Finally sneezed until I broke something. Around sneeze 220-250 on Sunday, shooting pains down the left and right arms, across the shoulders. Every sneeze since (many, explosive) feels like multiple jabs with thousands of dull pins. Right arm is perpetually "off" (not pins and needles, but feels like it's just come out of it... only it's felt that way all day).

This has happened before, though it's been a very long time - last year or the year before, possibly.

The internet is full of "OH THAT HAPPENS TO YOU TOO?! WHAT THE HELL IS IT?!" with no clear indication of what the problem is beyond the possibility of a pinched nerve. The proposed disorder is a wash, as I have none of the other symptoms (notably - headaches).

When I sneeze, it's with all the force and gusto of a small hand grenade. The force equivalent of being punched in the head, only without the bruising. This used to be a voluntary choice - I found in my teens that going for maximum effort would reduce the number of sneezes from half a dozen to a dozen "hah-choo!s" to two or three "GUH-FFFFFBLAAARH!s" so I stuck with it. I don't think I could "baby sneeze" if I had to these days - an allergy-related sneeze is a full body convulsion.

Allergies have by-and-large left me alone this year, until yesterday. I'd had a couple of bad days in June and July, but the 23rd seemed bound and determined to make up for the weeks-long pleasure of unoccluded sinuses. A weeks worth of regular sneezing in three or four hours, after which the pain started.

Given that kind of perpetual involuntary physical abuse, it was only a matter of time until something went blooey.

This should abate with the pollen count - if it gets worse or starts to accompany regular garden variety daily sneezing, then something's definitely busted.

Yes, I have health insurance. No, that doesn't mean I can presently afford the co-pay for a doctor's visit... especially when I'll probably walk out with at best advice to buy some claritin and at worse an MRI or something. My ability to work is not impaired, just... irritated.

Generic Claritin is cheap and Works, as long as you don't expect it to work Right Now. You have to get it and take it As Recommended for about a week before you see results. And when you do, it's only because one day you stop and realize you don't have any symptoms.

Just don't stop taking it because you think you're "cured." It takes about a week for it to start working properly; it takes just about half that long for it to stop working once you don't take it anymore.

Alternatively, there's this stuff you dab around the inside of each nostril, made by Chloroseptic (or something like that) that apparently works very well.

I took claritin (generic, got it from Rite Aid) a couple of years ago when allergies were still pulverizing my ass and every day between May and September was a struggle to breathe - usually through my mouth, as my nose was frequently swollen shut and drizzling like a drain pipe. The stuff worked, and worked quite well - it got me through the worst of allergy season and enabled me to breathe like I wasn't some kind of Otakutard.

The past couple of years have been mild - either I'm outgrowing said allergies, or I'm not exposed to the allergens as much. I've only had a handful of bad days this year. By days I mean just that - a day here or there, as opposed to the weeks and months of previous years.

Unfortunately, these off days are severe, and this last one seems to have really kicked my ass something fierce. I've only sneezed a handful of times today (the usual two to ten), but my right arm is still giving me grief. And I don't think claritin is going to fix that particular issue.

When funds allow, I will procure another supply, though - just to hedge against September!