Allergy whodunit (or, should I say, whatdunit)

[Trillium]

This actually happened to me last week, although it's written in story-style. Hope you all like it.

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You all know about pollen allergy seasons, tree in spring, grass in summer, weed in fall. But you may not know that there is also a winter allergy season, aka the indoor allergy season. Yup, for some like me there are just no escaping allergies. We lucky ones get to sneeze year-round. How fun is that?

One of the big causes of indoor allergies are dust mites. Now, mites are little microscope creatures, cousins to spiders and ticks, that live in -- yes, you guessed it -- dust. They particularly like mattresses, pillows, down comforters and clothing. Particularly wool clothing, in case you were interested. There they eat human skin scales , breed, and, most importantly for this obs, poop. Yes, it's true, humans allergic to dust mites are actually allergic to dust mite POOP. And I'm terribly allergic to it.

[For those of you still reading, you're thinking -- WHERE THE HECK'S THE OBS? Ok, ok, already, I was setting the scene, providing the back story, educating you . . . . .ok already, I'll start the obs, don't hit me! ]

Last week here the weather turned colder, meaning that I broke out my winter wardrobe. Now as a professional, my office "uniform" is wool trousers, some kind of sweater, and a wool blazer. [You can see where this is going, right?] But as a relatively newly allergic person, I don't always think about the likely consequences of what I'm doing.

So last Monday I go to my clothing storage closet, where all my wool blazers have been hanging since the end of spring, pick one out to wear, and bring it over to my bedroom. I don't yet put it on, because I have to do the whole gal thing, mousse my hair, dry my hair, curl my hair, hairspray my hair, put on my makeup, pluck my eyebrows a little bit [which doesn't make me sneeze, BTW], yada yada yada. So FINALLY I'm all set to go -- and I put on the wool blazer, shrugging it a little to fit over my turtleneck, fluffing up the collar a little. [At last we're at the good part, aren't you excited?]

Within seconds a couple of things start to happen. First, my eyes start to tear up and my nose starts to run. Well, ok, this happens to me a lot, so back into the bathroom for a couple of tissues to stem the floods. Then of course I start to sniffle, which also happens a lot. Now annoyed, I walk downstairs to the kitchen and, BOOM! start to sneeze. HuhISSSHHHHooo, HuhISSHHHooo, HuhISHHHHooo. What the heck is going on now?, I think, and sneeze some more. HuhISSHHHooo a couple more times. Boy, does my nose tickle. *Sniffle* What on earth is making me have an allergy attack?, I think. I mentally run down the list of all I'm allergic to [see my profile], and nothing makes sense here. Unfortunately, my makeup is now ruined from my teary eyes, but it's too late to redo it, and I'm already way late for work. Hopefully people will think I've been to an early funeral, and feel sorry for me as well as cut me some slack for being late.

In the car on the way to work, my nose itches furiously, and I'm hoping I don't look like Rudolph from rubbing it constantly. I KNOW my car is dusty and desperately needs vacuuming, but this is totally ridiculous.

At work, allergy attack #2 arrives with yet more itchiness and sneezes. HuhISSSHHHHooo, HuhISSHHHooo, HuhISHHHHooo, *sniffle* and so forth, every 30 seconds or so. I try to be quiet, given that I'm in a mere cubicle in a large cubicle-farm, but these sneezes are uncontrollable and rather high-volume. If I stifle them, I'll blow my eyeballs out. Will you STOP it now?! someone shouts, and I can't help but ruefully laugh a little, since the ruckus I'm creating IS rather amusing. I walk to the restroom with a wad of tissues to blow my nose, but before I do, I take off my wool blazer and carefully hang it up, since all that sneezing has made me rather warm. [in both senses of the word, if you catch my drift. In German, the word "heiss" would be most appropriate, I think.]

Back at my desk, I feel a bit better and the sneezes have died off for now, but I'm left with a killer sinus headache and a bad case of the sniffles, plus coughing, of course. Ugh. Tylenol time. A couple of hours later, I'm still blazer-less and feel a whole lot better. I'm not even sniffling anymore. I'm still puzzled, though, at what set me off. Ah, the mystery of allergy.

Finally it's time to go home for the day. Put on my wool blazer, put on my jacket, pick up my purse, walk the 1/4 mile to the parking lot. Car, house, take off my jacket, and -- sneeze some more. Third attack of the day, how exhausting, this time not quite as intense. I establish a rhythm -- sneeze, sniffle, sneeze, sniffle. Go upstairs, my nose impossibly tickly, sniffling, feeling like I'm constantly on the edge of a sneeze, it's right there, it's almost, it's . . . . HuhISSSHHHoo one last time. (Sigh) Take off the wool blazer.

****** [A brief hiatus while the narrator recovers from this ordeal. Talk amongst yourselves.] ***********

Later that evening, surfing the Net, doing my detective work to determine what has made me sneeze all day. Can't be pollen -- wrong seasons. Can't be dogs, I don't think, no canines around here anywhere. Mold? Well, maybe in my bathroom, but in my car? in my office? Unlikely, I think. Dust? Possible, but doubtful. Surf some more. Read some incredibly boring medical stuff [sorry, Nicole!] and some too-basic consumer stuff. Read some medical studies on PubMed. Yawn. Sherlock I'm not, I suppose. Then, the following fact leaps off the screen at me:

"Wool clothing harbors 10 times the dust mite allergen of cotton clothing."

The mystery solved at last. *Sniffle*

[Shay]

Great obs, thanks for sharing.

[Honkytonklagoon]

That was a wonderful retelling. And now you know what fiber to turn to if you ever want to bring on a sneezing fit.

The shores of Lake Michigan, you say? My favorite lake.

[Trillium]

Great obs, thanks for sharing.

Glad you liked it.

(BTW, sorry for the few errors of grammar that I spotted after I posted it. Once it's posted, there's no way to go back and correct it.)

That was a wonderful retelling. And now you know what fiber to turn to if you ever want to bring on a sneezing fit.

The shores of Lake Michigan, you say? My favorite lake.

Thanks, Joel -- that's high praise from a professional writer. I usually write long, boring, dry legal stuff . . . . need a contract, anyone? ZZZZZZZZZ

I'm a great person on a Great Lake, don'tcha know?

Sorry about the screwed up posts, everyone. Obviously I do not yet have this posting stuff down pat. Call me a Luddite.

[Shay]

Well once you're validated you have the option to edit your post for a limited amount of time. Not sure how long you have to edit though.

[r]

It is a wonderfully-told observation. Thanks very much. Reading it was a great way to start the week.

r.

[Trillium]

It is a wonderfully-told observation. Thanks very much. Reading it was a great way to start the week.

r.

Gee, thanks. Glad you liked it. This scenario may be occuring more regularly now that winter's approaching.

[Dawnie]

Great obs, thanks for sharing.

That was a terrific obs and very well told. I loved it. Many blesses to you for your fits.

[Trillium]

Great obs, thanks for sharing.

That was a terrific obs and very well told. I loved it. Many blesses to you for your fits.

Thanks, Dawnie! Glad you appreciated it.

[Lady Tori]

Great obs! I loved it Thank you for sharing!

[c_strawberrydiamond]

Very cute indeed, Trillium! And ya know, I was thinking that it may have been the wool all along! *shrugs*

[Trillium]

Very cute indeed, Trillium! And ya know, I was thinking that it may have been the wool all along! *shrugs*

My dear, then I'm sure you're a MUCH better detective than I was. Call me Mrs. Oblivious to the Obvious. Glad you liked it.

[Lalena]

I really enjoyed this obs ... Thanks so much for sharing it!

And I know you're not really that new anymore, but I have yet to say welcome to the forum!

[Trillium]

I really enjoyed this obs ... Thanks so much for sharing it!

And I know you're not really that new anymore, but I have yet to say welcome to the forum!

Oh, thanks, Lalena, glad you liked it. And thanks for the welcome, I appreciate it. I'll still be new for awhile, yet, I think, until I figure out who's who, what's what, and what all the forum rules are.