It all started long ago...

I'm 31 years old and I have lived with allergies for most of my life... or at least most of my life that I can remember!! I remember undergoing tests downtown that must have confirmed my mother's suspicions that I suffered from the same hayfever symptoms she had for years.

For the longest time my hayfever was a mere inconvenience. While I knew pollen, ragweed and other of their known associates were present at most places I "played outside", I coped rather easily. My father introduced me to the game of golf 24 years ago. I now play over sixty games a year and sometimes find myself in rather weedy environments while out on the course!

Over and over I remember my mom asking me if I had taken an antihistamine pill. Most of the time I would concede that I had not, but that was because the "symptoms" were tolerable. Itchy eyes, whatever - I could sleep them away and come morning I'd be fine.

As the years went by that was the extent to which I had to deal with that nasty condition called "allergies". In the late 1990's, all would change. More on that in the coming days and weeks!