Allergy

Allergy: an abnormally high sensitivity to certain substances, such as pollens, foods, or microorganisms. Common indications of allergy may include sneezing, itching, and skin rashes.
(The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Third Edition copyright © 1992 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Electronic version licensed from INSO Corporation; further reproduction and distribution restricted in accordance with the Copyright Law of the United States. All rights reserved.)

I used to have asthma when I was a kid, then around my teenage years it disappeared completely, supposedly caused by more relenting behavior, but recently I got it back. Not only that, I got allergic reactions all over my skin when I ate something bad or breathed something strange or simply when it's too cold. Two days ago, it was so hot in class that I had to turn on the air-con while teaching. At one point I stood right down it then something stopped my breath, and that time it wasn't because my pupil pressed the wrong note. Ihe old air-con was blowing some germ right into my lungs and all of a sudden, I had trouble breathing and I incessantly coughed. My poor pupil was so confused and worried that I had to tell him to practice by himself for a few minutes while I tried to get some help for myself.

It started when I move things in my bedroom to get a more ample space. I succeeded, but afterward I began to wake up with itches all over my body and skin rashes. Born in a family with a strong allergic tradition, my parents helped analyze why I was suddenly so allergy-prone. My brother prescribed some medicine which worked to cure the reaction, but not-so-worked to prevent it from happening. My mum, as usual, blamed it on my nocturnal life-style and my dad, always the more temperate, said that I simply had to wake up earlier to soak myself in sunshine to cure them all. 

The GREAT thing about coping with allergies is, and I really don't mean to be ironic here, that it builds a connection between me (a.k.a my brain) and my body. I used to take my body for granted and never really care about it. Normally I don't really care about eating super-spicy street food which sometimes left a burning sensation in my stomach, or taking medicine to immediately cure a discomfort. But one day I was eating chicken with chili sauce when suddenly I lost my voice and felt funny in the throat. Two seconds later I couldn't breath. That time I really had to take my asthma tablet because it was bad. In another occassion, my brother came home and brought some spring rolls. I ate two and afterward I felt as is I've just swallow a ping-pong ball because there was this lump in my throat. I still breathed normally, but the lump just wouldn't go away. Then my brain stated to draw connection, with all those cases, and finally arrived at the conclusion that I'm allergic to not-so-fresh shrimps. The chili sauce had shrimp paste in it (made of bad shrimp, too!), and so the rolls. And now I've moved the piano in my class so I don't have to stand under the AC anymore. With the skin allergies, I made more experiments. Two weeks ago I moved my furnitures again, put my bed facing the window so I'd get a flowing air. I still woke up with red blotches. Then I cleaned my bookshelves and my books, and found out that the red blotches in my skin still existed although reduced in the morning. Ah-ha! My books, as I suspected, aren't liable. The dust on it: could be. Last week, I had my bed comforter washed and for a week I slept with no blanket on, and amazingly all the red blotches were gone. I then googled and found out that some materials in blankets,  maybe synthetic wool, could cause allergy. I now switched to cotton blanket and woke up clean.

I also begin exercising regularly now. From the medical web I subscribe myself to, people with allergy should raise their immune system through sport. In the past, sport for me was a complete non-sense and a time-waster. Why would I want to sweat myself when I can enjoy another one hour in my warm bed? But I (finally) tried to do it for a whole week and felt so much better afterward that it just changed my mind completely. 

These days I still got my allergies, but now I'm handling them more skillfully than ever. I even began to be able to persuade myself not to take any medication whenever a reaction occurs. Normally, for example with troubled breathing, I once restored my respiration to normal once the allergen, the culprit, was discarded off my system, by breathing fresh air, drinking as much water as I can, or taking a natural muscle-loosener like coffee. It's good to know that I'm now "together" with my body, that my brain is protecting it from diseases and trying to get it fit. After all, my body is my temple.