Why I'm Allergic to Utah

I'm allergic to Utah.

And that statement is so not figurative. I'm honestly, truthfully, full blown allergic to Utah.

Or, that is, the air here or something that resides here or blooms here. I really don't know. What I do know is that for a full year I've been having an allergic reaction to this state. It all began a year ago when I thought I had conjunctivitis. One year and a lot of drops later, it was determined that I have Chronic Allergic Conjunctivitis and, according to the Ophthalmologist, it's being aggravated by, in a word, Utah.

The dry climate, the wind, something in this valley is making my eyes go crazy. I've switched contact solution. I've switched (for more than a few pretty pennies) contact brands. I've tried various drops. I've seen the eye doctor enough in the last ten months to qualify us as a dating couple. I've bought new glasses out of sheer necessity. I wouldn't wear the old ones in public unless my eyes were actively spewing goo. Now that I've become a part time contact wearer and part time glasses wearer, owning a pair with my current prescription was imperative.

I'm not having an outbreak of chronic allergic conjunctivitis at the moment. But still, I pop my contacts out in the evening, throw an anti-inflammatory drop in, attempt to hold my tears at bay as my eyes burn with all the wretched dryness of this state, put my glasses on, go to bed--eventually, wake up, put a wetting drop in my eye, and spend the rest of the day poking my pinkie finger into the corners to remove the goo that is pooling there. It's all very glamorous.

And it's making me absolutely insane.

My eye doctor thinks that because of the time of year we moved here, whatever it is that is waging war on my eyes wasn't blooming or the air was different. He thinks that last summer it reared it's ugly head and has done such a number on my eyes that the bumps living on my lids never fully disappear. Then, whenever it blooms or, well, whatever it does, the bumps flare up again.

They crust and goo and it's really quite unpleasant. And then there are the days where the conjunctivitis comes out of remission and it's a real party. There's twice as much crust and goo and we throw some serious watering and stinging and blurry vision in.

When I figure out what it is...we are going to have some serious words.