This column originally printed July 12, 2019.
I’ve been thinking lately about allergies. Everyone who has ever driven a car has, at some point, most likely had to put gas in their car. With the modern-day gas stations, where you do not have an attendant who comes out and pumps your gas for you, everyone pretty much has to pump their own gas. Men, women, and even many children have had to pump gas.
There is an unmistakable and very strong odor, a gasoline odor, that you smell when you are pumping gas. That’s to be expected. Gasoline has a strong odor.
I was recently stopped at a gas station. I was minding my own business, pumping my own gas, avoiding the strong gasoline smell as much as possible, when a vehicle pulled up to the same pump, just on the opposite side. I really didn’t even pay attention until, over the smell of the gasoline, I could smell his cologne. Boy, howdy, was it strong.
Now I realize it is possible that his cologne would not have seemed as strong to someone else as it was to me, as I have lots of allergy triggers. But his cologne smelled so strong to me that I had to walk to the other side of my vehicle until my tank was full, simply to keep from choking on that strong-smelling cologne.
Those among us who don’t suffer from allergies don’t really know how proud they should be of that fact. I’ve suffered from allergies for as long as I can remember, and I’ve learned to manage them fairly well. But I have known of people who literally could not go out in public, not even to church, simply because of the mixture of smells that are on groups of people.
One female might have as many as a dozen or more different scents following her around: a scented deodorant, scented shampoo, scented conditioner, scented hair gel, scented hairspray, scented soap, scented body spray, makeup, of course, perfume, and then there would be the scented laundry detergent and scented dryer sheets that she’s used to wash her clothing. Then, if she or someone in her household is a smoker, she’d also have the smell of cigarette smoke on her and possibly the smell of her children’s shampoo and soap. And, if she’s an animal lover that has dogs or cats living inside her home, she might have pet dander on her clothing, the pet’s flea and tick powder, possibly the food that she fed them before going out, or a treat she gave them. All of these might be undetectable to the average person but not to an allergy sufferer.
Individually, these different scents might not pose a huge problem, even for someone with allergies. But that cocktail of scents can be devastating when they’re mixed together. Then, when you take all of those scents from only one person and multiply it by 50 – 100 people, all closed up in one small building, it’s no wonder that the sinus cavity stays in a constant state of turmoil, especially during the high pollen days.
As an allergy sufferer, I notice smells that the average person probably doesn’t. For example, if I walk into a business where the receptionist has a scented candle burning on her desk, hidden discretely out of sight, that’s the first thing I notice. Also, because small country church buildings are generally closed up tight all week, with little or no airflow, they all have a musty smell. I notice it the instant I step inside the door. That’s bad enough, but to alleviate that musty smell, inevitably, a sweet, well-meaning female parishioner will buy some of those strong plug-in air fresheners, which smell really nice to some folks but not to those of us who suffer from allergies. Then I have not only the musty smell to deal with but also the throat-gripping vengeance of that “air freshener.”
As a singer and allergy sufferer, it is very important for my well-being that I take every precaution I can to protect my voice. So every Sunday before I head to church, I use my unscented toiletry items, the one and only perfume I buy (Tabu), and my natural-ingredient nasal spray to flush out as much as possible so that I arrive with a clear head and sinus cavity. Still, after spending only a few minutes inside the church, I begin feeling the effects of the mustiness and air fresheners.
My husband asked me recently, “Have you considered taking an allergy medication on Sunday mornings?” That’s a reasonable question that you might have already thought about as well. Allergy medications are designed to dry up the sinus cavity. The problem with that is they work too well for me, to the point of being so “dried up” that it’s bleeding and painful and not nearly as temporary as I’d like it to be. Then I need a cure for the cure. It’s pretty bad when the so-called cure is worse than the original problem. It seems that allergy sufferers can’t win for losing.
I’d say, “This, too, shall pass.” But the reality is, for an allergy sufferer, it doesn’t pass. It gets better and worse depending on the weather and the amount of pollen in the air outside and inevitably inside as the doors and windows are opened, but it never completely passes.
Bonita Wilborn is Managing Editor, Features Writer, and Advertising Manager at Mountain Valley News and North Jackson Press and can be reached via email at [email protected].
