Finally some beautiful weather here and I’m miserable. Tree pollen is the culprit. A double dose of Claritin is not helping and the decongestant I took at 2:30 am to try and stop my sneezing did nothing. Other than not sleeping I can survive the sniffling, coughing, and sneezing, but I want to scratch my eyes out they are so itchy.
Later in the summer there will be smoke in the air from forest fires, that bothers me too, but Claritin is usually sufficient for that. The tree pollen is released in large quantities seemingly all at once, so at least my suffering should only last a week or two.
Keep the a/c on in the house, and change your sheets daily. Along with your daily bath/shower, wash your hair everyday, too.
This helps our family when allergies are at their peak. We’re allergic to assorted pollens.
I stay on Zyrtec year-around; there are store-brand equivalents, so it’s not quite as expensive as it once was. This time of year I am allergic to grass and tree pollen (which, remarkably, has subsided over the years*); the rest of the year my skin itches; I don’t know why.
I used to be the worst case of allergies ever. Constant sneezing — I mean constant. Red runny eyes — constant. Runny nose. The skin on my nose peeled from all the blowing. Wheezing. I felt like I’d been dropped in an alien planet where the atmosphere was only 20% compatible with my nature. (I know; too much Star Trek in my formative years.)
Wash your face and hands a lot. Wear as little makeup as you can/will. Stay inside in the air conditioning as much as you can. Have you tried eyedrops in your eyes? It’s going to sting the first few applications but keep at it and you should get all the pollen flushed out. Also try sleeping on an incline.
No air conditioning, I’m at a cabin. I wasn’t thinking and I opened the windows yesterday since it was warm.:smack: I was in a golf tournament this weekend plus I had to walk the dog and play with him since I’d abandoned him each day, so I was outside for 10 hours each day.
I don’t want to stop living, but I would like to be able to sleep. The shower/hair washing is a good idea, I usually shower in the morning, but I’ll start doing that in the evening instead. I should probably bath the dog every day too, I’m sure he’s covered in pollen. He likes to spend some time on the bed during the day and evening, I guess I should keep the door to my bedroom closed.
Yeah, I have drops and they do sting, but I’m using them.
I’m golfing again today, I’m a glutton for punishment. Since I gave up trying to sleep at 5 am, I have plenty of time to do laundry before golf, yay. goes to change the sheets
Claritin is crap, about 11% better than placebo in studies. Of the second-generation OTC (over the counter) oral antihistamines, Zyrtec is the strongest, but it does cause drowsiness in some people. Personally, I find that the nasal steroids (I take fluticasone, the generic Flonase, but there are a zillion out there) are the best thing for my nose and throat allergies, but those require a prescription, so you might not have access to them on vacation.
Get the recently-made-OTC antihistamine eyedrops that contain ketotifen, like Zaditor, not something that’s just saline or an anti-redness drop. Yes, it’s expensive, but it makes life worth living during allergy season, blocking the itch-causing receptors for hours rather than just rinsing pollen out of your eyes for a few minutes. Make sure you follow the instructions to press down on the inner corner of your eye for ten seconds after putting in the drop, so it doesn’t immediately run out your tear ducts into your nose.
Thanks for the info. I’ll look for the drops, I’m not sure if the one pharmacy in town will have them. Everything makes me drowsy which is why I’ve been using Claritin, but I’ll pick up some Zyrtec to take at night. I do actually have access to nasal steroid spray, my husband uses that year round, and I started using it yesterday morning. I’ve used the spray in the past when there was a forest fire nearby and the smoke was thick. My symptoms got bad over the weekend, last night was the first time I had trouble sleeping, although I had been waking up an hour or two early sneezing and wheezing. Being more careful about keeping the pollen out, especially from the bedroom is something I’ll put more effort into (I’ve mopped the cabin and changed all the linens this morning) and then doping myself up with OTC meds should be enough to get me through the next few weeks.
Mine haven’t been too bad in a lot of years - which I credit to years of allergy shots, and 2 pregnancies (with my first, the allergies peaked a month before anyone else’s… then hardly bothered me after that). What symptoms I do have are generally well controlled with Zyrtec and Singulair.
A/C is your friend, as long as you keep the filters clean (replace monthly or however long the instructions say). Make sure to eliminate indoor standing water (potted plants etc.). Typo Knig uses a neti pot daily, sometimes more - that washes away the allergens from the nasal passages and also clears out some of the gunk. He definitely sleeps better if he’s done that in the evening.
Shower / bathe in the evenings, before you get into bed or even sit on it - that’ll reduce the amount of stuff you’re tracking into the bed.
Zyrtec can make you drowsy (I take mine in the evenings)… though my daughter has paradoxical reactions to things that make you sleepy, and takes them in the AM instead because otherwise she’s up til 3 AM. Not just Zyrtec, but another med she’s on for something else. She’s unique :).
1] wash your face and hands often
2] use simply saline or similar product to irrigate and rinse out the nose (taste like salt water)
3] don’t itch those eyes, use a clean cloth dampened with warm or cold water whatever feels better
4]cut off your head?
stay away from poison ivy, having both pollen attacks and poison Ivy like i do right now is miserable…i could of swore that was a bittersweet vine.
Get a prescription for one of the topically applied corticosteriods (e.g. Flonase). That has been a life saver for me (you spray it in your nose). Also, get in the habit of using a neti pot, especially after bike riding, mowing grass, or golf.
Be careful about the use of antihistimines. I find that when they really work, they make me both sleepy and cranky.
Shots. It’s uncomfortable and inconvenient, but it’s the only surefire cure. And you have to get them for a long time too. I’ve been getting them for a year, and even though I had some symptoms this year they weren’t quite as bad and they didn’t last as long.
I haven’t tried Claritin, but in general Zyrtec seems effective on me. I haven’t noticed any serious drowsiness on it; older antihistamines like Benadryl just knock me on my ass.
and seriously, if Zyrtec works for you, do yourself a favor and get the generic cetirizine at Costco or Sam’s or something. you get like 10x the number of pills for the same price as the drugstore.
Seconding the Flonase. I can’t take any antihistamines without passing right out, but Flonase works wonders for me (hay fever - symptoms localized in my nose, ears, throat and eyes). I also have to keep my fingers out of my eyes - no rubbing, no matter how good it might feel (at the moment) - that will only make them red and sore. I’ve read that Flonase doesn’t have the rebound congestion problems that other nose drops can have. I’m not too worried about that, though, since I use it year round.
One comment on Flonase (and another preparation - Nasonex?) - they REEK.
Seriously. They have this godawful fake-floral aroma. I was grumbling about that to the kids’ allergist, assuming the fragrance was added - and she said that apparently it was an innate characteristic of the medication. I don’t know whether she meant the fluticasone, or one of the excipients. My husband and son were on Flonase and I asked them to switch to Nasacort, which has no smell because I could walk into the room 15 minutes after they used it and would gag on the smell.
Supposedly there’s a new formulation of Flonase that doesn’t stink.
Zyrtec works for me short-term, where I haven’t found many other anti-histamines to do much. The nasal steroids work for the spring season, though this year they seem to have also added a big dose of fatigue, so I cut them out early.
Spending all day in an air-conditioned office building also helps.
Sorry that none of these are really much of an option for you now (except the Zyrtec).
I used to have have awful awful allergies. It was so bad that at least one day every two months I’d be completely incapacitated able to do nothing except lie still waiting for all the allergy meds to kick in. Complete agony. About 20% of the other days the allergies were just bad rather than awful. Tried just about every pill & spray.
I went to a new allergy doctor expecting to get a new batch of prescription medicine to try and he said that before we tried new medications he wanted me to get a NeilMed sinus rinse kit that’s available in any drug store. It’s essentially a bottle with a high volume, low pressure nozzle. You mix one of their salt packets with a full bottle of water, the squeeze the water in one nostril and let it come out the other. He asked me to do this twice a day and come back in 6 months.
I figured running water all the way through my sinuses would hurt like heck and I wasn’t looking forward to that, but I was so desperate I was willing to try anything. To my surprise it doesn’t hurt at all; in fact it’s quite a comfortable feeling because the pressure is so low.
It was as close to a complete “cure” as I can imagine. I felt like a complete idiot because something so simple was able to relieve terrible symptoms I’d had for most of my life. When I went in for my followup he could tell that my sinuses had cleared up (polyps were gone and such). He could have strung me out for years and gotten some boat payments out of me treating me with other medications; instead I pay the drug store $10/month for a 2 a day supply of salt packets and I’ve never had another attack.
My daughter still needs allergy treatment because hers were bad enough it was affecting her blood oxygen level and the doctors were afraid she would develop asthma. She was going to get weekly allergy shots but we discovered that instead of shots you can now get drops that you put under your tongue once a day and hold there for two minutes. So if you think you need allergy shots but don’t like needles ask around and you may find an allergy doctor in your area offering these. My daughter has been on them for about a year now. She has two more years of taking them before they consider the course of treatment complete. She has shown great improvement on these so she is no longer at risk of developing asthma.
Mostly dust and pollen and a nasal spray and tissues work just fine.
Nothing works like good 'ol Sudafed for mega-congestion. Zaditor if you’re not in the a/c for your eyes. And generic OTC Zyrtec is fantastic.
GilaB, Zyrtec is now OTC. :D.
Ellen Cherry, have you ever tried taking your Zyrtec at night? Little bro’s allergist recommended his at night and he saw even *more *improvement with that versus in the AM. No idea why.
