Allergies and their effects are different with everyone. Some people have seasonal allergies, some people aren’t allergic to anything and others (like me) suffer from allergies all year. When dealing with allergies, some days can be better than others. Right now, it is getting pretty rough out there for most of us who are allergic to pollen. The flowers and plants are still budding and opening which means that the dreaded pollen is still here and it is taking us by storm. Everything is covered with the yellow-green powder. It can get so bad where it looks like there is a pollen blizzard occurring. All you can see is the pollen blowing around in the wind. With the spring-summer allergy season still in session, there are multiple stages of how a person deals with the dreaded timeline.

1. The “Overly Prepared” Stage

You know what is in store if you do not prepare yourself for the allergy season. In this stage, you go all out and buy up the whole allergy medication isle in every drugstore in town. You also buy up the tissue aisle while you are at it, along with some saline solution, some eye-drops and maybe some cough drops since you never know what could happen. In this stage, it is better to be safe than sorry, so you stock up and prepare yourself for the next couple of weeks to even months. Friends and family may look at you a bit odd and may think that you are becoming a hoarder with your hundreds of tissue boxes, but you are determined to not suffer this year, or at least, you hope you will not.

2. The “Teary-Eyed” Stage

The season has started and you are making sure that you are on top of your game. You take your allergy medications daily, along with other immune system boosters. But, as the weeks go on, you realize that your nose is getting a bit stuffy here and there and that your eyes are starting to tear up and itch. This is the stage where you start to realize that it is all about to go downhill. In this stage, you will also get tired of hearing everyone ask, “Are you okay? You are tearing up.” This is the beginning to the point of no return.

3. The “Not Prepared” Enough Stage

This is the stage where you start to really suffer. Everything aches. Your sinuses are all clogged up and no matter how many times you blow your nose, there is no improvement. Your face starts to get pretty blotchy in this stage as well. You then realize that you were not prepared enough and those couple of days where you did not take your allergy medications or you did not complete your “daily allergy prevention routine” really hurt you in the end. Though, at this stage, you still try to fight off the allergens. You are not going to be defeated yet!

4. The “I Give Up” Stage

Ah, the good old giving-up stage. You worked so hard trying to conquer the battle against the pesky allergens, but they pushed you to your breaking point. You finally decide to put up the white flag and give up. In this stage, you get so used to feeling horrible that you just let it happen. Though, you try to stay positive and think that it may end soon. But until then, you just suck it up and try to not catch another sickness.

No matter what stage you are at, just remember that allergies come and go. Yes, it is not fun sometimes when you’re practically crying for no reason or you literally cannot breathe. Just make sure that you are keeping yourself healthy during allergy season and stay positive! Remember that with every sneeze, you are one closer to the end of the distasteful season.