High Maintenance Mom

I don't remember having allergies as a child. My first memory of difficulty breathing occurred in graduate school as I ran into the water for my first sprint triathlon. My chest started to constrict and it was terrifying. I tried to move forward without putting my head in the water and somehow completed the short swim, bike, and run -- it was one of those learn to do a triathlons where people who couldn't swim at all wore red swim caps so I felt like I was in good company. When I mentioned it to a doctor, I was told that I had exercise and allergy induced asthma. I was prescribed an inhaler and allergy medications.

By the end of my graduate studies, which involved crushing rocks and inhaling dust, I used allergy medications (sprays and pills) regularly. I managed to survive on only the inhalers and nasal sprays during my first pregnancy but started to get chronic sinus infections when our oldest entered daycare at four months -- I didn't realize how sick I could get from being around young children. So, I added zyrtec to my allergy cocktail for the second pregnancy. When the sinus infections returned, I switched to clarinex. Within a few weeks my sinuses were clear. I called it the miracle drug. When I went to refill my prescription, I was told my insurance no longer coversed it. Just like that. I called the insurance company and they verified their lack of coverage. They also verified that there was little I could do. I was given an address for sending a written claim, which brought scenes from Monty Python movies to mind...

My husband must have felt very sorry for me because he crawled under one of the foundations of the house (for less than 1500 ft^2 we get three separate foundations), and covered the ground in what was described as the largest garbage bag available. I think his comment was, "Happy Mother's Day, I bought you two of the largest garbage bags available". I can't complain too much because I'm feeling better. It turns out that our hypothesis that the heating vent was drawing moldy air into the house might be true. We'd known something was up when the house smelled like mold every winter during the rains. We also hypothesize that our house is some sort of religious attraction for the area's slug population but I'm not sure I would want to verify that one.

Since the plastic was such a success, we bought a Dyson vacuum cleaner with a lifetime HEPA air-filter. It was magical evening as we watched the cyclone of dust spin in the chamber. I vacuumed our son's rug three times, pulling out years of dust. We are now huge Dyson fans and highly recommend one to anyone who is suffering from dust allergies. I'm hoping that with the changes we've made, one of the more common allergy medications might start work again.