I can't be in the UK in winter. I just can't.

So I have allergies, a lot of them. One of the worst ones is to dust mites, which are everywhere. You can't get rid of them. They're in bedding, which means you breathe them in at night when you sleep.

I take antihistamines, a lot of them. The problem is, the new UK flat has something called "heat recovery ventilation". Because new gas installations are now banned, you have to heat electrically and UK electricity prices have gone through the roof since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, because apparently the renewable producers "have" to charge the same as the gas producers, or some bullshit. Regardless, the upward transfer of wealth to corporate interests that is so characteristic of 21st century capitalism continues. That's another rant, but I feel like ranting due to the amount of pain I'm in.

The heat recovery ventilation is a system that extracts air from bathrooms and the kitchen, and replaces it with air drawn in from outside, but after passing through a heat exchanger to heat the incoming air. The idea is that you don't recycle the stale air, but don't have to spend a fortune heating incoming air too.

Turns out this is profoundly good at sucking moisture out of the air.

In summer this was fine. The outside air was warm. The humidity didn't drop.

But 2 days ago I was in Portugal, where in winter we have to run a dehumidifier to keep it below 80%, otherwise we get mould.

In the UK flat, the humidity is hovering around 25-30%. My skin on my hands feels like it's falling off, but more significantly, my sinuses have completely dried up.

This means I have no mucus protection against the dust mites which I'm inhaling. I've been here 2 nights now. My nose is bleeding constantly, and it feels like my eyeballs are being crushed in a vice. The pain is staggering. I'm having to use opiates to control it.

We have turned the HRV system off, and I am sleeping next to a humidifier. It's got up to 40%. Apparently if we leave the HRV off too long it will start to grow mould inside. I don't know how long "too long" is.

Maybe I will eventually acclimate, but it was like this when I was here a few weeks ago as well, although not as bad. It took a week or so after I returned to Portugal to stop feeling ill.

I feel sick with the pain. We're leaving on Thursday, at which point the HRV can go back on. I think I'm going to just have to start opening windows and take the hit from the electricity needed to stay warm.

These things look like a great idea on paper, but if you are prone to sinus problems like I am, buyer beware, I guess.

The drugs are working now. My passages are still irritated as hell, but at least I can tolerate the pain, and I don't feel quite as sick.