I’ve had mild seasonal allergies before, no big deal.
This year, though, I am DYING. It’s an unseasonably warm and dry spring, and the pollen counts are through the roof. Both Mr. Athena and I are miserable. Sleepy, headachey, swollen sinuses, coughing. It’s been this way for almost a week.
We’ve tried Claritin, and it doesn’t do anything.
Have thought about going to the doctor, but everyone I know says they can’t do much to help.
Is there anything we can do, other than leave town for some non-pollenous place?
There are several different types of antihistamines available over-the-counter, and others by prescription. I’ve found that a couple work for me, while others are as useless as sugar pills. A quick review of (some of) what’s out there:
Read the back of the box, see what you’re getting, see if it works. If not, then make sure that the next one you try has a different antihistamine, or you’re sort of wasting your time.
Those people don’t know what they are talking about. I know of three easy ways to deal with these allergies (which I have, in spades) that a doctor can assist you with:
Other allergy pills: there’s lots of different pills out there, not just Claritin.
Nasal steroid sprays: I can’t explain the science, but pills tend to deal with the symptoms of allergies, but nasal sprays somehow prevent your body from reacting to allergens, meaning there’s no symptoms to deal with. Claritin doesn’t work too well for me, nasal sprays work great.
Allergy shots: a long term answer to allergies. I’m in the middle of probably three years worth of shots and I’m seeing the results. After this course of therapy, allergic reactions are supposed to be greatly reduced.
Go to your doctor and get a referral to an allergist. There really is no reason to suffer through hay fever these days, unless you have a really, really extreme case, in which event you should be talking to your doctor anyway.
I’m in the same boat as the OP. For the past 6 years or so I’ve had seasonal allergies to dust, mold, pollen… the ususal stuff. It has caused a nose load of sinus problems, including at one point chronic sinus infections. The doctor put me on Zyrtec and Nasonex as needed, but they only seem to take the edge off of my symptoms on particularly bad days.
Herre are some practical things I’ve been forced to do which for me seem to help reduce my allergy symptoms:
When the symptoms are bad, I will do a saline nasal rinse twice per day. I used to use the pre-made packages by NeilMed, but was told by my ENT that regular table salt mixed with warm water would be just as effective. I still use the special bottle that came with the NeilMed package, but you could use a bulb syringe to do the squirting. What I do is mix 1/2 teaspoon table salt with 8 fl oz warm water. Then I use a squeeze bottle to gently squeeze the solution into one nostril as I am leaning over my bathroom sink. I squirt into the one nostril until is starts coming out of the other nostril and do this twice in both nostrils. The solution rinses out most of the allergens that the sinuses have caught and help reduce allergy simptoms.
When I’m sleeping at night and my symptoms are so bad I can’t sleep, I wear a dust mask. I bought a package of those masks that painters and workers use to keep from inhailing spray paint particles, work dust etc. I sleep with the mask on and the symptoms are greatly reduced. Again, I only do this if my allergies are so great that I can’t even sleep.
Claritin didn’t do much for me either. I went to the doctor and got a prescription for Allegra, and that seems to work better. It doesn’t mean it’ll work better for you, but there’s a good chance you’ll find something that works better than Claritin.
I also got a Respro mask and use it when riding my bike. It seems to help.
Claritin seems to have a high rate of “not-working”. I remember when it went OTC, a friend was bemoaning it being OTC (more expensive for her as OTC prices were higher than insurance copays). She said that her insurance company would pay for Zyrtec or whatever, once she’d document that they’d tried Claritin and it didn’t work.
Typo Knig also found that it didn’t do the trick. He’s currently on Zyrtec (I think) plus Singulair plus Nasacort (nasal steroid spray) and they’re helping but not enough so he’s now starting allergy shots.
Shots are a long-term investment. They can take months to a year or more to see any effect but I believe they’ve helped me - right now I have less trouble with seasonal allergies than my husband and kids, and I think it’s because I did several years of shots in the early 90s.
The nasal steroid sprays can be good - everyone else in the family is on them (and I probably should also but can’t stand the sprays). A warning - a number of them (Flonase, Nasonex) have an utterly vile “fake rose” scent added. WTF??? You’re having trouble breathing, and you’re supposed to shoot that crap up your nose so you can smell/taste it all effing day??? That’s why we switched to Nasacort, it’s scent- free.
Non-drug solutions: Make sure furnace filters are clean in your house - replace if needed. Air filter units can help - supposedly the Ionic Breeze units aren’t that great (per Consumer Reports) but HEPA-style filters can remove significant amounts of pollen. Keep windows/doors closed as much as possible to avoid letting pollen in. Shower more often if appropriate - usually after I’ve been exposed to an allergen or been outdoors a while, it seems like this will help. Whether it’s the moisture easing the breathing passages, or the fact that the shower is washing away pollen, or totally placebo effect, it seems to help.
My brother had terrible allergies as a kid. He’d wake up with horrible nosebleeds and black eyes swollen shut from them. When he was about 15, he started on allergy shots. It took a year and a half, but he finally became allergy free. He’s 31 now and never has attacks.
I took all your advice and made an appointment with an allergist. Unfortunately, it’s not until Monday.
We have one of those lil’ teapot looking things that you use to clear your sinuses with. I’ll try that with salt water.
Windows are definitely closed. Unfortunately I had to go into work today, so despite waking up feeling pretty good, I feel miserable now. It started the minute I walked outside.
My mother’s had terrible allergies for years now, and went through shots, every allergy medication out there, OTC and prescription, and found very little relief from any of them. The only thing that works for her is D-Hist , which is vitamins and herbs and some other supplements which are antihistamines. Just a thought if the allergist can’t offer you relief.
At the moment I’m dealing with my symptoms with a combination of an over-the-counter antihistamine with additional Day/NyQuil on bad days.
One thing that can help with long-term sensitivities is adding local honey to your diet. It has the allergens in it in a form that the body can get used to more easily, and thus reduces the problem. The honey has to be local, though (I’m not sure what radius counts as ‘local’ on this). (This is something I know about, not something I’ve implemented, so I don’t know how fast or effective it is first-hand.)
In addition to drinking water, I find drinking hot tea in the morning really helps.
There are other OTC antihistamines that are more effective than Claritin. This is pretty well acknowledged, the advantage Claritin has is that it makes you drowsy. Since your appointment isn’t until Monday, if you don’t want to be miserable all weekend, why not ask your pharmacist about the other OTC options?
If you take them at night, the drowsiness shouldn’t be a problem.
I suffered miserably from allergies every year for most of my life. Allergy medications were either totally ineffective, or they would make me stoned/stupid/drowsy/overstimulated/etc, or both.
Then I gave up drinking milk and vastly reduced my consumption of citrus (on the advice of a naturopath).
More non-pharmaceutical ideas: vacuum (preferably with a HEPA-quality unit) and/or wash your heavy bedding (depending on the comforter or bedspread, some can only be washed in the largest laundromat machines, if at all) and vacuum or wash bedroom drapes, if any. Or dust the miniblinds, if that’s what you have there.
My drapes were quite dusty when I cleaned them and vacuumed the comforter a few weeks ago. I think doing so helped postpone the onset of the worst of hayfever symptoms, which I’m now feeling.
Wash your face and hands after you’ve been outdoors, or every few hours, even if you haven’t.
I take benedryl every day, and it helps, but I agree, this year seems especially bad.
My eyes itch like crazy.
Some days the benedryl doesn’t bother me at all and really keeps the worst symptoms at bay, and other days it makes me drowsy. I don’t know what makes a difference in why it makes me sleepy some days and not others.
Benedryl is what works best for me - and I’m using a generic version. I have Wal-Green’s brand, Wal-Dryl. It was, IIRC, $12.99 for a big bottle of 200 loose pills. I think the ‘real’ brand of Benedryl was $7 or $8 for 12 pills in blister packs. I hate prying pills out of those blister packs, so getting the pills loose is great.
The only thing that works better than diphenhydramine (Benadryl) is steroids. Unfortunately, diphenhydramine has side effects like drowsiness or even unconciousness, and while steroids work great the long term side-effects cand be worse that allergies.
Yes, it’s a worse than usual year.
The allergist wants you off steroids so when he/she examines you they can get an idea of just how bad the problem is. Once the season gets underway the nasal sprays and the shots won’t help - that would be something you start with the idea of improving things next year. Short term, better drugs might be the only offer you get - but hey, I’m not a doctor so by all means take the advice of trained medical people over me, a humble life-long allergy sufferer
Claritin, at best, only takes the edge off for me. The chief advantage is that it doesn’t make my drowsy and it doesn’t screw up my reflexes/reaction times. So for mild problems it’s OK but for a really bad allergy attack I have to take something else.
At the risk of sounding like a kook, I recommend cutting all dairy out of your diet. I see that you don’t drink milk, but you don’t say whether or not you eat cheese, ice cream, etc.
It has done wonders for me, and I loved dairy products as much as anybody ever did. But being free of allergy symptoms all year long is better. Skin is clearer, too, and I retain less water.
