Have I told you about my seasonal allergies yet this year? Uh Mah Gawd they are bad! I didn’t develop seasonal allergies until I was an adult, but springtime and sometimes even early winter (at least in the Midwest) leave me sneezing, itching, coughing, blowing my nose and wishing there was no such thing as pollen.
 

When we lived in Missouri I could treat it fine with over-the-counter medications, but there came a point when Claritin and Vick’s nose spray weren’t cutting it anymore, so I saw my doctor about getting a prescription. Such relief!
 

But when we moved to the desert things changed. Claritin became too drying for me and I stopped taking it – though pretty hesitantly – so my head didn’t feel like a sandbox. For two summers I managed to deal with allergies on my own. But this spring was something else. I tried (probably for too long) to deal with the allergies with OTC meds hoping that it wouldn’t last too long but I finally realized that even if it was only for another month that getting a prescription allergy medicine was in my best interest.
 

My primary care physician prescribed Flonase but when I went to get it filled the pharmacist said it was on manufacturer’s back order for nearly two months! Well, that explains it, I thought. Everyone in the country is getting their ass handed to them by allergies this year. So Dr. D called in something else and I had relief almost immediately. Within two days I wasn’t itching or coughing or sneezing at all.
 

I developed one of the side effects, though: bloody nose. It’s not bad really, it’s generally just some extra crusties in my nose in the morning and often when I blow my nose there’s some blood on the tissue. The Mr. asked why I didn’t stop taking it and I told him I’d rather deal with a little bloody nose than the problems that come with not taking the medicine.
 

But last night around 12:30 a.m. I woke up feeling like my nose was running when it was actually bleeding so bad that it stained the sheets! Of course, this was the middle of the night so I’m foggy on a lot of this, but I remember seeing blood on my hands, seeing giant drops of blood on the sheets near my pillow and using a ton of tissues to get the bleeding to stop. I think I even tried to fall asleep with a tissue stuck in my nose. Yeah, I’m classy like that.
 

Had I been awake and doing something I would have understood the bloody nose, but sleeping? I don’t get it. Anyway, it’s no big deal. But yes I’ll be calling Dr. D today just to make sure I shouldn’t switch to something else.