Drippy Nasal Post

I have a drippy nasal post. Yes, it's gross. Stop reading now if that upsets you.

What? You've never heard of one? Of course not. It's just how my mind plays with words sometimes. Perhaps you've heard of a post-nasal drip? That's really what it is, and I've only had it for a bit over a year. It's minor, really, and related to allergies, or mock-allergies, like dermatographism. In order to deal with that condition, I've been taking Claritin or its generic substitute for several years. Daily. Otherwise life is just so itchy that I can't stand it. With the medication it's only moderately itchy and only on occasion. Mostly.

Eventually the body fights back. Caffeine no longer keeps you awake, the painkiller doesn't stop the pain, and the dermatographism symptoms return. Those nice dry nasal passages that came as a side-effect of the Claritin find a new equilibrium as well. Drip. Drip. Drain. Tickle. Cough cough.

The cough started in October. Sixteen months back, that October. It came on like a cold with no other symptoms, and when I get a real cold, I go full-spectrum. I went to the doctor anyway, having managed to cough long and hard enough to pull a chest muscle. After about ten days on a cough suppressant and a muscle relaxer (that amazingly didn't make me sleepy and impair my driving) my chest felt better. I still was coughing, but eventually even that found its own equilibrium. And I learned mostly to ignore it.

Lately it's decided to tweak things just a bit more, so when I first get up in the morning, and just after I take my morning pills, it makes me cough to the point of nausea. If I'm lucky, and can hold very very still, I can manage to get through it without event. Sometimes I'm not so lucky.

No, I won't describe it. You'll thank me.

I recently switched to a different allergy medication, still OTC because I can't afford the really new ones that haven't come off patent. It's still too soon to really tell, but I haven't noticed any difference in any of the symptoms, the ones I take it for, or the ones that come along for the ride.

I do get to explain to folks that I'm not contagious, a statement met with many a dubious eye during the height of the H1N1 scare. I get to explain to my dad repeatedly that I'm not actually sick or coming down with something. (His memory is not what it was: I pretty much get to repeat that daily.) Mostly it's just an annoyance that I try to ignore, even as I think I should take out stock in my favorite cough drop company (Halls). The annoyance is kind of like a filter through which I live my life.

So with all this, perhaps you'll forgive my little twisting of the terms in referring to my drippy nasal post. There's got to be some humor in it somewhere.