If anything in this world sucks, it's allergy season.
Yes, spring is beautiful. It starts to warm up again, flowers go into bloom, and summer is just around the corner.
That's all fine and dandy if you (1) don't have allergies and (2) don't have allergies when you live in Northern California's Central Valley. Unfortunately I check both 1 and 2.
I live in an agriculture centered town, which means my allergies go berserk once the cherry trees bloom. They hit an all time high when the walnut trees get shaken and all that dust/pollen/excess is floating aimlessly through the air.
This equates to a stuffed up and still, somehow, runny nose paired with itchy, puffy, watery eyes. And the sneezes to match.
Allergy medicine really doesn't work for me, so I avoid it all together and suffer through the season. But if I do succumb to allergy medication, it makes me groggy as all get out.
I then have to try and beat the sleepiness with coffee. I avoid getting anything too crazy (e.g. a lot of espresso or any espresso really) just because my body is already all over the place this time of year and I really don't need to coax my anxiety any more than I already naturally do.
A word to the wise: Don't drink (or eat) dairy products when you have congestion or just feel mucus filled. It makes it worse for a good few people. Worse to the point that the mucus becomes thicker and thus more irritating.
Though I have recently read a lot of discussion opposing the fact that dairy can have this effect on people, I personally become phlegmier if I am already congested and ingest dairy. However, this may not be the case for everyone.
Drink/eat dairy at your own risk, but I would avoid the trouble.
I wouldn't exactly say that allergies themselves cause anxiety, but I will say that the trouble breathing and all around nasty feeling that accompanies allergies definitely can.
I'm not sure if you have ever gone into a frenzy filled panic attack over being too short of breath for too long, but I have and it's not the business. This last instance did not happen from allergies thankfully. Instead it happened from getting a serious case of the hiccups (I'm not sure which situation would be more embarrassing of the two honestly).
Needless to say, the upper respiratory struggles can lead you down a road you don't want to go with your anxiety. So just stay calm and remember that spring is still as pretty as everyone else says...
You just can't see it through your itchy, puffy, watery eyes or smell it through your stuffed up and still, somehow, runny nose.
