The April winds are blowing, the windows are opened up to the gentle fragrance of spring, and I fight the urge to run to a frozen climate to save myself from the torture of... (duh- duh- duh-dum...) seasonal allergies.

Seven years ago my ENT diagnosed my extreme vertigo as being caused by an allergy. This was after the exam, hearing test, and the MRI of my head. I was told to take one Claritin per day, and guess what? It worked! Perfectly, like a charm; a talisman that wards off the dreaded VERTIGO MONSTER in my skull. And I went on, only fearing for a few short weeks that the monster would rear its ugly head until I realized I'd been cured!

I continued for years, and as each year passed, so did my fears of reoccurrence. I did observe that if I failed to take this small, white pill each day during allergy season, that my right eye's tear duct would itch and tear up. My voice would become hoarse and gruff, always demanding that I "clear" it abruptly, and if I were to laugh too hard I was overcome by a coughing jag that would cause even the sturdiest bladder to lose control. So, I took my pill from April through November, and found relief.

Then came this past March.

I thought it was a cold. My nose was churning out plenty of excretions but that was only symptom. It cleared up rather fast, and left in it's wake a gruff voice and itchy inner ears. Just as I decided to start the Loratidin (generic, over-the-counter for Claritin), not a day afterward the monster attacked! The sweats and pounding heart, the blurry vision, the dizziness. I leaned back in my favorite recliner, waiting for... HOPING for, it to pass, but it continued on. Intensifying, wave after wave of the "spins" assaulted me until finally I stumbled into the bathroom, and there I stayed for 45 minutes until my husband and daughter found me that way. The wastebasket on my lap, immobile and sweaty, and my insides all retched out.

I have since revisited the doctor, who told me to take the Loratidin each day of the year, and in fact to take two each day. I have kept up religiously. I'll never miss taking them again. But, as the winds blow and my nose stuffs up, and I am hit with a migraine I wonder...is two enough? Dare I change to some other medication? DARE I?