Allergies

According to the Center for Disease Control, “40-50 million people in the US are affected by allergies.”

At this time of year, allergies are making people miserable. Unfortunately the pollen season this year is terrible.

During this time, my nose runs or I sneezing and sniffling which makes people think I have some contagious disease. I almost hate to go out in public because I feel so miserable. Even when I take allergy pills, it relieves some of the symptoms but they aren’t gone completely.

Besides the normal things in nature that set off my allergies, strong perfumes will set me off too. This really causes a problem in restaurants, airplanes and even church. In fact, when I was in the choir, the director had to ask other members to tone down their perfumes because it was causing problems with others as well as me.

I remember growing up and having to deal with this situation in school. Many of my peers were very interested in trying out different perfumes which is normal for teenagers. Since my teachers never had problems (it seemed) with allergies, this was never addressed. I just suffered every year and blew my nose constantly in class. As you can imagine, many of my classmates made fun of me.

Since I had to experience situations like this, I am very sensitive to those in my classroom who may suffer from allergies. I ask that all perfumes and lotions are applied before or after students are in my classroom but not within the room. We have discussions about allergies to certain things including food allergies. Some of my students had never heard of allergies or even imagined that others suffered from it.

So, I ask that any teacher out there consider the things in your classroom that may cause a student to suffer. The student may not bring it to your attention because they feel bad enough. Knowing that someone cares about them and is willing to help with go a long way to making a student feel that they matter.

Have you experienced allergies in the classroom? If so, how have you handled it? Please share?

Image: 'My Life Right Now'
http://www.flickr.com/photos/14177132@N02/2471367343