A new discovery

Yesterday evening I discovered that I have become allergic to one of the plants in my back yard. The golden hops plant that I've had for years dies back in the winter, but every summer it threatens to take over the planet and grows so quickly that I swear you can almost see it getting bigger by the second. While I was out in the yard getting a broccoli from the tenty-greenhousy-thing-that-looks-like-it-wants-to-collapse, I thought I'd rescue the eucalyptus tree from the hops that was trying to smother it. I took the scissors to the hops, then pulled strips of it away from the eucalyptus tree ... and then the hops started to retaliate. I very quickly started to develop the tell-tale allergy rash on my hands, then they began to itch and burn, then swell, and then my lungs got grumpy. I stopped the murderous attack on the hops and went to wash my hands as quickly as I could to remove as much of the allergen from my skin as possible, and dosed myself up with anithistamines - double doses of two different kinds, as well as the usual lot I take everyday anyway. The rash crept up my arms from my hands and my hands still felt as though they were burning. My lungs were tight and I felt pretty rubbish really, but thankfully things didn't 'turn anaphylactic', though I rather suspect that they might have done if I hadn't acted as quickly as I did.

Although I managed to stop the allergy in its tracks last night, I still felt quite naff, and today I've had that 'I feel as though I've been poisoned' hangover. There's now nothing to be seen of the rash except for a couple of slightly raised red patches on my left hand, but my lungs still feel tight and twitchy, and my spirometry tests in clinic with my asthma consultant this morning were rubbish, with my FEV1 being only 0.75 litres. For those of you who don't know what this means, it basically shows that my lungs are a pile of pants, because a (female) patient with an FEV1 of anything lower than 1 litre (or 1.5 litres for men) is considered to have severe airway constriction :o( I've had worse spirometry results before, but today's still isn't good, and it still doesn't feel good tonight :o( I'm supposed to be writing an essay, but I think I'm going to give it a miss for tonight, go to bed early and hope that things are improved in the morning.

Ya know, I think I'll be getting rid of that plant in the back yard, and I think I'll get someone else to get rid of it for me ... though I did notice a fair few caterpillars on it so I'll let them have a good old munch away on it, then do that whole chrysalis-to-butterfly thing that they do, and then I'll condemn the plant to death. Pah! I shall get my revenge! See? The effect that vicious, retaliating plants can have on a person are diverse and terrifying ;oP

Anyway, as I was saying, the plant will go when the butterflies have fluttered by, and I will not be slain by creeping tendrils of the golden hops!