A kind of disgusting poll, but I would like to see some serious answers

[dreamshark]

[Poll #1099260]

Comments

[von-krag.livejournal.com]

I've spent a lot of time hunting in sub-zero temps and learning to pace is vital. Sweat next to your skin is really bad for health. Proper gear in layers plus keep well hydrated before and during is key to keeping my sinuses open. Yeah plenty of tissue helps too. :)

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I approximated, because I tend to get given those little "travel packs" of Kleenex (usually my grandmother puts them in my Christmas stocking in festive holiday colors), and so I shove one of those in my coat pocket before going out to work or wander. More than three. Less than an entire box.

[dreamshark.livejournal.com]

And do these little packets last you for an entire winter? Or one trip?

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

It varies immensely. Sometimes a single trip outside. Other times I'll put one in my pocket and not use it at all that time, so I'll just leave it there.

[dreamshark.livejournal.com]

When I was 12 I got a full allergy testing workup and among the usual suspects (cats, pollen, mold, and so on) I was told that I was allergic to cold. Not just "sensitive to cold" but allergic in the true sense: a drop in temperature causes my body to produce histamines. I have never heard of this since, and when I have mentioned it to doctors they looked at me pityingly as if to say, "This poor woman must have fallen into the hands of a quack."

It sorta kinda seems to be true, though. I really do have to blow my nose every 5-10 minutes when I'm skiing or skating or whatever, and I always seem to be the one with a pocket full of Kleenex on the rare occasion that a companion needs one. After I came home from skiing (and emptied my pockets of expired tissues) I found myself wondering yet again whether I really do have an unusual condition or if everybody else is actually sniffling as much as me and I just don't notice. So I thought I'd do a poll. Not a huge response, but the trend is about what I expected. Thanks, folks.

[huladavid.livejournal.com]

Kleenex tends to makes me sneeze--I think it's from the fibers, so (when I think of it) I usually carry handkerchiefs. (I have some from when I lived in Houston, nearly 30 years back, and the problem with bandannas is that I worry that my ass is making a message in 'hanky-code' that I can't keep...)

And as to running in the cold, not slipping is a big one, especially after the crash last year.

[dreamshark.livejournal.com]

Yeah, of course it's a good idea not to slip. I really just put that question in for people who have no issue with breathing cold air. I figure if the FIRST thing you think of isn't "cover your mouth for God's sake" you don't have the problem I do.

I don't actually run at all anymore, being old and fat. But when I was in my late 20's and didn't yet understand that I have asthma I made myself very, very sick by trying to run in November. If I had taken that old diagnosis of "allergic to cold" more seriously I would have stopped immediately when I had my first coughing fit. I know better now. Fortunately, skiing and skating don't seem to be intense enough to trigger the asthmatic cough. I should probably put a ski mask in my pocket, though, just in case.

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

I tend to have a tiny bit of a runny nose a lot of the time, and have a hanky in my pocket nearly always for that reason. I'm not having allergic reactions to anything, and it's mostly a problem after I eat. I don't have to blow my nose unless I am sick. There's even a name for this:gustatory rhinitis. (The same page mentions the phenomenon of having a running nose due to the cold.)

I will count on you for an emergency kleenex in much the same way I rely on eileenlufkin to supply emergency chapstick at cons.

K.