I'd be careful with the OTC nasal sprays. They're highly addictive and can tear the lining of your nose up. Go to your doc and get on Nosarel or Flonase. Worked a helluva lot better for me than Zyrtec or Claritin.

Fuck cats and the hair/dander that falls off of them when I run them over in my pollen covered car.

Frank

I was addicted BAD to Afrin. Oh man. That feeling of "I can't breathe!!!!" till you spray it. No good at all. I'd rather fucking sniffle.

I'm really addicted to the nasal sprays during fall and spring. I can kick them, but as soon as allergies kick back in I'm using the 12hr sprays every 6hrs.

Wow. Allergy season here seemed to be much shorter than last year. Alavert, Clairitin, and Allegra still do nothing for me. I used Afrin for a day or two with good results. After that I got a hold of some Nasacort AQ and that worked wonders for the next few days, after which it seemed the pollen count for whatever I'm allergic to has dropped below the critical level. The cool thing about Nasacort is that it isn't addicting, but it is a prescription only AFAIK. I still get a little sneezing outside but nothing like the stuffed running nose and can't breath all day, and I'm not even taking anything now. Yay!

FWIW, I was fine using Afrin once a day. It worked pretty well besides the nasty taste once it made it's way to my throat.

I have awful alergies. This tree pollen down here combined with no rain is killer. The only thing that seems to work in Benadryl Allergy combined with a 5hr energy. Even at that the Benadrl wins sometimes and I start nodding off. I got a Cortisone shot a couple years ago and that was the best week in allergy season of my life. Anyone got a lead on some roids?

Neti pot for me as well. Environment change in '09 (moved) and now I have been getting tortured with sinus colds.

There are a few options
Decongestants-pseudoephedrine is better than phenylephrine but only available by prescription in some places
Antihistamines
Zyrtec(OTC 10mg twice daily), claritin(OTC worthless typically), allergra, Clarinex(metabolite of clartin works better) xyzal(metabolite of zyrtec works well)
Doxepin is actually an old time tricyclic antidepressant but it is also the most potent antihistamine available-makes everyone sleepy try 10mg at bedtime

nasal steroids
theres like 10 nasocort, rhinocort, nasonex, flonase etc-they all do the same thing work well

Nasal antihistamines
Astelin and Patanase are the only ones I can remeber.They work well when combined with nasal steroids

Nasal cromolyn-this is a nasal spray that blocks the release of histamine-gotta use it several times a day

other oral meds like Singulair(montelukast) are helpful for some people when used in addition to antihistamines

Yes the netty pot helps some

I would start with a non sedating antihistamine and don't be afraid to push the dose. next add a nasal steroid(need a prescription)
If this doesnt do the trick add a nasal antihistamine or cromolyn
Immunotherapy is really the only other treatment and it doesnt work for everyone-go see a reputable allergist
nasal sprays work well for short term relief but longer term use results in rebound where stopping the medication leads to even more stuffiness-don't overuse them and make the problem worse

I learned something useful this year. The 12 hour Zyrtec-D is excellent. I reported last year that I had problems with Zyrtec causing sleep disruption but that was with the 24-hour version. The 12 hour with the "D" is really good. I take it in the morning and it works all day. I will take a Benadryl at night as the Zyrtec begins to wear off and I have done much better this year than last year.

Claritin still has zero effect if I take it.

Zyrtec works ok after my allergies have started attacking. You know, I think most of these medicines are more of a preventive drug to keep allergies from attacking before they start. Once they start, it's basically useless. Zyrtec works better as even though allergies already started to attack, it can stop it before it gets worse. Claritin doesn't work for jack once the allergies break lose. The nice thing about those drugs is that they don't make you sleepy for the most part.


Now, Benadryl is a whole different story. That shit works wonders. But it can also knock you out cold.

I've been on Walitin-D for about a month now. My eyes are burning and my nose is running right now. I feel the worst right when I wake up. I wonder why since it is so humid outside in the AM that the pollen is flying around. Zrytec does nothing for me.

I've been off med's for about a week now though. I hate the feeling of being forced to live taking a pill. I'm going to be one of those stubborn old people that complain how everyone is over medicated and never take my pills.

This season, I'm finding that Alavert and Claritin are only partially helping my symptoms. Diphenhydramine (Benadryl) fixes me completely, but makes me so tired that I almost can't drive.

It sucks waking up in the morning with my eyes cemented shut and my sinuses so inflamed that I can't breath through my nose. At least I'm not wheezing in the morning like I do at night.

All the rain we were supposed to get has turned out to be a real disappointment. I was hoping for more over a longer period of time.

I'm taking the 24hour Zyrtec (non D) every night and the 12 hour Zyrtec D every morning (yes this is doubling up on the otc dosage) and I'm not suffering at all this year. I'm not drowsy (because of the D, pseudoephedrine) and I am dealing with one of the highest pollen counts in years without trouble. I was actually going to pay to get the regimen of shots this year if I couldn't come up with a decent solution, but I have! My regular doc said that the otc dosage was about half of what I could take so doubling up like that was no big deal. I do recommend trying it. No need to suffer.

I'm dying.
I kinda doubled up on Allegra D- took one 24hr one yesterday at 5pm and one again at 1am. Now I'm all doped up but still sneezing and have a runny nose. Once I polish off the generic Allegra crap, I'll switch back to Claritin. I might try your solution, Steve, but with Claritin/D.

I've been pumping down Claritin, Mucinex-D, and this effing Walmart branded nasal spray (which is the ONLY thing that actually lets me breathe) since October! Ever since they moved me into a new (to me) building this crap has been going on. Swear to god they don't even have an air filter in the HVAC system, every morning my desk is covered in this black filth!

Until the building move my only allergies were itching eyes and sneezing at the first sign of spring/fall. :(

I love my job, but if this continues I'll have to quit..

Claritin and Allegra don't do anything for me. I've tried. I would quit playing around with them if I were you.

Nothing seems to be doing anything for me except that Walmart nasal spray garbage, which will allow me to breathe through my nose (mostly) for about an hour. I've been to the doctor and all he tells me is not to use medicated nasal sprays, just stick to the Mucinex-D/Claritin crap, but at $50 for a box of both and taking 1 pill every 24hr of Claritin and 1 Mucinex-D every 12 hours it's killing me financially and does precisely dick.

Last year I developed a Sinus and ear infection and all they did was tell me the same thing, then prescribe a $175 bottle of Cefdinir (Generic for the $300 bottle of Omnicef.) You want "Hope and Change" with Health Care, start with the mother fucking pharmaceutical companies FFS. Google tells me this ---- came from China anyway.


Basically I've tried everything available off the shelf and I'm out of options. Pseudoephedrine HCl doesn't seem to work for dick. :confused:

I just want to sleep at night again :(

I take Singulair daily and cheapo Benadryl as needed. I find that if you take them at night, they work the best. Benadryl can make you drowsy, depending on when/how you take it. I've had good and bad days with it, but it's better than not being able to breathe or see without it.

Best thing I've found - take showers and change clothes often if you're outside a lot. If i mow the lawn, I come straight in, put the clothes in the basement, and shower immediately. Washing the pollen off your body helps to keep it from affecting you so much.

return my phone calls

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