Oh, one more thing, entirely unrelated to the other two entries I've done so far today:

I'm supposed to refrain from all dairy products for two weeks. I don't know if I know how to eat, if it doesn't involve something dairy. There's probably cheese in or on everything I eat, plus the fact that whenever I sautee stuff, I usually do so in butter, and I like milk in my coffee, on my cereal, and with my cookies.

But. I'm supposed to refrain from dairy for two weeks. Keep a food diary, too.

I went to an allergist yesterday, for the first time ever. I was told at age 20 that I had "perennial allergic rhinitis," something that had never occurred to anybody in my family - least of all, me. I never knew as a child that other people could breathe better through their noses than I could through mine. I just assumed everybody woke up with one side of their head completely congested and the other mostly restricted. Every morning.

So at 20, I saw an otolaryngologist to have my deviated septum fixed and my tonsils removed (I was a kid when it was out of vogue to remove them, which meant that at 20 I had near-constant infection and abscesses), and after the procedure was done he also saw fit to prescribe Seldane-d for my allergies (the allergies I hadn't known I had, mind you). Lo and behold, I could breathe!

That worked a couple years, until I started having trouble sleeping, so the Seldane-d became Seldane-without-the-d, and then Seldane became a Very Unpopular Drug, and the same doctor put me on Claritin. That didn't work as well as Seldane, and I'd heard many good things about Zyrtec from other singers (whenever you get singers together they talk allergy drugs) so I picked some up when I was in Canada the next time and I've used it ever since.

But I was running out, and since I've actually got insurance again I figured I'd see a doctor and see about getting some more. So he gave me a prescription, but also the paper for the food diary, the instruction to refrain from dairy products, and told me to come back in two weeks. Oh, and I can't take the Zyrtec for two days before the return visit, as they're going to do a prick test and Zyrtec would, understandably, interfere.

So in a couple weeks I get to find out what exactly I'm allergic to (I always tell people "everything" since it's easier, shorter, and close enough to the truth). This'll be weird. At least in two weeks I can have dairy again.

(23 sep)