As my scratchy throat became coughing fits and a severely runny nose over the past 2 weeks, I ran my hilly 4-miler with Kleenex in my pocket (which I ran out of and had to ration, telling myself, “I’m not going to use the next one until the 2 mile point; I’m not gonna use the last one until I only have less than 1.5 miles left to go”), hit the gym every lunchtime carrying a portable Kleenex pack with my workout towel, and on Wednesday (Cesar Chavez holiday), went with Claudio to the boxing gym. My mom and Mr. W diagnosed me with allergies and it seems like everyone around is complaining of allergies right now, thanks to SoCal’s infamous Santa Ana Winds and extra pollen due to recent rainfalls. Mr. W insisted I take some of his Clarinex, which is supposed to be side-effect-free. It painfully dried my sinuses up while oddly not clearing my running nose and post-nasal drip (which causes me to cough), and it gave me medicine-head, so the next day, I tried something different that other allergy victim friends suggested, Zyrtec-D. Zyrtec-D was much better in that it did reduce the amount of mucus production (hence coughing) with virtually no side-effects, and I took it for 2 days in a row, altho it didn’t ever stop all the symptoms. I took nothing Thursday (yesterday), and the hacking and nose-blowing was not only severe, but I noticed the mucus was not blowing out well and was thick and sticky, which is what it was like the time I had a severe sinus infection. With the pushing of a coworker, I made an appointment at Kaiser for that evening.

It quickly became apparent to my doctor that I do not have seasonal allergies (which makes sense because I don’t normally get allergies).
“Are you experiencing itchy nose?”
“No.”
“Are you sneezing a lot?”
“I think I’ve sneezed like twice since this whole thing started 2 weeks ago.”
“Do you have watery eyes?”
“No.”
He checked my inner ears, up my nose, down my throat (he said I have post-nasal drip while looking in my throat. What does post-nasal drip look like, anyway?) Apparently I had a cold that developed into a sinus infection. He told me to stop taking allergy meds right away, and take no antihistamines. Apparently, when my snot is full of germs (as opposed to harmless pollen), and I take an antihistamine to dehydrate me, it makes the mucus thicker so that it can’t be easily purged out of my system. So all the bad stuff sits around in my sinuses and creates a complication, i.e. the sinus infection. Damn. I probably could’ve kicked the cold sooner if I hadn’t taken Clarinex and Zyrtec-D.

I took the day off work today. When I called in, my supervisor said there must be some virus or bacteria or something going around because I’m the sixth person out with a sinus infection. I wonder if whomever gave me my sickness thought that he/she was only having non-contagious allergies, too. I’m now on a 10-day course of antibiotics and pretty strong cough medication that my doctor advised me to only take before bedtime, as it would make me drowsy. The pharmacist told me while he dispensed my prescriptions that I should stay out of the sun because it could make me sun-sensitive, and I shouldn’t take multi-vitamins or drink alcohol. Good thing I’ve got a month before vacation. I’m not gonna refrain from sun or alcohol in Tahiti. The multi-vitamin is trickier. I need to take it because it helps me recover from muscle soreness faster and I am SO INCREDIBLY SORE from gymming and boxing. The pharmacist thought it’d be okay if I took the vitamin 3 hours apart from the antibiotics, so I’m gonna have vitamins with my lunch. I’m 3 pounds from goal!