boyfriend sneezes, mostly stifles (m)

[marip0sa]

In the spirit of another road trip scheduled for tomorrow, I thought I'd post some obs from late October that I had written but never shared here! My boyfriend and I went on an impromptu road trip together down to my hometown, which I saw an article posted the other day saying it had been recently recognised as the allergy capital of the country (!!!). For a visual, he's 6'1, beautiful light green eyes, olive skin, dark brown beard and he shaves his head. He's quite built too, which makes these shy stifles literally the best thing ever.

So, the day before he was already seeming a little sniffly. We were on our way to the farmer's market and when we got in the car I looked over and actually saw him inhale sharply and his little nostrils flared open and momentarily turned pink before he snapped forward towards the steering wheel with a wet stifle, no hands. He then sniffled and excused himself. I thought I loved his sneezes already just feeling them through his body and hearing them but seeing his beautiful straight nose crinkle up was amazing. Later that morning we were sitting on the sofa together and he was massaging my feet when he inhaled again and let go of my foot to bring a fist up to his nose and stifled a wet-sounding sneeze. Then instead of excusing himself he said “Bless me”, and gave me this look like I should be blessing him and I kind of just raised my eyebrows at him. I was going to say something but just left it, I felt like it would sound too weird because I've probably heard him sneeze over a hundred times now and never said anything. Afterwards we went down to the beach for a walk and he started rubbing his nose a lot, I saw the forecast said higher winds in the afternoon and about a minute after I noticed him rubbing his nose he stifled a “Heh-nnggggch!” as we were walking, and excused himself.  About 30 minutes later he stifled another sneeze, kind of out of nowhere, and quickly excused himself.

Okay so the now the road trip!  The first sneeze of the day was the usual stifle about half an hour after we left, he was holding my hand as he normally does when we're in the car together but let go of my hand to stifle the sneeze and then excused himself.  He sneezed again just after we left the service station, and I noticed it sounded a little more wet. 2 sneezes before 8:30am, how lucky was I??! Then I took over driving and he dozed off. When he woke up a bit later he seemed a bit sniffly and within minutes he stifled a sneeze, almost yelling the inhale as he bent into his fist. A few hours later there was another one, even louder than the first and I jumped a bit and he was like “What?” and I just said “So loud!” and he was like “Next time I’ll tell my body to be quieter when I sneeze.” 

Several hours later when we were getting closer to our destination he suddenly pitched forward with another big stifle. Then he said “Ahh bloody hell, looks like my hayfever is back.” Then I said “As soon as we get here?” and he responded with “No, I’ve been sneezing quite a bit at home.” Ahhh so adorable!  Later when we were watching a movie on the sofa at my sister’s house he stifled a wet sneeze into his arm.

 

Two days later, was honestly one of the best obs days of my life. We stayed the night in the city and I'd left the aircon on all night in the hotel and he woke up at 5am super sniffly. He kept moaning “My nose is so stuffy” and got up a few times to get a roll of toilet paper so he could keep blowing his nose. I knew the forecast was super windy today but nothing prepared me for the day, seriously.

 

The first sneeze of the day was a stifle as soon as I got back in the car after putting fuel in. He excused himself rather enthusiastically and reached into my glove box for my car pack of tissues and blew his nose. At breakfast I could see his eyes darting around looking for something and when I asked what was wrong, he said he was looking for serviettes so I offered him the travel pack of tissues in my bag (!!!) and he blew his nose several times. No sneezes at breakfast, just a false start and I was starting to feel disheartened because I only got one sneeze yesterday. He did say he wanted to rip his nose off, which was pretty cute. Afterwards we went to a thrift store and he sneezed twice, a few minutes apart, stifling into his arm. He started to look really sniffly and miserable and said he wanted to go get antihistamines and as bad as I felt for him, I asked him to wait until I was done trying a few pieces on and that I’d go with him to the pharmacy.

 

After the thrift store I asked him if he still wanted to go to the pharmacy and he shrugged, shaking his head, saying that we’d go get another coffee and go meet my cousin. Before coffee we went into one of those bulk organic stores and I wanted to get some washing powder. The lavender mint one was really yummy, and I asked if he wanted to smell it but he shook his head emphatically and muttered “I don’t want to irritate my nose more.” He then sneezed one or two more times (I’m so bummed I didn’t have time to jot down the obs) and my cousin blessed him and after excusing himself he said thank you and that the hayfever was killing him and then decided to go look for antihistamines again. 

 

He came back with a pack of Demazin and after a few minutes seemed to perk up and I was feeling a bit disappointed again until we got back in the car and we’re on our way to the airport when he sneezed about 5 minutes into the trip and reached into the glove box for tissues again. He suddenly became really sniffly again and said “Ugh I don’t think it’s working” and he stifled another two sneezes pretty much back to back which I’ve never heard from him before and when I looked over his eyes were fluttering with another but it disappeared. 

 

Later that night (he'd flown home while I stayed in my hometown a little longer) I texted him asking what he'd had for dinner and how was the hay fever and he just replied with "it's all good now" which broke my heart but re-reading these obs is making me excited to go away tomorrow. The pollen count is forecasted to be high ... 

[Inducer]

Nice!  Hope you have another great trip!

[solitaire-au]

I’m glad you started carrying tissues for your boyfriend. A lot of people with allergies appreciate getting comfort and support from their partners. (I know, I do!) From what you’ve described about him in the past, I think your boyfriend wants your comfort and support, too.

I’m guessing that he would appreciate it if you blessed him when he sneezed, but I can understand that’s quite hard for you. It is something you can work up to, though.

Keep having tissues on hand for him, and maybe when he sneezes, instead of blessing him, you can just rub his back, squeeze his arm, or do some other comforting gesture or look so he knows you care.

Like many of us with allergies, he probably feels somewhat embarrassed and doesn’t want his symptoms to be off putting to others. So, even if you can’t bring yourself to bless him, just try to convey as best you can that his sniffling and sneezing doesn’t bother you or disgust you. Because he might have the wrong impression and think that you’re bother by his sneezing when it’s loud and unrestrained.

[Lady Blessington]

Adoooorbs! I hope he feels better 💛