Achoo: Friday Five

Hello, my name is Mary Beth, and I'm allergic to ligustrum.


Ligustrum is a type of privet hedge and it is very invasive. VERY. It's a spready green bush with leaves of various sizes and tiny white flowers of a head-piercing sweetness.


The house I grew up in had 14-foot ligustrum bushes on three sides. The house I live in now, 250 miles to the north, also has several...they are a different variety but the flowers still get me. Instant sinus attack, that's what these are. And: they are in bloom.


You can remove them, but they grow back. Forever and ever. My husband recently had his helper cut all the blooming branches off of this one, next to where I park my car. What a guy!

So, thinking about allergies:

1. Do you experience any seasonal allergies? Are you allergic to anything else?

POISON IVY, POISON OAK AND POISON SUMMAC!

I have never had any allergy tests so I am not sure what else I am allergic to, but I know I come down with something in the spring and the fall. Whether it is dust or mold or ragweed or whatever. The doctor says it doesn’t matter, the result is the same: it will end up with a secondary infection that gets in my lungs and I cough and have a fever and it turns if not treated, into pneumonia.

I am also allergic to mornings, washing dishes, long walks, almost anything healthy, and work in general.

2. What kind of symptoms to you have?

I get poison ivy systemically. I might get the sniffles, but as I have grown older, I am unaware of any symptoms until I have tightness in my chest. In addition I am very grumpy.

3. How do you manage your allergies? (ie: medication, avoidance, alternative therapies, etc)

DRUGS! And avoidance. But I am up for any alternatives except snuffling saltwater up my nose and excessive exercise. (and almost any exercise is excessive)!

4. What is the strangest allergy you've ever heard of?

I heard of someone being allergic to their own immune system, but it may be urban legend.


5. How do you feel about school and social policies banning peanuts and other allergens?

I think kids need to learn to manage their own health early. But I also believe that school lunch programs need to be healthy. All too often prepared foods used in lunch programs these days have additives that are filled with allergens that are not apparent. And since I am a Democrat and am supposed to believe in big gov’t, I would like to see policies to safe guard the food we eat. FDA, Man up!