Niteowl
Well-known member
I've had ongoing cold symptoms for years - I can't say for how long, but for three/four years at least. It's one of the causes of my social anxiety. I say cold symptoms, because I don't know what else to call them. Basically, I'm always sneezing, my nose is always blocked, I'm often feeling tired when I shouldn't be, but some of the things are more like allergy symptoms - eyes watering, every day, for example. I don't cough that much. You'll have to forgive me, by the way - I'm not clued up on viruses, allergies and the like at all. None of it makes any sense to me.
Some days, it's worse than others. It's been quite bad this weekend. Normally, I can hide some of the symptoms - by just drying my eyes, blowing my nose, et cetera - but some days I can't. It seems my dad asks me why I'm crying almost every week - that's just my eyes again.
I know when I have a real cold, because it's more extreme then. What I'm experiencing right now are the year-round symptoms. Somebody suggested about three years ago that it could be hay fever, but I'm not sure about that. To be honest, I don't know what that means, and when I've tried to find out about it, the medical words make no sense, haha. We have a cat, and I often let him lie on me, or I cuddle him, but we've had him for about eight years, and I'm not sure these symptoms have lasted quite that long. I might be wrong though - I'm just going off a few memories related to these symptoms, about three-four years ago.
Something stood out for me on Wikipedia - "Other physical signs include folds in the skin below the lower eyelid known as Dennie–Morgan folds, and rings under the eyes, known in patients with allergic rhinitis as "allergic shiners". There can also be behavioural signs; in order to relieve the irritation or flow of mucus, patients may wipe or rub their nose with the palm of their hand in an upward motion: an action known as the "nasal salute" or the "allergic salute". This may result in a crease running across the nose, commonly referred to as the "transverse nasal crease", and can lead to permanent physical deformity if repeated enough." I don't have that crease - I don't rub it that hard, and I usually rub it more diagonally than upright, but the rest of it sounds like me. I thought those folds below my eyes were normal - I don't pay attention to whether other people have them or not.
Like I said, some days, it's worse. Every few weeks, my mum will ask me if I've got a cold again. Those are the days when I sneeze like five times in a row, and the symptoms are quite noisy. The rest of the time, they're quiet. I get the irritating feeling in my nose, and I sneeze a few times, but nobody really notices it. Nobody has ever caught these symptoms off of me, which also points to an allergy. If it is an allergy, then how can I find out what it is? My habits aren't particularly consistent, (ie. I don't eat a lot of the same thing, I don't always go to the same places) but these symptoms clearly are.
I'll say again, they're one of the causes of my anxiety, because the symptoms are quite embarrassing, and I have to hide them. I have to admit that when I'm out, with people around, I stop my sneezing by blocking my mouth and nose. I know I shouldn't do that, but it's preferable to the alternative.
Like most things, this isn't something I want to ask my parents about, even though my mum knows I'm always having these symptoms. She has said a couple of times that it's because I "don't go out". I get where she's coming from, kind of, but I don't think she knows the difference between a cold and an allergy either. There are people that I can ask, (because it's easier to ask people I don't know as well) but I would like to know a little more for myself, first.
Advice would be much appreciated. If any of you ever had an unidentified allergy, how did you deal with it? Or is anyone else having the same symptoms right now, and not sure what is causing them? I've mostly ignored it for years - I've just Googled the symptoms once in a while, gotten tired trying to read the confusing words, and given up, because it's so hard to concentrate. If I can find out about how I can avoid these symptoms, and that leads to me feeling a bit less anxious, then I'd like to do what I can to deal with them.
Unless it's the cat causing them. Then I'll have to live with them.
Some days, it's worse than others. It's been quite bad this weekend. Normally, I can hide some of the symptoms - by just drying my eyes, blowing my nose, et cetera - but some days I can't. It seems my dad asks me why I'm crying almost every week - that's just my eyes again.
I know when I have a real cold, because it's more extreme then. What I'm experiencing right now are the year-round symptoms. Somebody suggested about three years ago that it could be hay fever, but I'm not sure about that. To be honest, I don't know what that means, and when I've tried to find out about it, the medical words make no sense, haha. We have a cat, and I often let him lie on me, or I cuddle him, but we've had him for about eight years, and I'm not sure these symptoms have lasted quite that long. I might be wrong though - I'm just going off a few memories related to these symptoms, about three-four years ago.
Something stood out for me on Wikipedia - "Other physical signs include folds in the skin below the lower eyelid known as Dennie–Morgan folds, and rings under the eyes, known in patients with allergic rhinitis as "allergic shiners". There can also be behavioural signs; in order to relieve the irritation or flow of mucus, patients may wipe or rub their nose with the palm of their hand in an upward motion: an action known as the "nasal salute" or the "allergic salute". This may result in a crease running across the nose, commonly referred to as the "transverse nasal crease", and can lead to permanent physical deformity if repeated enough." I don't have that crease - I don't rub it that hard, and I usually rub it more diagonally than upright, but the rest of it sounds like me. I thought those folds below my eyes were normal - I don't pay attention to whether other people have them or not.
Like I said, some days, it's worse. Every few weeks, my mum will ask me if I've got a cold again. Those are the days when I sneeze like five times in a row, and the symptoms are quite noisy. The rest of the time, they're quiet. I get the irritating feeling in my nose, and I sneeze a few times, but nobody really notices it. Nobody has ever caught these symptoms off of me, which also points to an allergy. If it is an allergy, then how can I find out what it is? My habits aren't particularly consistent, (ie. I don't eat a lot of the same thing, I don't always go to the same places) but these symptoms clearly are.
I'll say again, they're one of the causes of my anxiety, because the symptoms are quite embarrassing, and I have to hide them. I have to admit that when I'm out, with people around, I stop my sneezing by blocking my mouth and nose. I know I shouldn't do that, but it's preferable to the alternative.
Like most things, this isn't something I want to ask my parents about, even though my mum knows I'm always having these symptoms. She has said a couple of times that it's because I "don't go out". I get where she's coming from, kind of, but I don't think she knows the difference between a cold and an allergy either. There are people that I can ask, (because it's easier to ask people I don't know as well) but I would like to know a little more for myself, first.
Advice would be much appreciated. If any of you ever had an unidentified allergy, how did you deal with it? Or is anyone else having the same symptoms right now, and not sure what is causing them? I've mostly ignored it for years - I've just Googled the symptoms once in a while, gotten tired trying to read the confusing words, and given up, because it's so hard to concentrate. If I can find out about how I can avoid these symptoms, and that leads to me feeling a bit less anxious, then I'd like to do what I can to deal with them.
Unless it's the cat causing them. Then I'll have to live with them.