Living with Allergic Rhinitis

     For some reason, I’ve had another attack of allergic rhinitis during an online job interview.  It is quite frustrating to live with the transient allergy.  It comes during the most inconvenient times.  I have long since determined dust to be my primary allergen.  But living in the Philippines, who can avoid dust?  The hot and humid weather in my home country is a veritable paradise for dust mites.

     I’ve had allergic rhinitis for as long as I can remember.  But it steadily worsened when I reached my late teens.  While people might think that it’s a condition which is relatively easy to cure, it actually is a bit more complicated.  To date, allergic rhinitis has no cure.  It can only be controlled through the ingestion of anti-histamines.  I have tried Claritin, Zyrtec, Virlix, and Aerius and all of them have worked fine.  The problem with A.R. is that as soon as one becomes exposed to the allergen, it recurs at once.

     My symptoms include a runny and itchy nose, and severely itchy and teary eyes which cause blurred vision.  If the runny nose persists for more than fifteen minutes, my sinuses get inflammed, and this eventually leads to a migraine.  It is definitely not a good experience.  A.R. has made the most basic tasks impossible.  Cleaning my room, reading books that have been on the shelf for some time, reading the newspaper, getting exposed to smoky places, or simply having the wind blow across my face could all cause an episode.

     Living with allergic rhinitis is not easy.  It gets mightily frustrating at times.  I do hope that someone finds a cure to rid people of this allergy.  That person would surely do the world a great favor.