Spring allergies are driving me nuts again

Apparently I'm allergic to something that's blooming. I'm taking the OTC version of Claritin for it, and it's only barely enough to achieve some suppression of my symptoms. I used to use SudaFed, and that seemed to work better but it made me really drowsy so I don't want to go back to that.

If you're an allergy sufferer, what works for you in terms of over-the-counter or homeopathic remedies?

Ahhhhhhhhhh-chooooo! (papers flying off desk)

Try Flonase, Astelin, Nasalcrom in that order (nasalcrom is OTC). These are nose sprays that you need to start using a week or so before the season starts and then you have to keep using them on a regular basis. The only other allergy medicines that work, knock me out. Run don't walk to the doc and ask for a prescription.

As a side note, Nasalcrom seemed to work best for me before it was OTC. The OTC version just doesn't quite work as well.

If you are going to try a nasal product, Flonase went generic about a month ago...you should save about 50%....

Thanks guys. I'm going to speak to my doctor tomorrow about my options, and I'll ask her about those meds.

Yes, this allergy thing is too much. Has even all the more been aggravated by the prep-work prior (cleaning and scraping of bird turd) to painting!

PhotonWrangler said:

If you're an allergy sufferer, what works for you in terms of over-the-counter or homeopathic remedies?

Click to expand...

IMO, homeopathic treatments have the same effect as wishing upon a star (or slightly less).

You should've seen me 3 weeks ago... the tree pollen hit.
You should see me now... grass pollen hits
You should see me in 3 weeks... something else will hit. :green:

Claritin does wonders for me for the allergy part.
Oxymetazoline does wonders against the congestion (but don't use it more than 3 weeks).

I can imagine that all of that scraping during the prep work loosens up a lot of junk and makes it airborne. How aggravating!

I count myself lucky that I don't seem to have any environmental triggers other than the pollen itself. The local pollen'o'meter says we're high in Mulberry, Oak and Birch right now, so it could be one of those.

I also use flonase for chronic allergies to tree pollen in the spring and mold in the early fall. So far the things that work the best for me are
-Flonase
-Zirtec (probably misspelled that but I'm not going to go check, too tired).

The other major help is to rinse my sinuses before I go to bed and when I get up in the morning. Sounds gross but I've gone from 4-6 sinus infections a year to one last year and not having any at all this year.

http://www.sinus-solution.com/how_it_works.html

I use this formula...
-1 Cup of DISTILLED water (heated in a microwave to just warm)
-1/4 tsp of NON-IODIZED salt (salt with iodine will HURT!)
-A pinch of baking soda (cuts down on any burning)

stir well, put in the neti pot and rinse. After you are done gently blow out each nostril.

The important points are to avoid making the water too warm and don't force the water flow because you can easily damage the delicate sinus tissues.

yup, flonase is good stuff, any nasal steroid spray would be OK really. I also do the nasal wash thing, but I have got a pot from walgreens the http://www.sinucleanse.com/ you can mix up your own solution, but having the right pot makes it much easier and less troublesome. I do it before bed really helps the post nasal drop that otherwise tries to keep me awake.

The flonase stuff is REALLY expensive as I recall (although if it's generic now thats great!). Might want to try some nasal irrigation first, but if your symptoms are that severe, get the spray going asap as it takes a week or so to kick in.

I have bad spring and late summer allergies. Never tried to figure out what it is. Usually don't take anything and just suffer through it, since the only thing's I've used in the past work like sleeping pills. Might try Claritine this year.

I have spring allergies too: tree pollen I think. Before taking Flonase I would get so stuffed up in spring that my ears would pop when I swollowed. I also get very itchy eyes and have lots of sneezing. I take generic Claritin (Loratadine) for that.

Greg

I never had allergy symptoms until I'd lived in the San Joaquin Valley for a few years. I guess all the ag and pesticides finally got to me.

I get some sinus congestion (usually not too bad) and fatigue. And I go through the constant water-eyes thing too.

Over the past five years, I've had spring episodes of dizziness, lasting from a couple of days to all week. Previous years had been mild, but last year I was bedridden for the better (or worse, I guess) part of a week.

Anybody else have trouble mainly with fatigue and vertigo from your allergies? Does this sound unusual?

I am alergic to a bunch of different types of pollen -- dont know all of them exactly. But I do know one of the ones I have the most trouble with is Juniper. Its nasty nasty stuff :sick2: .

Ive tried alot of the OTC stuff. Claritin is Ok, but it also tends to knock me out despite it supposedly being non-drowsy. The best Ive found is Allegra (not OTC). You can probably get free samples from your doctor to try it out.

On the news this evening, they stated that allergy sufferers will be up at an all time high. Hopefully, by my not scraping all that dried bird poop and it becoming airborne, it doesn't turn into something worse than allergy—bird flu! :huh:

my nose is allergic to almost everything. if there is too much people around me, i will sneeze,too cold i will sneeze, too hot too. even at normal days, if the air is just a little polluted, i will be using up packets after packets of tissue paper.

If you are thinking of using Claritin you should try the generic Claritin (Loratadine) at COSTCO. Brand name Claritin is still about $1 a tablet, while generic Loratadine at COSTCO is 300 tablets for $11! You should try Loratadine and see if it will work for you, since it seems to have the fewest side effects of any standard OTC oral medications I have found.

I too would highly recommend Flonase or something similar. For me, Claritin is too mild and regular antihistamines have too many side effects.

I really like the idea of attacking the source of the problem (the mast cells in your nose that trigger the allergic reaction) instead of drugging my whole body. I am now virtually allergy free and no side effects! I can actually breath through my nose. People don't even recognize me because I was always sniffling or sneezing before! The cool thing is that it is a cumulative effect. It takes a week or two to build up to complete effectiveness but it also takes a long time for it to wear off. If you miss a day or two its no big deal. In fact the first time I used flonase I did so for only for five months and stopped but over six months later I was still allergy free.

The other cool thing is after Flonase I hardly ever get colds now. I think my bad allergies were making it easier for me to catch colds. Plus with all that nose wiping I was probably also getting a lot of germs in there...

what do you do if your eyes are bloodshot?! I'm allergic very to birch, and there are at least 2 outside my house. What eyedrops would work? I feel like taking a grapfruit spoon and gouging them out (it got that bad).

The only thing that has somewhat helped my allergies is Allegra. But the worst part is my eyes...sooo itchy, and I wear contact lenses which makes it even worse.

man here in ga alergies suck that polon will cover everything hope ya get beter pw