Hurrah
Good news - I got the funding for the drawings :-) So now I need to marshal my contributors and go ahead:i) Got to get permission from the archaeology unit to get the artefacts drawn. Hopefully, this won't be a problem as this particular unit is normally very laid back and helpful.
ii)Then I can pass the artefacts (and the ideas for diagrams) to the illustrator and give her plenty of time to sort things out.
iii)Will also need to contact another, more difficult, unit about using unpublished information from their excavations. However, the reason I have had to do this article off my own bat is due to them not even thinking about publishing this important information in the first place. It's now down to professional honour and obligation, so if there's any trouble from them, I shall be laying it on thick, and going above people's head without any mercy.
iv)And then of course, I have to do my bit (eek!) When I have a good idea of how long, etc., I shall contact the lucky archaeological journal of my choice to check they can take it on.
Back in inevitable reality, my face is a warground of allergies. Don't know why, but it's gone off on one again. Not as bad as last time (no anxiety) but blotches keep appearing and one of my eyes is puffy. Cripes, I dunno. It seems to be a food allergy, but anything I eat seems to be causing a reaction. I've decided to go from a one a day anti-histamine which clearly isn't hacking it, back to the heavy duty every four hours Piriton. Just taken the first one, and things already seem to be improving. The only thing is, when the Piriton's really built up in my system, I'll be hard put to keep awake. I don't drive, so that's not a worry, but I do have a life to lead ... I daresay I really shall have to drag my sorry a**e to the Docs, only to be put on another long waiting list.
What the heck, at least I got the funding :-)
posted by Alex Bordessa @ Thursday, July 06, 2006
7 Comments:
Congratulations on the funding :-)
Have you tried all the non-sedating antihistamines? Although they all work by the same mechanism, they do vary in efficacy between individuals so one may work better for you than another. Since Piriton is having some effect, it suggests that histamine inhibition is useful. The three non-sedating antihistamines I can think of are astemizole (Hismanal, Pollon-eze), loratidine (Clarityn) and cetirizine (Zirtek). Cetirizine happens to work best for me, other people I know find that loratidine works better, and so on. Loratidine and cetirizine are available over the counter, but I can't remember whether astemizole is. The pharmacist will know, and can probably advise on whether there are other possible treatments that might help.
It may be the heat and stagnant high pressure system that's trapping atmospheric pollutants and allergens making your problem worse just now, as well as any food allergies. My asthma, which is normally under control, has been playing up the last few days.
Hope you feel better soon,
Thanks Carla :-) Of those anti-histamines you mention, if they are one a day, they won't hold my allergies. I was taking Zirtek up till yesterday, for example. Clarityn is also one a day, plus I tried it a few years back and it gave me a searing headache. Heat could be a contributing factor, as this last time it happened it was hot. Not too sleepy so far with the Piriton
My asthma's fine at present, but it's not for nothing that we chose to live on a hill above the settling pollution line ...
I just take more than one a day if my birch allergy is on its height - and no Zirtec, I need Loraditine. The stuff you get prescribed is stronger but it's a lot easier* to buy the standard counter products and overdose. :)
* First you have to see your family doctor to get a forwarding to a specialist, then you have to wait ages for the specialist to take you on, and most of the time he'll have his own ideas what to prescribe instead of just giving you a receipe for stuff you know works, and it costs 10 bucks to see the doc and a percentage of the friggin expensive prescribed meds - no, thank you: buying several packages of free stuff in several pharmacies is easier and not more expensive. :p
I get the Pre-payment certificate as I'm already obliged to get several types of medication (asthma & eczema = four regular items, plus more if either goes ballistic). It works out cheaper, so it may be cheaper for me to get anti-histamines prescribed through my doctor (or specialist, whenever I get to see him or her) as the certificate would cover that too.
I wouldn't dare deliberately overdose as my body would be bound to be hospitalised - and I'd have to go with it to account for 'my' actions ;-)
I would not do it with just any medication, but the prescribed allergy stuff I did get for some years was the same ingredients in a higher percentage than the free stuff. Same with ibuprofen - I can take 600 against my migraine if it comes badly, but the free ones are only 300. So I plop in two. :)
The free stuff is out of licence now and costs only 3 bucks while I'd have to pay 10 bucks to get a prescription. Stupid health system.
Great that you've got the funding for the drawings. Good luck with i-iv. I didn't realize how many hoops you have to jump through to get your report published! No mercy: that's the attitude I like to see! Be ruthless.
Sarah: Yeah - no mercy. I am the terror of the archaeology profession ;-)
Gabriele: In the UK individual prescription charges are around £6.50 per item (don't know what that is in Euros/Dollars). Some items would be cheaper over the counter and the Doc might say before prescribing. Once I went away for a few days and forgot my inhaler, tried to buy one over the counter and it would have cost something like £40.00!
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