Allergy Season

When fall arrives, so does my allergies. My favorite seasons are spring and fall and that is when my allergies hit me full force. When this happens, I might not be getting the rest I need because I have trouble breathing. This, in turn, may make me cranky or out of sorts. When I don’t feel well (due to sniffling and sneezing), I am not going to do my best at anything. I can’t help it and hopefully, the allergy attack doesn’t last too long. I try to take over the counter medicine to help.

I try to remember that students may be going through the same thing, so I try to talk about it at the end of September and the beginning of October. That is the time here when the leaves begin to fall. Leave mold is my worst enemy! By talking about it with my class, it helps them see that I’m human and that I recognize that there may be times that they suffer from allergies also.

I wanted to give some suggestions for teachers inside and outside the classroom.

1.     Have a box of tissues available for students to blow their noses.

2.     Don’t have any active fragrances in the classroom that can trigger an allergy attack. For some reason, in the spring and fall, fragrances only make it worse. This includes perfumes, hand lotions, fragrant soaps, and air fresheners.

3.     Don’t allow students to put hand sanitizer or lotion on in the classroom. (This sets me off every time!).

4.     Be mindful of when you use hand sanitizer or lotion outside the classroom. Make sure you aren’t close to other people.

5.     Allow the student to eat a cough drop if needed. Mentholyptus helps me best. It opens up my nasal passages so I can breathe.

6.     If you are thinking of getting a class pet, check with the parents first about allergies. If my teachers had brought in a rabbit, I would have had to go to the hospital!

7.     Think before you bring any kind of plant. Mums are the worse for setting off allergies.

Do you have any other tips to help avoid allergy attacks in the classroom? Please share.

Photo by Channey on Unsplash

Food Rules

In Winners... and Survivors from Sioux's Page,  Sioux asks,

“Do you have certain dietary constraints? Are there certain foods you avoid?”

When I was little I was allergic to almost everything (or it seemed like that when I was little). I couldn’t eat eggs, spinach, or chocolate. I remember going to an allergist for shots every week. When I was a baby I couldn’t have cow’s milk and had to drink goat’s milk. Even growing up, I didn’t drink much milk and had to take calcium pills. Of course, this means that I couldn’t have cheese either. I remember how sad I was that everyone I knew ate brown chocolate bunnies at Easter and I got white chocolate bunnies (and believe me, they do not taste the same!).

Now that I’ve grown up, I find that I can eat things that I couldn’t as a child. Sometimes, my mouth itches from what I’ve eaten and I will avoid them for a few weeks. It might be the season that causes it to bother me. I also eat things in moderation so I don’t have a major reaction.

As an adult I found that I can’t have a lot of cinnamon or it will bother me tremendously. I have also found that Cabot cheese does not have lactose in it so I can eat that brand of cheese. After a visit to an allergist, I found out that I have a problem with hazelnut. It causes my lips to swell up.

My last dietary constraint I have is that eating too much of the wrong foods make me fat. Of course that isn’t an allergy but I should try to avoid them if I want to lose weight.

This has taught me that it is possible to grow out of certain allergies and to gain new ones as an adult.

I think this is important to share with students. Maybe they can learn from my experiences. Many people don’t think they have allergies but certain foods may bother them.

I never knew that I was allergic to cinnamon until we started paying attention to when I would have severe stomach pains. It was right after eating a baked sweet potato loaded with cinnamon and sugar from Ruby Tuesdays. Then when I would have the same thing at other places, it would happen again. Now I ask for the cinnamon on the side, and sprinkle a tiny amount on the potato for flavor and it doesn’t bother me.

It would be helpful for students to learn that by keeping a food journal, they can figure out what foods bother them. Then they need to learn how to cope with this. Maybe a small amount wouldn’t bother them or maybe it would. Keeping a food journal would help them.

What food allergies do you have? How do you handle this? Please share. 

Fall Allergies

I don’t know if you are suffering like I am but fall allergies have hit. The news says that fall allergy season can be just as bad as the spring. I don’t feel up to snuff but I don’t feel terrible. I sound worse than I feel but I don’t feel 100%. Of course, I still have responsibilities and obligations to fill that can’t be put aside.

This makes me wonder how many of my students are going through the same things. How many of them aren’t bad enough to miss class but just don’t feel wonderful? How many really know the answer but they don’t feel in the mood to answer or think about finding the answer in their brains.

How do you fight this allergy season? What can I do to make the students feel better or survive this season? How can I fight it too and still keep up the quality of teaching that I can feel proud of.

I don’t know the answers to all of these questions but I know I have them. I guess right now I feel so miserable that all I have are questions. I hope I feel better tomorrow.

If you or your students are suffering from allergies, I hope you survive this season too. But remember to take pity on those others who are suffering too.

mage: 'Yellow' 
http://www.flickr.com/photos/20741443@N00/2883411763
Found on flickrcc.net

Fall Allergies

I don’t know if you are suffering like I am but fall allergies have hit. The news says that fall allergy season can be just as bad as the spring. I don’t feel up to snuff but I don’t feel terrible. I sound worse than I feel but I don’t feel 100%. Of course, I still have responsibilities and obligations to fill that can’t be put aside.

This makes me wonder how many of my students are going through the same things. How many of them aren’t bad enough to miss class but just don’t feel wonderful? How many really know the answer but they don’t feel in the mood to answer or think about finding the answer in their brains.

How do you fight this allergy season? What can I do to make the students feel better or survive this season? How can I fight it too and still keep up the quality of teaching that I can feel proud of.

I don’t know the answers to all of these questions but I know I have them. I guess right now I feel so miserable that all I have are questions. I hope I feel better tomorrow.

If you or your students are suffering from allergies, I hope you survive this season too. But remember to take pity on those others who are suffering too.

mage: 'Yellow' 
http://www.flickr.com/photos/20741443@N00/2883411763
Found on flickrcc.net

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

Allergies and Disabilities

Now that spring has arrived, I have had my allergies attack me in full force. I have this happen every spring and fall but every time it happens, I am surprised. I don’t understand why I should be surprised after fifty years of this and you would think that I would be used to it. But every year, I guess that I am hopeful that it will disappear.

I guess that many of my students think this way also. They have had disabilities most of their life and when school starts, they are hopeful that this year will be different. This one will be easier than the past. This one will be that special year that everything clicks. And then it happens. The same thing kicks them in the seat of the pants and they are overwhelmed with disappointment.

Some of the things that I love to do are hiking and camping. But with my allergies, if I forget to take some preventative antihistamines, my nose will start running, my eyes water, and I can’t breathe. The next day my eyes will be swollen shut and I will be itchy all over. Yet, I still hike and camp. I won’t give up and I won’t give in to this miserable condition that affects my life.

I imagine that some of my students feel the same way. Some of them love to learn. Yet trying to learn causes them frustration and trouble in their lives. Yet, some of them won’t give up or give in to this frustration.

I have had many people tell me that I should avoid the outdoors and hiking because it makes me so miserable. My allergies affect my life and they can’t imagine fighting this just because I love to hike. My family hates to see me hurting and miserable when this happens.

Many people have discouraged my students and told them that they need to give up. They have been told that they won’t be able to accomplish anything or be anything that they want. Their disabilities affect their life and many relatives want to protect them from hurt and disappointment.

I won’t give up hiking and camping outdoors because I love it. I believe that even though I experience tough times, I’m a better person for the experience. I have learned many things that I wouldn’t have learned if I hid away and avoided things that made me feel miserable.

I hope to encourage my students in the same way. Yes, they will be hurt and disappointed at times. Yes, they may even feel miserable. But they will also feel joy and excitement and so many other wonderful feelings. The positives will outweigh the negatives if they stick with it. If they really love something, they shouldn’t let other people discourage them and keep them from their dream.

Posted on the Successful Teaching Blog by loonyhiker (successfulteaching at gmail dot com).

Original image: '231 of 365: Open Season'
http://www.flickr.com/photos/70544918@N00/2324551595 by: Lis Ferla