Allergies

I want to talk about allergies. Just your regular hay fever and sneezing-at-a-cat type of allergies, not the epi-pen type. But first, I need to talk a little bit about migraines. In generally I’ve been doing very well and have not had very many migraines lately. That may come as a surprise, because obviously I’ve been very stressed and very busy recently. But for me there’s not really any correlation between stress and migraines. I’ve had a lot of stressful and busy times in my life, and luckily, my migraines don’t get worse during those times.

I think the misnomer about stress and migraines develops because some of the most common types of headaches, such as tension headaches, are caused or worsened by stress. But migraines aren’t like those kinds of headaches. Migraines originate in the brain stem and are similar to seizures. They aren’t caused by muscular tension.

Everyone thinks of migraines as a bad headache, because the head pain can be severe. But actually, it’s fairly common to have a migraine without any head pain. Adding to the confusion, a lot of migraines without head pain aren’t correctly diagnosed as migraines. So a lot of people don’t realize that the headache part of the migraine is just one of many symptoms, and sometimes it’s not even a symptom at all.

It’s true that one of the things I do to help relieve secondary migraine symptoms is a type of face exercise. But I’m not actually decreasing the number of migraines, because migraines start in the brain stem. I’m just managing symptoms. There is a fair amount of swelling and inflammation during a migraine, and that inflammation puts pressure on a nerve behind my sinuses, which can worsen the pain. My face exercises lift and spread some of the underlying facial muscles, relieving some of the pressure due to inflammation.

My migraines are usually caused by my immune system kicking into gear. I’ll get them if I’m fighting off a cold, or if people around me have colds even if I don’t end up showing symptoms. Airplane travel and public events will trigger an immune reaction because of all the contagions floating around.

I’ll also get migraines if I have an allergy to something, because allergies trigger the immune system. For example, there is a pesticide or herbicide that I’m sensitive to (or a set of them), but I don’t know which one(s). Whatever it is, my immune system doesn’t like it and swings into gear, so I definitely do better when I eat organic food. Luckily, I know a lot about keeping the immune system calm, because we have autoimmune disease in the family. So there’s a lot of lifestyle and dietary things that I know how to do.

Now here’s the problem. It’s something I’ve suspected for awhile, but our recent living arrangements have confirmed it. I’m allergic to my dogs. I’m not extremely allergic to them. But I’m definitely sort of allergic.

I’m reluctant to admit that because in our household, I’m the one who always wants more pets. And John’s the one trying to keep the number down to something reasonable. So the last thing I need to do is give him ammunition to keep me from ever getting another dog again!

It’s discouraging. I spend so much effort with special diets and other difficult compromises in my life. I forgo so many things in order to stay healthy. And now I’m having to admit that my favorite, wonderful dogs are likely part of the problem. When I’m around my dogs, first I get acne, then I feel under the weather, and then I get migraines.

As with most things that excite the immune system, this is just one of many factors. We’re exposed all day long to things that get the immune system ramped up. What can I do? I’m not going to live my life in a bubble. If I didn’t have dogs, my immune system would just get spun up about something else. So I’m not going to worry about it. The dogs and I are moving into the new Santa Fe house soon! I miss them.