# HAYFEVER..on one side of my head? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 7, 2013, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hayfever-on-one-side-of-my-head/655060 "2013-04-07T06:50:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2013, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hayfever-on-one-side-of-my-head/655060/1 "2013-04-07T06:50:59Z")
I woke up this morning sneezling and kerfluffling with an obvious bout of Revolting Horrid Insidious Noxious AaaaCHOOO ( **RHINA** for short) Hayfever (allergen unknown) which settled within the hour to one tickling and constantly dripping nostril (LHS) and one weeping eye (also LHS). The RHS of my head/face is fine and dandy! šŸ˜› Anybody else have weird symptoms such as these? ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2013, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hayfever-on-one-side-of-my-head/655060/2 "2013-04-07T08:05:32Z")
Yeah, but I usually associated that with coming down with an upper respiratory infection/cold. My allergies always seem to involves both sides of the nose. ---
**Author:** ![Lsura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Lsura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lsura)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2013, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hayfever-on-one-side-of-my-head/655060/3 "2013-04-07T12:53:25Z")
Yep. The left side of my head is always more congested than the right, and last week when this yearā€™s allergies kicked in, it was all up in that left side of my head. Luckily, one Claritin kicked it back, then it rained, though now that itā€™s sunny and bloomy again, I need to take one today. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2013, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hayfever-on-one-side-of-my-head/655060/4 "2013-04-07T14:53:47Z")
Yeah, sounds like a sinus infection or sinusitis (irritated sinuses). ---
**Author:** ![sidhechaos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47c2d/32.png) [@sidhechaos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sidhechaos)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2013, 8:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hayfever-on-one-side-of-my-head/655060/5 "2013-04-08T08:38:38Z")
> [@Lsura](#): > > Yep. The left side of my head is always more congested than the right, and last week > when this yearā€™s allergies kicked in, it was all up in that left side of my head. > > Luckily, one Claritin kicked it back, then it rained, though now that itā€™s sunny and bloomy again, I need to take one today. if you have a deviated septum it can make one side worse, as can having cysts jn your sinus cavity ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2013, 8:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hayfever-on-one-side-of-my-head/655060/6 "2013-04-08T08:56:35Z")
> [@sidhechaos](#): > > if you have a deviated septum it can make one side worse, as can having cysts jn your sinus cavity I no longer have the sort of problems \*\*Kam \*\*complains of because I had my deviated septum surgically straightened. Doing so was probably the best temporary-pain-for-long-term-gain things Iā€™ve ever done. ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2013, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hayfever-on-one-side-of-my-head/655060/7 "2013-04-08T10:49:32Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > I no longer have the sort of problems \*\*Kam \*\*complains of because I had my deviated septum surgically straightened. Doing so was probably the best temporary-pain-for-long-term-gain things Iā€™ve ever done. Ahhhh, so THATā€™S the issue?? Iā€™m actually on a PH waiting list for a ā€˜nose jobā€™ (not of the cosmetic variety unfortunately) so maybe there is some light on the horizon! ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2013, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hayfever-on-one-side-of-my-head/655060/8 "2013-04-09T08:31:17Z")
Well it was the issue in my case. ---
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2013, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hayfever-on-one-side-of-my-head/655060/9 "2013-04-09T10:48:41Z")
Nurse checking in. The left side thing may be gravity. I will not even attempt to offer a diagnosis, but before you go under the knife, hear me out. The airways to the lungs (bronchi) are big tubes, and the left one has to take a bend around the heart whereas the right is a bit of a straight shot. The bend in the left one is the reason people in respiratory distress always lay on their left side. Now, Iā€™m not saying hay fever or a simple cold is ā€œrespiratory distressā€, but your body doesnā€™t really know that. The heart leans a bit left, and because of that the right lung has three lobes whereas the left only has two. This means that when when you canā€™t breath well you are always going to sleep with you left side down. If your lungs are oriented with the left side down, soā€™s your head. Mucus is a fluid - itā€™s going to go downhill. And, well, there you go. Canā€™t breath through your left nostril. Again, if you think itā€™s your septum, by all means see a doc. But take it from a nurse. It could be nothing by gravity.