I hate spring allergies.I started feeling crummy on Monday and yesterday I had a full-blown allergy attack,despite taking in massive amounts of liquid and some Benedryl allergy pills.I’ve been throwing up phlegm and stomach acid in the mornings for the last 2 days and boy does that suck even worse than you know.
Damn pollen in the air.:mad: Makes me wanna pave paradise to put up a parking lot,cuz at least then there would be less pollen in the air.
IDBB
Sorry I can’t contribute much in the way of invective, but I am sooo pissed that you can develop allegies as an adult.
All through my childhood I had no troubles at all. My brothers occasionally got allergies, but I could go swimming in a pool filled with pollen, dust, and pet dander and have to trouble at all.
Now that I’m 27, I am starting to develop pollen allergies. At this point, I’m only affected if I exert myself around the irritant (I assume because I’m breathing harder and pulling in more pollen?)
Or maybe I’m just allergic to exercise… Either way it SUCKS. I though you were supposed to grow OUT of stuff like this, not into it.
DAMN
Actually, my spring-time allergies are a lot better than usual. Whatever it is that used to set me off in the spring at home doesn’t seem to be as prevalent here. I’ll be paying for my clear sinuses and dry eyes later, though. Come summertime I’ll be one big ball o’ mucus.
Fucking crepe myrtles.
Gah. Preach it.
I was all nice and set to have a perfectly fun St. Patty’s Day weekend, down in Savannah, GA. What happened?
My dieties-damned, thrice cursed, spawn of spammer’s wet dreams, fucknuggets of the asshats, #$@(-rasafrassa, (long tirade shortened for everyone’s reading enjoyment) allergies kicked in.
Big time.
The sinus pressure got so bad, it was triggering migranes. Nasal spray don’t do any good if your sinuses are so clogged that nothing short of a 6000-psi pressure hose can get stuff up there! (And I, ever so lucky me, have a nearly 100% resistance to just about every single decongestant and antihistimine out there.)
Managed to make it through the weekend and have some fun at least, and then fled the area for home… it took about three days before my sinuses realized that hey, that icky pollen wasn’t here, and they didn’t need to spew out enough thick, sticky snot to wallpaper a few houses with! :rolleyes:
Maybe I should move to the desert.
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I have one word. Clarityn. Once I realised that it was hayfever season (i.e. from Mid-March till late August), I went out, bought me a box of these, and I’ve been fine. Yeah, sure my eyes still itch slightly, but I can breathe! My sinuses don’t block up causing me nasty headaches, migranes and the such like.
Hurrah for Clarityn!
Might I add a quick rant about how I’ve had allergies since I was a wee-one and now NONE of the allergy meds work. Yes, ladies and gents, I am now left to suffer a head full of snot, watery eyes, headaches and scratchy throats without any aid becuase I have used and become immune to all allergy meds. If a new one comes out, I get relief for about 2 weeks, and then on my own again.
Thanks mom and dad for keeping an immaculate household as I was younger and not letting me build up any tolerances.
Gotta start-up the allergy shots again to build future tolerances, but I cant until I live somewhere for over 2 years. UGG.
(I don’t really blame my parents, they were doing what the scientists of their day told them too. Now the scientists say different, … . )
If Claritin weren’t so expensive (and I actually had health insurance,which I don’t right now)I’d buy the stuff.I once swiped some from MIL’s bathroom when we were over there and I had an attack and BOY is that good stuff.
My parents kept a fairly clean household but not as clean as your parents’ apparntly,grettle. My kid brother and I also took allergy shots for TWO years and my parents thought we were all fixed up. THey were SO wrong.
I’m just lucky I’m not allergic to pet dander or I’d be up a crick without no paddles.
IDBB
Oxygen…I need oxygen! 
grabs her Kleenex and allergy meds to go make like a vegetable on the couch
FWIW. now that loratadine (Claritin) is OTC, many large HMOs have reclassified non sedating antihistamines, so that they won’t pay for them at all (even ones like Allegra that are still by Rx only).
They expect to save billions by having the consumer pay for the entire cost.
The good news is that there are now generic versions of loratadine…so the price is coming down somewhat.
One dose of Claritin is now about a dollar. Not bad for a day’s relief. I’m happy for everyone without insurence for whom Claritin helps, but a little frustrated that what used to cost us a $6.00 co-pay now costs $30.
How horrible. Especially for all the people for whom Claritin does not work. It doesn’t help everyone! HMOs are so evil.
My own allergy rant: although I do not suffer from allergies myself, my husband does. When he has an attack- he snores.
AT LEAST 2 years ago, Dateline NBC did a story about a revolutionary allergy shot that went directly to the cellular level and would be out SOON. They did a 15 minute story about this shot, which you would go and have once a month.
Where is it???
The worst thing about my allergies is that they wire me up all day , cause depression, and then tire me out early in the evening. I started taking creatine because it gives me energy to combat these symptoms. (I’ll probably stroke out any minute, but I feel better)
Where is that allergy shot?
Here in the UK, Claritin is OTC stuff, and boy is it good. Its expensive however, I think I paid £10 for a box of 20…
AAARRRGGGHHHH
Allergy season hasn’t quite started yet here in North Dakota. People wonder why I love winter so much. It’s not the cold I like…it’s the three month reprieve that I get from late December to early April.
What am I allergic to? Don’t laugh…I have a severe allergy to grass. Mowing the lawn is simply out of the question for me…and I would like to kill my neighbor who insists on mowing his lawn at 5 AM during the summer despite my persistant insistance that he warn me a day ahead of time so I can close my windows. There is nothing like waking up to dry heaves at the wee hours of the morning because my mucous membranes feel they need to inject snot down my throat.
Oh well…thanks for the thread so I can rant. However, I must also point out that I have another condition called acute sinusitis. This is a very minor annoyance, though it can get very severe when combined with allergies. I live in a predominantly humid climate which only aggravates the symptoms. Anyone not familiar with it? Well…you have a friend who insists on snorting mucous out of his sinuses even after a tissue is offered? That’s me. I can’t dislodge anything out of my sinuses unless it is dislodged internally. When I have a cold, my nose doesn’t run anywhere besides down my throat. Please stop telling me that the habit is disgusting. I agree with you, but I have no other choice.
Finally, I have tried evey medication on the market to help my endeavor. Basically put, with any drug I have ever taken, I get the negative side affects without any benefits. Over the years, I have taken Hismanol, Clarityn, Tavis-D, as well as many others I cannot remember. I have given up all hope.
Though I do have a dream to one day move to a drier climate. I made a trip down to Pheonix a couple of years ago. When the plane started to descend toward the Phoenix airport, my head felt as if it was going to explode. A piercing pain shot from the bridge of my nose under each eye. It then proceeded to dart past my temples to my ears before it finally ended at the base of my skull. The passenger next to me noticed my agony and asked me something…I couldn’t hear her so I couldn’t respond. I spent the entire night and the entire next day in bed fighting the horrible migraine.
I swore I’d never fly again, but I needed to get back home. Amazingly enough, the dryness of the air had my sinuses completely clear within three days…but then I started to get bloody noses. I hadn’t had a bloody nose since I was about ten years old, so I was quite alarmed. However, the trip back was quite pleasant.
That trip to Pheonix was the only time in my life where my sinuses have ever been completely clear. It was great.
SPRING allergies? You mean some people only have allergies in the spring? Gee, I wish I were that lucky. 
I have them year-round, mainly becuase I am allergic to dust, and becuase I am also allergic to mountain cedar, which in this part of the country flies in around late fall and stays all winter.
I also have asthma!
Singular was supposed to be the cure-all, and it’s not. It does great for my asthma, but it only moderately affects my allergies.
Only ONE antihistamine medication has ever worked for me - triprolidine, which is in Actifed. Unfortunately, the only way it is sold is with pseudoephedrine, which means after 30 years I have built up an immunity to it, so when I have a cold and really NEED the decongestant it is useless.
I started out with Seldane - no good. Then went to Hismanal - no good. Then tried the Claritin - still no luck.
The actifed works well but I can only take it nights and weekends because after all this time it still knocks me out.
And even it does nothing for the itchy, running eyes. I tried Patanol a few years ago and I might as well have been putting saline drops in my eyes.
Speak of the devil. Just opened my mail…and got a letter from Wellmark, our HMO.
As of April 1, they have moved Allegra and Zyrtec to the “3rd tier” of their coverage system. Clarinex was already 3rd tier. Generic drugs are 1st tier…other covered drugs that you have a higher co-pay for are 2nd tier. Drugs that you basically have to pay for yourself (or close to all) are 3rd tier.
I guess if loratadine doesn’t work for you…tough shit.
i can understand moving Clarinex to third tier…Clarinex is just Schering-Plough’s way of weasling more money out of its patent…it’s essentially the same thing as Claritin.
Not all non-sedating antihistamines work for all people though…saying that generic loratadine is an equivalent substitute for allegra or zyrtec seems a bit silly.
In typical HMO fashion…they bury the news about the 3rd tier status. There is a letter that first “encourages” the members to consider generic loratadine. They phrase it “There are some exciting new options that wil make it easier and more convienent than ever to treat your allergies”…then explains the cost savings from Rx Claritin to generic loratadine…all fine and dandy.
They also include a brochure explaining other ways to reduce problems with allergies…it’s only buried on the back of the brochure that allegra and zyrtec are now 3rd tier.
I already use loratadine…so this is actually good news for me. Generic loratadine will be cheaper than my co-pay for Rx Claritin. Not only is Allavert cheaper (about 52 cents a pill)…but now there are cheaper store brands (K-mart and Walgreens both have their store brand of loratadine…I imagine other stores do also)
It just seems like a weasly way to communicate the payment changes…especially for the folks who dont get relief with loratadine, but need allegra or zyrtec for their relief.
Oh holy god, bjohn. I’m so glad to know I’m not the only one! I have the same problems with drainage and medication resistance and sinusitis. Let’s get married and live in the Sahara.
I’m allergic to dust mites, all animal danders, all plant pollens and probably nitrogen or some damn thing. I’m allergic to everything. On top of that, I have that photo-whatever sneeze reflex, so going outside is pretty much just a pain in the ass. My life is hell.
Augh.
Get this: I’ve had allergy & sinus problems most of my life. During high school I got allergy shots and things improved greatly. Then freshman year of college the shots got to be too much of a pain and I stopped.
Then around Christmas I moved from Louisiana to Iowa.
My sinuses have been stopped up pretty well continuously for a couple months now. I’ve gotten migraines from the sinus pressure, plus postnasal drip, itchy eyes, tired out in the evenings, and the occasional mild asthma attack. (My mom has asthma & I get symptoms with allergy attacks sometimes.) I think I’ve built up a tolerance for Claritin by now and, get this, I’m on Adderall which you can’t mix with decongestants! I actually got desperate enough to stop the Adderall for a while; and now it looks like I might be building up a resistance to the pseudephedrine…
Yeah, the people here at school are reluctant to give allergy shots, but I’m gonna go demand some SOON.
I suffer from allergies, too, but I just have to rant about other allergy sufferers who MAKE NO DAMN EFFORT TO MUFFLE OR COVER THEIR HACKING AND SNEEZING!!! Use a damn Kleenex or hankie- that’s what they’re made for! If you feel the need to cough up lung tissue, get the hell out of the room if possible and don’t inflict your bodily fluids on me. :mad:
Speaking as somebody who generally wants to rip her eyes out of her head in late March-June because of the itching, I have two pieces of advice:
If your insurance won’t cover Allegra or Zyrtec, buy them by mail from Canada, where they’re over the counter. It’s still expensive, but about half the cost of what an Allegra prescription here costs.
Patanol is a gift from God. I’m not kidding. It’s a prescription-only, ridiculously-expensive-if-not-covered-by-insurance twice a day eyedrop, and it actually works against the itching, in contrast with earlier eyedrops that hadn’t done anything for me. I usually get a slight, brief headache after putting it in, and it requires not wearing my lenses for ten minutes twice a day, but it makes life bearable again.
Seriously, I could live with the runny nose, itchy throat and chin, and the crushing fatigue. (I still do, actually - the Allegra helps some of that, but doesn’t take it away.) But the eyes are the worst. I’ve given myself black eyes a couple of times from rubbing too much, and generally lived in a state of total misery for several months a year. I’ve actually been wondering lately why I’m always so excited by the first signs of spring (crocuses (croci), snowdrops, golden willows, new oniongrass, all that good stuff), when it signifies incipient misery.
By the way, has anybody else heard of an itchy chin as an allergy symptom? I’ve always thought that was a weird one.
Sing it, racekarl!
This will only be my fourth allergy season. Nobody knows what it is that makes me sneeze and snot from April through August. Claritin worked great…once. Now it doesn’t work at all. Stupid Allegra works for one day, then stuffs me up so bad I can’t sleep at night. The doctors and I play antihistimine roulette, and nothing works. I hate being a snotty mess at my friends’ weddings every summer.
It hasn’t started yet, but it will. Oh yes it will.