Vasomotor Rhinitis

In a recent issue of Men's Health:

"Doctors usually blame congestion, watery eyes, and serious bouts of sneezing on allergies, but unless you recently moved or changed jobs, it's rare to develop allergies in your 20s and 30s. Instead, your symptoms may be the result of vasomotor rhinitis, a condition triggered by nonallergen irritants, such as perfume, smog, and cigarette smoke, that inflame your nasal mucous membranes, says Patricia Wheeler, M.D., an associate professor of family medicine at the University of Louisville. The allergy medicines you're prescribed won't provide relief."

Since I've arrived in London, I've had puffy, watery eyes and a runny nose that's perpetually raw from all the nose-wiping that ensues whenever I leave the flat. It's especially bad whenever I enter the City, and I've started carrying tissues with me everywhere so I don't look like that crusty kid from the third grade that no one wanted to sit next to. And I'm just going to say it: don't look in your tissue after blowing your nose after riding the Tube - you'll end up walking everywhere afterward for fear of getting miner's lung.

I've never had allergies, and this article totally explains the recent congestion troubles. Yes, I use magazines to diagnose my health issues, and I believe everything they write. Don't judge. The inexplicable part - I'm from LA! The land of orange and purple sunsets! Where all free radicals and particulate matter unite to terrorize the local citizenry!

If we were in Asia, I'd totally walk around wearing one of those surgical masks. Normal there, not so normal here. Damn.