Hay fever--and NOT the Noel Coward Play

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I am dying. Can’t breathe; can’t lie down, or my head will explode. My eyes feel like fire ants have set up housekeeping in them using Brillo pads as window curtains. I’m sneezing so much that I have been blessed more than a virgin in Vatican City.

Usually, Sudafed works, but this season’s hay fever laughs, Nelson Muntz-like, at Sudafed. It drops ice cubes down the back of Sudafed’s shirt. Claritin never did a thing for me, so I am stuck putting iced cotton balls over my eyes to stop the itching (and singing selections from Annie).

Anyone else in agony, or is it just me this year?

2

I had similar problems earlier this spring. My gf finally convinced me to see an allergist, and I got the prickly skin test. Not much fun, but I walked out of that office with prescriptions for Patanol eyedrops and Flonase nasal spray and I am much happier. Other important anti-allergy things you can do:

Vacuum once a week, using a vacuum with a HEPA filter, and leave the house for a half hour afterwards.

Wash all bedding once a week in HOT (+130º) water.

Buy vinal mattress, boxspring and pillow encasings. This will cut down on dust mites considerably.

Keep the humidity down in your house, preferably below 50%. This hurts the ability of dust mites to reproduce (they like their mitey love hot and steamy, it seems, though not over 130º. No hot springs for dust mites).

I’m also supposed to take Claritin, but it doesn’t do much for me. And the real problem is, now that Claritin’s over the counter, HMO’s and insurance companies are very, very hesitant to prescribe stronger medications, like Clarinex, Allegra or Zyrtec. You really have to fight to get them - and some, like Blue Cross Blue Shield of MO, won’t cover them at all. Claritin or full-price for the rest.

I hope you find relief soon!

3

Vinal = vinyl.

This is what I get for sleeping for four hours last night.

4

I haven’t had hay fever like this since I moved out of Mississippi. It’s ridiculous this year. Where is all this pollen coming from, Battery Park?

Eve, I’ve seeing a doctor on Saturday. Maybe you should do the same? We should not suffer in silence!

Achoo!

5

Eve my darling I have suffered in precisely the same way since I was 15 years old. Every spring here in Kentucky it’s May 15 - June 15 almost precisely. I’m guessing the time window has reached New York now. For several years I had allergy shots, after the aforementioned scratch-tests and the culprit is GRASS POLLEN. Allegra did the trick for the last couple years, but its effectiveness, for me, only lasts two weeks. I’ve had good luck this year with Astelin, which you spray up your nose. You might ask your doc about either of those.

Poor dear. Beware the Nose of Death, a red and peeling mess, which appears a day or so after intensive blowing. I gob Vaseline on mine before bed.

6

I think I will go see the doctor.

“We lay down, side by side,
I got up but the doctor died . . .”

SanibelMan, my problem is the outside, not the indoors. It’s the damn pollen or tree dander or cloud dandruff or something. I usually get it in the Fall (August 25, on the dot)—this is the first time I remember the Spring being this bad . . . When I can’t wear mascara, you know things have reached the critical stage!

7

My sympathies. The season is just beginning, here … I can feel the warning tickle on my eyeballs, and the vague blocked-up feeling in my nose that indicates it’s tuning up for Steve’s Annual Symphony of Sternutation … I’ve been told I could sneeze for England.

8

Aren’t there shots you can get that will hold you over for a couple weeks? I think I knew someone who did that.

Luckily, I’m not allergic to anything. Good thing, too. I’m a whiner when I don’t feel well.

9

Eve, I also usually get my Hay Fever right around Aug 25th (my husband thinks I’m nuts for pin-pointing it to a DATE, but that is how it is!)

I’ve had bad allergy problems since I was in grade school. I’ve learned a few things. Maybe I have one or two tricks you haven’t tried yet!!

I develope an immunity to allergy meds in around 1 pack. haha So as soon as I finish with one pack of medicine, I switch to another type.

I ALWAYS take a Benadryl before I go to bed (during my allergy season, of course). If I wake up in the middle of the night, I take another one so that I don’t wake up with the gunk eye. (that’s what we call it at my house, anyway). If I don’t do this for the night, I rub my eyes in my sleep and wake up with itchy, itchy, itchy red gunk eye.

I don’t even BUY Visene. To my knowledge, the only thing IT does is make my eyes a little more presentable to other people. Visene never makes my eyes feel any better, or itch any less. It just takes SOME of the red out.

When allergy meds don’t seem to be working, I switch to taking Day Quill. It’s cold medicine, but it works wonders. Dimatap is also wonderful for allergies, but it WILL make you tired.

ummmm, besides that you have probably tried the other stuff I do.

God Bless you again, and good luck taming the Hay Fever. Trust me, I FEEL YOUR PAIN! :wink:

Oh yeah, and Clariton has never done A THING for me either. It’s useless as far as I’m concerned. I actually don’t even bother going to the doctor any more, because they have yet to prescribe me something that works.