How California is Trying to Kill Us

So I've started to believe that the state of CA is really trying to kill us.  From dreadful lines at the DMV to hours spent in traffic and smog that chokes the entire city, LA just doesn't get high marks in terms of health. In addition to all that crap, we've discovered that our bodies are certainly taking tolls in other ways.

First, my skin is trying to escape from my body - particularly on my face. I've never really had an acne problem.  I would get a pimple here and there on occasion, but never experienced anything near a "break out."  Until the month we moved to CA. Ever since November, my skin has been waging war on my face, in particular, on my chin.  I have had constant break outs in the 10 months we've been and have tried everything to stop them. I have tried rose hip oil, vitamin E cream, scrubbed and washed my face till it was raw and now I'm using Pro-active. Some would say it's stress related, but anyone who knows me knows that I've been stressed all my life and haven't been more stressed here.  It's also not my diet since that has remained pretty constant as well.  Could be hormonal, but I think I'll just blame California.

Next, sudden allergies! Again, I have never had allergies. I'm not allergic to pets, or foods or even the change in seasons.  This all changed about 2 months ago when I suppose summer started in LA.  It's pretty summery all the time here, but I guess something decided to bloom that made me completely congested.  The second I opened a window, I would notice that I couldn't breathe anymore.  I had to live with nasal spray by my bedside and in my purse just so I could breathe.  My allergies have since subsided a bit, but I still notice on occasion that I can't breathe through my nose or that I'm coughing for no reason.

Finally, our stomachs are more than upset, they are mad as hell. Evan and I have both experienced pretty severe stomach issues since we've moved.  We both were poisoned, we believe by cereal, a few months ago.  Body aches and several trips to the bathroom were the norm for about a week.  Most recently, Evan was violently ill from another bout of food poisoning from a company lunch.  I have never seen him so sick.  And now, I was awoken last night with awful, painful indigestion of some sort.  I'm almost doubled over, but I'm still at work.  In the 10 years that we have been together, we've maybe gotten ill like this a total of 5 times between the 2 of us.  And now in the last 10 months, we've gotten sick at least 4 times (combined).  Something is definitely going on with the food supply in this state.

So far we've survived, but what the heck?! Clearly our bodies are having a harder time adjusting than we are.  Let's just hope that this is the worst of it.