Here's how the doctor put it to me, two years ago:
There's a kind of cell in the nose that warns the body that something is wrong.
Suppose your nose was Portugal, and that two Tallibans crossed the border.
In a regular country, a police car with two cops could probably be sent to the location, to talk to them, just to check on their intentions...
But your nose... your nose would send all of the police, the army, the navy, the air force and a bunch of farmers with pikes.
You have too many of those cells.
Story doesn't end here, though.
The doctor gave me something I could inhale through my nose, at night. It's something that kills those cells.
The plan was to have me doing it two times for each nostril each night (that's 14 times perl nostril a week).
After about a month, when it was proved that my nose reacted to that thing, I started taking less of it. He told me to take just what was needed, and that I'd have to "guess" that quantity, by experimenting.
Too much of that stuff makes your nose bleed, and it also counfounds your smelling.
14 times per nostril perl week.
I am now at less than 1, and my nose still bleeds from time to time...
You can probably imagine what I went throught in that first month :-)
OTOH... maybe you can't...
Maybe you can't imagine the chunks of coagulated blood accumulated during the night, or the odd smell that one day made me believe there was no oxygen left in the appartment when I wake up...
Anyway, things are better now, because those side-effects are *nothing* compared to the effects of my allergies, which just... can't be described :-)
Re:uhm?
cog on 2005-06-06T14:28:27
On purpose, just to see if people would notice it:-) And you were the first perlson to see it O:-)
I recommend you look into receiving Enzyme Potentiated Desensitization treatment. It originated in England, but is available in some other countries. In the U.S., the alternative is called Low-Dose Allergens.
Re:EPD/LDA
cog on 2005-06-06T14:52:10
I assume that's the other option the doctor also told me about...He said it was either the inhalor for the rest of my life or some expensive shot treatment for a short period.
First hand experience?
:-) Oh, BTW, my condition is, apparently, hereditary.
Re:EPD/LDA
jdavidb on 2005-06-06T20:03:15
Allergies are definitely often hereditary.
EPD/LDA is probably something your doctor didn't tell you about. You might need to go casting about on the Internet for a doctor who can provide it.
There are the standard allergy shots which are allegedly for a "limited" period, but in my experience tend to go on indefinitely. EPD/LDA is somewhat similar, but the injections are different and contain less allergen and more of some kind of enzyme. The treatment is every two months for a year, and then every six months after that, with a possibility of stopping at some point with symptoms either greatly reduced or gone.
