Musings on Hay Fever

I realized I had hay fever when I noticed it.
I already had symptoms when I was in kindergarten.
That said, I don't think there was even a name for "hay fever" back then.

I remember being told that I had to change my constitution,
and being made to drink things like green juice
or supplements I didn't really understand.

I hated it so much.


By the time I was in the upper grades of elementary school or junior high,
I was being prescribed and taking allergy medication from an internal medicine doctor.
A drug called "Celestamine" was very effective at suppressing symptoms,
so I took it constantly.

After I became an adult,
I learned that "Celestamine" contains corticosteroids,
and that taking it for a long period (several weeks to several months)
acts directly on the "epiphyseal plates" of the bones, inhibiting bone growth,
which means it stops you from growing taller.
I learned that.
Was the reason I'm short because I was taking "Celestamine" constantly for a long time!!

For the sake of temporary pleasure (symptom relief),
I missed out on a long-term benefit (growing taller).
And what's more, I didn't know it at the time.
...
If anyone decides to file a lawsuit, please invite me to join the group of plaintiffs.

Even after that,
every year,
from the end of February to the beginning of April,
I had severe hay fever where not only did I have sneezing and a runny nose, but my eyes, the area around them, and even my face would get itchy, and my whole face would swell up.
Even when I stopped taking "Celestamine," I couldn't let go of medication.

My skin was a mess, and it was painful and miserable no matter what I put on it.

Once I started working, I would go to an aesthetic salon around Golden Week when the symptoms subsided to have them do something about my ruined face.

At one point,
I thought, wouldn't it be better to go to a dermatologist??
So I went to a dermatologist in March, and they prescribed not only topical medicine but also oral medication.
That's right! Doctors can prescribe any medication regardless of their specialty!!
From then on, by going to the dermatologist early as a preventative measure,
I was able to stop going to the aesthetic salon after Golden Week.
It saved me a lot of money.

I was very interested in cedar desensitization therapy, but
it was not covered by insurance, and going to get injections almost every week was difficult in terms of time.

But while I was waiting,
desensitization therapy changed from injections to sublingual therapy,
and eventually, sublingual therapy became covered by insurance.
Chance!!

I started cedar sublingual therapy in June, as soon as I could.
I was seen by a doctor who was very frank, saying things like, "You only have to do this for three years of your life. If that's the case, it's better to do it sooner rather than later," and "It's more effective to do it half-heartedly for three years than to do it seriously for just one year."
That was great.
For the first two or three months after starting,


everything from my mouth to my throat was itchy,
which was quite painful, but those side effects gradually disappeared.

As the doctor told me, I continued it half-heartedly (sometimes forgetting), and
in the first season,
I only took the allergy medication I usually took for about a week.

In the second season,
I went to the mountains and developed symptoms there.
The area around my eyes was red and painful, so I went to a dermatologist and they asked,
"Are you taking hay fever medication??"
"I'm doing sublingual therapy, so I thought I was fine..."
"That won't do."
They prescribed topical and oral medication.
Even so, it cleared up in about a week.
If I hadn't gone to the mountains, it might have been better.

In the third season,
I only took medication for two or three days.
Amazing!

In the fourth season, after completely finishing the three years of treatment (actually, since I was doing it half-heartedly, it took about three and a half years),
I reached April without taking any medication!
Wonderful!!
It's the best.

But,
Huh??
I always thought that "hay fever symptoms subside by the time the cherry blossoms are over," but
I started sneezing around the time the cherry blossoms bloomed.

Could it be???
Thanks to the cedar sublingual therapy, my reaction to cedar was suppressed, but
when my symptoms for cedar were severe,
I might have started feeling symptoms for Japanese cypress, which I had previously thought were relatively mild and didn't bother me at all???

Hmm.
There's no sublingual therapy for Japanese cypress yet...

If I could deal with Japanese cypress,
would I become sensitive to yet another allergen?
Ugh.
Is there no end to this??