Sarah felt a slight tickle at the back of her throat, which caused her to clean her throat more frequently than normal. She wrote it off as a fleeting ache brought on maybe by the shifting weather. But as the days passed, the tickling became into a constant itching that appeared to be extending to her nose and eyes.Sarah woke up one morning feeling as though she hadn't slept at all, with dry, grit in her eyes. Rubbing them simply made her eyes redder and more irritated, exacerbating the feeling. She kept blinking in an attempt to get respite from the unbearable itching.Sarah saw her nose running constantly and a clear fluid streaming down her nostrils as she staggered into the restroom. She was always feeling the need to sneeze, and when the moment arrived, it was an intense, uncontrollable fit that made her grab a tissue. Sarah's nose was sore now from blowing so much, and her skin started to itch. Her arms and legs developed little red pimples, and she started to feel as though a wave was passing over her body. She tried scratching, but it didn't help; the itching kept getting worse until she could feel small insects crawling under her skin.Sarah had trouble focusing at work. Her nose was stuffy, her eyes were wet, and her throat was dry and itchy. Colleagues, sensing the telltale symptoms of seasonal allergies, shot each other a sympathetic glance. Sarah was eating lunch, and she looked frantically in her bag for her allergy medicine. Searching through the bottom of her purse, she came across a single antihistamine tablet and took a sip of water, hoping it would help. Slowly, the minutes passed, and then the medicine started to work. Her eyes and nose were the first to become less itchy, followed by her throat and skin. Sarah was relieved as the pain subsided and was appreciative of the brief solace.Sarah mentally noted that she needed to get more allergy medicine as the day went on. She realized that this was not the last fight she would have to fight the constant itching in her skin, nose, eyes, and throat because of the changing of the seasons.
