Allergies and antihistamines

 Earlier this month, my cough got uncontrollable.

For those not in the know, my coughs are famously awful. I'll get in this low and powerful wheeze and cough and cough and cough. I'll stop for a bit, and then start wheezing away. Until my lungs hurt, my head warms up and anybody in the twenty-feet radius gets really concerned about my health and wonder if I might be the modern typhoid mary.

I got tested in Nepal, they said it was mild asthma or something.

In the U.S, I discovered patterns. It happens to me only certain parts of the year, and in certain locations. Bathrooms and basements are bad, Spring is bad, some summer and Fall as well. I guessed it was allergies.

So this year, in Seattle when the cough got out of hand, I bought a pack of extra-strength anti-histamines, and a large packet of cough drops. Had two tablets of 25mg each, and a put a drop in my mouth. Felt super dizzy and slept quite early in the night.

And then the cough was gone. Forever and ever. Just like that, magic. Of course it was magic! How did I not know of this before, as in before last year or so when I started consuming anti-histamines. And why did I not imagine that the dosage of the medication matters as well. Yes, the sleep cycle can be messed up with the medication, but the change in the quality of life is remarkable. You don't have to suffer anymore, you can stop thinking about your throat and lungs and what if you have an incurable disease, and worry about your actual life. It frees you up to actually, you know, live.

What a miracle it has been. Cough drops and anti-histamines, saviors, they have been.

I'm deeply incredibly thankful for modern medication, and the fact that we can choose to not be in pain and suffer, that we simple over-the-counter medications we can remove what must have been misery in the days gone by. What a privilege.