Potter epic, so you'll have to let me know if it's worth it.

Anonymous said...

Yuck - feel your pain. Been there with the hives. Nasty critters. Hope you get over that one soon.

And Happy Birthday!

Anonymous said...

Happy belated birthday! So sorry to hear you were under the weather. To look on the bright side, you probably won't spend the rest of your 29th year with a head cold and hives. Maybe one or the other, but definitely not both, not all year long. Sorry, I'm not very good at cheering people up, am I??

MeiMeiLn said...

Bummer about the hives. Can definitely relate. I had them for nine months and then they just disappeared. Enjoy your last year of the twenties and hope you get better soon! :)