KaraMaeK

It starts with a dryness in the back of the nose, the feeling that so often comes with allergies as the summer air cools and the autumnal pollen coats the nasial passages and lungs with each breath.

Then comes the sinus pressure as that same pollen builds and builds. There is no allergy pill on the American market that will combat this pressure.

Enter the use of an over the counter pain, allergy, cold, sinus relief medication and bid farewell to the functioning brain, give your head a little wave as it floats away like a balloon.

Watch yourself function while hovering above and become increasingly more concerned about how far your IQ has dropped.

Sentences fail to form, words have disappeared.

The ability to comprehend went with the words like a toddler hiding from their mother.

You frantically call out “I am not this dumb! It is not this hard!” only to hear the words, the comprehension giggling from somewhere out in the distance.

Fatigue is waiting right around the corner. The couch looks very inviting.

“Laydown for only a few minutes. You’ll feel better.”

Three, four hours are lost to a deep, sleep. Deeper than can be remembered in recent past.

More OTC pills, more brain fog, more exhaustion.

Have you eaten? Well, that’s why your stomach hurts.

More sleep. More OTC pills. More fog. More stomach aches. So many tissues.

Day after day after day.

Until you wake up one morning to greet the pressure in your sinuses only to notice it’s packed it’s backs and left in the night, leaving behind a bit of the fatigue, a pile of tissues, open bottles of medication, cups of water, tea, coffee, juice scattered about. A raw stomach. A disaster of a house. A long neglected to do list. Friends who have not heard from you for days on days.

If you are lucky, you will find a place to start. A hot shower, a load of towels, one text to a friend telling them you are alive.

If you are lucky, you will not forget your allergy medication again.