Getting The Red Out

It’s fun when something amusing happens in the mist of misery! Okay, I exagerrate, but it’s allergy season and medicine puts a dent in it but at the peak of whatever pollens are hitting me, it’s never a complete reversal of the symptoms.

This week has been particularly rough on the eyes which to me is far more miserable than clogged nasal passages. Trying to do anything with my photos with watery eyes is just an exercise in frustration.

This leads to a small but necessary sidebar. Normally my allergies are triggered by natural sources like pollen, but I have traveled to two cities in the world where pollution was the culprit. That would be Mexico City and Cairo. Both places my eyes literally burned. Now, if you’re thinking of traveling there, go. I do think I’m the canary in the mine in this scenario. Others in the groups I was with noticed a little irritation but nothing to write home about.The most recent of those two experiences was Mexico City. My eyes continued to be irritated the day after we left and I wandered into a pharmacia to see what I could find. Now, I despise putting things in my eyes, so that gives you an idea of the level of desperation.

The drops they gave me worked great, though, and a year later I’ve virtually been rationing them in fear I’d find the bottom of that magic elixir and then discover that it was something I needed a prescription for here or worse luck a prescription that my insurance wouldn’t cover. I had made one aborted attempt to figure out what the medicine translated to here but gave up too soon. This morning after a soothing dose, I sat down and translated the ingredients online and discovered I’ve been using the equivalent of Visine-A…

Ha!

My magic elixir is virtually as common as aspirin! Not that I’m complaining!