Allergy Test - Part II (And also a sequel to "Got Iron?")

So I went in for the allergy appointment.

They moved the Japanese Family Clinic to a building in the Domino’s farm. The new office was fabulous. It had a simple yet elegant décor with a generous dose of light-colored wood. I loved the view from the big windows in the office, looking out to the back of the farm. It was raining outside and the brand new greens on the branches looked ever fresher with the moisture in the air.

I thought I was seeing an allergist, but it turned out she was an Internal Medicine doctor. She took a look at my inner ear and told me it looked horrid.

(Beware. It’s pretty gross.) Basically, my ears are secreting lots of fluid in an allergic reaction. Usually the fluid drains out to my nose and to the back of my throat, but the pathways (Eustachian tubes) are blocked off because of sinus infection. So the fluid is trapped in my inner ears, causing sinus pressure, which then leads to dizziness, headache, nausea, ringing in my ears, and lethargy.

!!

All these symptoms I attributed to iron deficiencies were probably due to the sinus congestion. I still need to get more iron in my diet, but most of the problems should go away by taking care of the drainage. Woohoo! Now that I think of it, I’ve been bumping into things/people a lot, and have some trouble standing up (or even sitting up) straight. I thought it was because I’m clumsy, but maybe it was because of my equilibrium system being out of whack with the fluid in the circular canal. What a great impact a little bit of fluid in the ear has on the whole body!

No wonder I didn’t have any craving for ice cubes…

Anyhow, I’m taking 120 mg of Pseudoephedrine, and my goodness I can breathe through my nostrils like crazy. I guess my nasal cavity has been perpetually puffed up because of various allergies and I forgot how it feels to breath normally. This may also explain why I don’t feel refreshed when I wake up in the morning. If I’m not breathing right while I’m sleeping, I would inevitably get drowsy. My headache is definitely better, too. I still feel a little bit of dizziness and pain in the sinus area, but I imagine it takes a few days for that to heal up.

It’s really wonderful when you go to a doctor and she tells you exactly what’s wrong with you and how to fix it. That is not always the case. I’m SO HAPPY! The only thing though is this medication makes me feel slightly antsy and palpitated. I’m wide-awake and a little bit anxious, like I had way too much caffeine or something. I suspect it opens up my Eustachian tubes by increasing the blood flow. It might be opening up vessel elsewhere, too. The benefit I get outweighs the discomfort of side-affects, though.

So if you see me acting jittery, loopy, or downright strange, you will know why ;-)