Allergic

As writers we put a lot of effort into making our characters well rounded.  We give them personalities and quirks. Or rather, they have personality and we strive to show it on the paper, to help others know them as we know them.  But a character must be someone the reader can relate to, though I don’t think the reader necessarily has to like the character.  They need to have some good, some bad, they need habits and preferences. 

Allergies have been pretty good this year.  Instead of hijacking my life for a couple months they haven’t been more than a mild inconvenience.  I don’t know why I got off easy this year.  As I was wondering about it I realized I had never written a character with allergies.  Never.  Even though they are something that is a huge part of me and, I believe, I could write very convincingly.  I couldn’t decide if it was because none of my characters had allergies or if I was purposefully avoiding it because they make me so miserable I would hate to relive it in writing.  The Engineer has IBS (I know, too much info) and I don’t think I would do that to a character either.  No one wants to read about it.

Are there things you don’t/won’t do to your characters?  I’m not talking about plot or conflict.  Are there personality traits or habits you don’t give them, either because you don’t know anything about them or because you know too much about it and don’t want to write it.