A couple of weeks ago, I had the misfortune of developing seasonal allergies for the first time in the 6 years I had been in the US. So my nose was completely blocked.. I accepted that.
One early morning in my parenth’s house, as I was about to leave for the airport, I spied a box of milk in the fridge. I tried smelling the milk to see if it were spoiled, but of course my olfactory senses were completely on the fritz. Then I looked at the expiration date - I had 2 weeks left, said the box of milk. So I poured some into a cup and took a taste - and started throwing up onto the sink.
The milk was spoiled! And not just curdling - it was like the devils feces! I was dry-retching and gargling water, and dry retching some more.
Well, at least now I know how spoiled things taste like. Previously I would look at food suspiciously if it seemed like it had gone bad, and would worry that I would not know if food had gone bad or not - and would get food poisioning.
I guess the human body has hardwired the senses through evolution to instinctively know whether or not something is fit for eating or not. Bad cooking excempted.
I used to think that people with allergies had some kind of weakness - that their bodies couldnt handle simple things that nature throws at us like pollen.. until I started getting them. Suddenly I’m all over the allergy commercials on TV, and hunting for non-prescription allergy medication at the grocery.
I dont think I’ve ever had seasonal allergies. The worst thing that would happen to me is that I would get into a sneezing fit whenever I cleaned house - from all the dust that I would raise by cleaning. Now its like I’m cleaning house every day! The nose is impossibly runny, and I’m in a constant state of semi-fever. How did it get to this?
I live in the suburbs, I should be exposed to this every day, but I wasn’t affected. Could it be because I was only at home during weekends, and for the most part my working days were spent in big cities? Could it be that in Bellevue, WA, my first project where there were actually trees around, I was finally exposed to a level of pollen that just broke down my nasal immune system or whatever it was? Maybe.
Right now I’m worried that I’m going to have to put yet another drug into my system to combat this.. and drugs in my system I do not want.
