Monday 11 March 2013

What the dickens was that?

Yesterday, we had the usual morning of Aikido followed by a quick trip to the post office then lunch and then the supermarket. When we went into the supermarket, it was a beautifully sunny day, blue skies, nice and warm.
When we came out the sky was yellow and the wind had picked up, two minutes later we were driving home in this....


Crazy stuff, we could hardly see and it all happened so quickly. There had been reports that contaminated yellow sand was blowing in from China so we thought it must be that. It turns out that it was due to freak weather conditions, it had been really warm then there was a sudden cold front move in which forced the warm air to rise and as it did so it picked up all the dirt and sand. It is winter here and very dry, it was also really windy which wasn't helping matters. 

I was rather annoyed that this all happened and I had left the laundry outside! Lucky none of it had blown away but it was covered in sand/dirt so I had to bring it in, beat the dirt out of it then vacuum everywhere - oh joy!

Not only do we have crazy sandstorms, the pollen count has been really high this week and so I have taken to leaving the house looking like this...


Until 2 years ago I had never had hay fever, an allergy to lavender but not hay fever. After the earthquake I got it really bad and have had it each year since. It is horrid, I spend most of the day wanting to scratch my eyes out and blowing my nose. The drugs the doctor gave me the first time were waaay too strong and just knocked me out. I tried some over-the-counter meds and they gave me migraines so I went back to the doc, this time he gave me nasal spray, which does seem to help and some herbal medicine. 
When I went back to the doc, he suggested the spray and then said "You could try the Chinese herbal medicine" shook his head and  continued "ahhh but you are not Japanese" 
Nothing gets past you hey doc? He must have seen my confused expression because he explained himself - he thought westerns might not be open to trying traditional Eastern medicine! To be honest, I was at the point that I would have tried ANYTHING.

I used to love the spring here now it is just misery and then we have the horrible summer to contend with, oh well, it will soon be autumn again! I need a second home obviously. If you have any cures or ways of relieving kafunsho/hayfever please leave a comment and I will love you forever!

9 comments:

  1. My hubby get hayfever. Apparently according to the chiropractor, it's because his blood levels are too acidic. So to take about 1/2tsp bicarb of soda, as is, to balance the acidity.

    Other option is to look at more alkaline diet.

    http://rense.com/1.mpicons/acidalka.htm

    All the best,
    Tracey

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    1. Ohhh it is the first time I have heard this - thank you!

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  2. I know how awful hay fever can be.... Whenever I get really bad reactions, want to scratch my eyes out, throat too itchy, want to scream, can't find any relief, sneezing so hard I might throw up.....the only thing that really helps is to sleep. But I have tried natural yogurt in big mouthfuls and that can give some relief. These days I am drinking warm lemon water (quite strong) in the morning (15 min before eating anything else), and I have found my hay fever has not yet arrived. coincidence? Not sure. But I would actually say that the lemon water has had some fairly positive bodily/health effects in the short time that I have been trying it. good luck. by the way package arrived. Have not yet paid you. Perhaps tomorrow. Thank you.

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    1. after reading the page that Tracey posted, the lemon juice might be the key - although it is acid it reacts somehow making it very alkaline - will have to try, thanks

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  3. Oh, I just wrote...but it got cancelled. kids calling from bed....short and sweet: try natural yoghurt, plenty of it. Might give a bit of relief. When the going is really bad I found that sleep was the only relief. However, this year my hay fever has yet to arrive! About 2 weeks ago I started drinking lemon water in the mornings, quite strong, and besides not yet having bad hay fever there have been some other health benefits that I noticed, better energy etc...perhaps a coincidence but maybe not. easy and cheap, might be worth a go....

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  4. The UK really has nothing to talk about when it comes to the weather, and yet it's a favourite topic. Go figure! ;-) Ugh on hay fever, not a sufferer myself so no advice xx

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    Vanessa :)

    http://albers-fotografie.blogspot.de/

    ReplyDelete
  6. I've heard local honey really helps (basically get it from as locally as you can since you want local pollens in it). From what I understand it sort of works like this: you ingest a bit of the pollen from the bees and it's easier for your body to process and it sensitises you enough that the pollen in the air won't bother you (or won't bother you as much).
    I know a few people that have tried it and they swear by it.

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  7. I just came by to leave the honey tip, but have been beaten to it. I have heard good things about it too, and even if it doesn't work it tastes good.

    It has to be unpasteurised honey, in the UK it is easiest to get this from local people selling a few jars from their own hives or from farmers' markets, don't know what's available in Japan. Then you just have a teaspoon a day, on toast or just gulp it down.

    I do find with a lot of these related sort of things (asthma, eczema etc) that stress can be quite a common trigger so that might be why it started after the earthquake. I used to get bad eczema but it has pretty much disappeared since I stopped work to have children. This probably doesn't help much, but it may be that your hayfever will ease off in time.

    Good luck, hayfever is absolutely miserable.

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