I think the stress of moving to a place so far and so different from where you lived, and something else besides our climate is at the root of your problems. We've had many Santa Ana events this winter compared to most. They are very dry and windy. I've lived here most of my life and find them very irritating. That being said, they don't typically cause health problems. The air during San Ana events tends to be crystalline clean. At your age it should have no health effect.

With our wonderful internet, it's easy to learn about any topic, like "Valley Fever". Simply type www.google.com into the address line of your internet browser. When Google comes up, type "valley fever" (with or without the quote marks) in the search box. You should get a screen something like this: http://www.google.com/search?source=...=Google+Search . Put more credence on sites affiliated with medical institutions or pure information services less on sites trying to sell you something. A convenient source for quick information is www.wikipedia.com . The valley fever page for Wikipedia is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valley_fever . The distribution map (click on it to make it larger) is interesting in that valley fever is found in Ventura.

You might be having a bad reaction to either flea bites or bedbugs. Both are easy to get. Bed bugs in particular can be picked up at any motel or hotel if they crawl into your luggage at night. My son got bitten up something fierce in a hostel in Rome and reacted strongly to the bites with symptoms similar to what you describe. You can see pictures of bedbug bites at http://hotels.about.com/od/hotelsecrets/ig/Bedbug-Bites/ . Click on the line that says "Gallery Index" to see a bunch of pictures. Click on any picture to make it large. Bedbugs are small, light brown, flat, and hide during the day so they're almost impossible to see. If you have or suspect bedbugs, you'll need a professional extermination service, or burn down the house.

Fleas can live off of you even if you have no pets, if the people before you did. Fleas are easy to get rid of. Use Frontline on your pets, and vacuum daily. Even a bad infestation will be cleared up within a few weeks. Southern California is the center of the known universe for fleas because of our mild winters and moderate climate. Fleas thrive in San Diego to Santa Barbara but they can't survive where the humidity is very low, like the desert. Snow, ice, and heavy rain gets their numbers way down during the winter in places like the Pacific Northwest or the Great Plains and North East.

Please stay in touch with us as you get to the bottom of the problem and clear it up. I'm sure this will just be a fading bad memory before you know it.