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Health & Fitness

Would You Like Some Pollen With That?

This blogger wonders if he actually consumed too many allergens recently.

I'm not sure if the pollen seasons have gotten worse over the near quarter century that I have been in these parts or if I'm not handling seasonal allergies quite like I did in my leaner years. There's never a definite answer when it comes to these conundrums during this season. What felt like a cold virus was most likely a bad week with the seasonal allergies despite the heavy use of Zyrtec D. Before a series of rains, the feelings of the virus was building each day with a severe sore throat and eventually quite a bit of coughing. Thinking I was running a fever, I ran to the local clinic to rule out a strange bug or even strep. The results: no dice. The advice: rest.

While resting up, the late April rains came making me feel as if I was experiencing December instead of the upcoming month of May here in the Southeastern United States. Mother Nature not only wreaks havoc upon the environment, but she plays games with individuals' psyches as well. It's not fair to battle Seasonal Affective Disorder in late April, but I soldiered on with plenty of much-needed light, warm soup, reading and television viewing.

As I was receiving the much-needed rest, I got caught up on one of mine and Cami's favorite television series, House of Cards. House of Cards is probably one of the most riveting drama programs that I have ever viewed. All of the series' shows are released at once. In the case of this program, House of Cards' 13 episodes are readily available through the Netflix digital streaming service. I soon discovered that the Kevin Spacey political thriller is perfect for a rainy day.

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Still, I confess that I exposed myself to probably too much pollen which put me in that rather glum state in the first place recently. Aside from engaging in outdoor running more than usual in the past few weeks, I worked in Cami's yard during the previous weekend getting her landscape up to HOA specifications (homeowner's association). Thankfully, the intense spring heat didn't settle in on that afternoon as we spread dozens upon dozens of mulch throughout the yard's beds. After spreading mulch, I duly clipped hedges and rose bushes. Soon thereafter, I fired up her mower only to join the mechanical chorus of lawn mowers in Cami's suburban neighborhood.  In addition to mowing Cami's postage stamp lot, I followed suit with mowing my property's lawn about two days later. On a related note, I also confess that there will come a day when I will be grateful to not clip another weed or blade of grass should I decide to downsize to a townhome well in the future.

After all the running and yard work, it seems that with every breath I took, I inhaled an inordinate amount of pollen. It was as if the Mother Nature's allergens became part of my diet. Perhaps I received my comeuppance for not taking the warnings seriously enough about the high pollen count. Now, I am working on the remnants of my coughing, sneezing and wheezing. I'm a bit loopy from the cough and allergies meds, but I'm somewhat back on my feet plodding along towards summer. Still,  as if I don't have enough to worry about with sunscreen, diet and exercise with my health concerns, now I must add dealing with the pollen to the list. So, as I add another health caution to the list, I wonder what's next.  

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