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Old 07-30-2017, 10:35 AM   #1636
Undertoad
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Snakeadelic View Post
Thanks to my downstairs neighbor, I am now severely allergic to smoke. As in, if I get over-exposed, I may lose the ability to breathe.
You'll be just fine though, because smoke is an irritant and not an allergen.

Breathing is involuntary, and unless you are subject to enormous amounts of smoke, you will continue to breath.

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All three of my allergy meds are failing.
That is because smoke is an irritant and not an allergen. The meds would be effective if it was an allergen.
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Old 07-30-2017, 02:24 PM   #1637
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Might not be an allergen - may well be a trigger for asthma
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Old 07-30-2017, 07:16 PM   #1638
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May also trigger paranoia.
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Old 07-31-2017, 07:34 AM   #1639
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It was diagnosed as an allergy multiple times starting when I was in my mid-teens, and until last week the meds given for it (Benadryl, Flonase, Levocetirizine) were managing the symptoms. They simply stopped doing so. The symptoms presenting did NOT include respiratory distress of any kind--it was dry, itchy eyes, suddenly clogged nasal passages, sneezing, and skin itching. When my asthma (diagnosed in 1981 and re-diagnosed repeatedly since) kicks in, I cannot draw a deep breath and I wheeze like an old steam engine. Albuterol stops this, but has no effect on the reaction to smoke.

I also have an "adverse reaction" to opiates and opioids--if I don't take an anti-emetic first, they come back up before having a chance to dissolve. I stopped taking them (from 3x daily to manage arthritis, spinal damage, and connective tissue inflammatory pain) on the advice of my MD. He said emergency only, limit 1 per day.

The last one I took had no effect at all. No pain relief, none of the "yep, that's a narcotic" high I have always gotten when suddenly taking pain meds again after any more than 4 days without (I'd gone 6). My thoracic spine is now damaged, I have osteoarthritis in my hands, and have had systemic connective tissue inflammation my whole life. My typing has gone from 60+ words per minute to maybe 30 on a good day since I had to quit the painkillers, and I can no longer cross my index & middle fingers or close my hands completely. Both were possible 3 weeks ago.

And I'm still pissed about the non-resident kids. The one who now tells people she lives downstairs (with her great-grandmother and no one else) was one of the ones messing with my roomie's bike to the point where he had to lock it in our garage. Yesterday, as I was putting the blanket back at the bottom of my neighbor's front door (because weatherstripping replacement is NOT on the management's to-do list), that kid looked at me and said "DON'T touch MY bike." By some miracle, even when I was still so angry I was shaking, I limited my response to "I am not the one who touches things that do not belong to them, because that is RUDE," and slamming the door in her face.

I'd really like the downstairs neighbor to move out. I lived here 3 years before that kid was even conceived and I am sick to death of being treated like the intruder here. Biker neighbor, the one who has to use a blanket because they won't replace weatherstripping, is going to management today about several things, her crappy attitude, using resident kids' toys without permission (she's been known to climb over porch railings to get what she wants), tale-carrying, lying, and spying among them.
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Old 07-31-2017, 07:37 AM   #1640
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Undertoad, as for the amount of smoke, there are at least half a dozen LARGE wildfires burning up and down the Bitterroot (to the west of me about 2 miles) and Sapphire (to the east about 30-ish miles maybe?--there are no direct connecting east-west highways near here that I'm aware of) Mountain ranges. And a new one just a few miles west of us. We're not to the point of "worse air quality than a bad day in Beijing", but that has happened several of the 13 years I've been in this valley.

The flip side is just as rare and entirely glorious. One year, "fire season" consisted of one tiny fire in July, extinguished the same day it started, and one tiny fire in a very dry November that was also out by nightfall on the day it started.
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Old 07-31-2017, 07:39 AM   #1641
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Snakeadelic View Post
It was diagnosed as an allergy multiple times starting when I was in my mid-teens
wull how long ago was that? They've figured more stuff out:

http://www.beyondallergy.com/indoor-...or-reality.php

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In the early 80s, researchers assumed that smoke triggered an allergic reaction, because rats and rabbits exhibited such response in the presence of smoke. Furthermore, if we look at the plant of tobacco itself, in fact at least 3 allergens have been identified.

However, with further advances in science, it was possible to demonstrate that smoke does not initiate an allergic reaction in humans. Although symptoms may be identical to allergic rhinitis, technically, smoke is not an allergen, but an irritant that causes allergy-like symptoms. Allergens need to be protein-based for the body to recognise it as an intruder, but smoke only contains ash particles from burning the tobacco leaves (with any allergens present destroyed), which are not identified by your body as a true allergen, because they’re not made up of protein.

This is supported by the fact that people experiencing blocked nose and watery eyes after exposure to smoke do not get any relief for their condition with antihistaminic treatments.
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Old 07-31-2017, 11:14 AM   #1642
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Undertoad, the most recent diagnosis was earlier this year. And up until last week, I very much DID experience relief using antihistamines. Until last week, a single 25 milligram dose of Diphenhydramine stopped the congestion and eye issues not addressed by the other meds 80% of the time, and the other 20% stopped with a second 25 mg. dose.
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Old 08-01-2017, 07:03 AM   #1643
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Updated info on irritant response vs. allergen response as pertaining to my situation...

I spoke yesterday with a medical provider whose reaction to smoke is quite different from mine. She said she's known multiple people whose response to smoke could only be alleviated by antihistamines. Hers (severe headaches) is alleviated by keeping smoke-filtering air purifiers in every enclosed environment she uses--office and home. I'll be trying to find one of those this month because I'll give anything helpful a reasonable shot.

As for the kids, now that a tenant has been injured by the actions of kids (many of them, sadly, short-term 'visitors' from the local abused-families shelter) who do not live in this complex, we're to call immediately if there is any further trouble during business hours. And she let slip that the spying, tale-carrying little brat whose parents ditch her downstairs with her great-grandmother four or five days a week is NOT on the lease and thus does not have the right to just do as she damn well pleases.

That means next time I try to go take care of my injured biker neighbor and the last 3 or 4 risers of our steps are covered in toys, garbage, and half-eaten food, we call the manager. The manager is very much aware that I have increasingly serious balance issues, and it's in EVERYONE'S lease that kids are not ever allowed to play on the stairs, even the bottom 3 or 4 risers. Guess my menfolk and I are the only ones who actually read our leases before signing!
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Old 08-01-2017, 07:10 AM   #1644
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Also, I note that your quoted material stating that smoke cannot be an allergen is ONLY talking about tobacco. The smoke we get around here is wildfire smoke--it's full of oils from coniferous trees, assorted compounds from toxic plants, and we've had occasions where entire insects roasted to ash have fallen only to collapse at the first touch of anything but air.

And blanket statements about human health are a very risky thing. We do not come with FORD stamped on our foreheads; not all our parts are interchangeable because the singular truth about humans and health is that one size does not fit all. If all humans were truly medically identical, I'd have the correct number of ribs, for starters--and, as verified repeatedly across my life using X-Rays, I am missing the lowest, smallest pair entirely and am also missing one of the next pair up! Until a vertebra count established that fact, it was thought I had half an extra rib, and for years I had friends who called me Sparerib. My mother, on the other hand, has a normal rib count...and a Lumbar 6 vertebra that is NOT part of her sacrum. My spine has no L6, transitioning normally from L5 to Sacrum 1 (fused to the rest of the sacral vertebrae as is also normal).
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Old 08-01-2017, 07:37 AM   #1645
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I secretly know that you just want to wail and wail, and get no input from others, but my alternative is to silently judge and I'm not sure I should do that.
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Old 08-01-2017, 09:00 AM   #1646
lumberjim
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It's been working for me
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Old 08-01-2017, 09:02 AM   #1647
Snakeadelic
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You know an awful lot for someone who isn't my doctor, isn't my therapist, doesn't have to live in my brain, and doesn't have to live in my body.

I'm done being told every single thing I have learned about my own health in the last 40 years is wrong by someone who can't even check my medical records.

Goodbye.
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Old 08-01-2017, 09:03 AM   #1648
Snakeadelic
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Yep, you sure do know everything about how my brain and body work, unlike my therapist, my MD, and myself.

Undertoad, it seems like all you ever do is tell me I'm a bad person and I'm wrong about everything I say.

I'm done.

Goodbye.
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Old 08-01-2017, 10:12 AM   #1649
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But let me get to the point, let's roll another joint,
And turn the radio loud, I'm too alone to be proud.
You don't know how it feels,
You don't know how it feels to be me.
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Old 08-01-2017, 12:25 PM   #1650
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It's a bit odd to get on someone's case for complaining in THIS thread.
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