First off, Happy MLK day! Now, on with my misery…
I never used to have allergies as a kid. Never. I remember kind of laughing at all the allergy sufferers I would see. Well, I’m not laughing anymore. I am one of them now. And I have no idea how it happened. Is that part of life? Does your immune system start to break down in a way that it allows for allergies to slap you around? I may have missed the memo on this.
What sucks is that I am a “warm weather” person. I live in San Antonio, I was born in Hawaii, and my family is from Costa Rica. Tropical, humid weather is in my blood. So naturally I despise cold weather. But this is where the conflict comes in. If the weather stays cold, my allergies don’t seem so bad. But when it hits about 65 degrees, then I am miserable. Damn, this sucks. My eyes are watering. My throat is raw. I’m congested. But, hey. Who’s complaining?
And then there is the case of allergy medicine. I can’t find one that works consistently. Allegra is as effective as a Tic-Tac. Claritin D? No dice. If you have any suggestions, please send them my way. Or Kleenex. Feel free to send Kleenex my way too.
-Dave Q.
Have you tried those nasal steroid sprays?
I had alergies for a couple of years until I figured out my A/C unit was full of mold and that was the only thing that worked for me.
I hear ya, man. When I turned 13 or so, I suddenly starting getting HORRIBLE allergies every spring and summer. It was to the point where I would sneeze like every five seconds. It was rediculous. Then… when I turned 17 or 18, it stopped. I’ll get congested every once in a while, but nothing like I used to. Oh, and as far as medicine… I can’t really be of much help. I never take anything, because any type of allergy medicine puts me to sleep. It sucks. I gotta say, though, I’m jealous of your 65-degree weather. I’ve always lived in Missouri, but I hate cold weather just the same.
you can’t just pop an allegra and expect it to work instantaneously; it takes time
I am SO right there with you right now… Being just up the road in Austin, I’m getting hit with the same stuff you are, and it’s not pretty. My eyes actually feel like they are on fire today. And what’s worse is that Allegra D has been the only thing to bring me any bit of slight relief, and my insurance company decided as of January 1, they won’t pay for any prescription allergy medicine since they think over the counter versions have the same effect. HA! Claratin hasn’t done anything for years, and Zyrtek puts me to sleep. I feel my productivity levels at work about to take a nose dive as only one Allegra pill separates me from having tolerable allergy symptoms and me wanting to toss myself off the 360 bridge head first! I just don’t get how they think it’s an OK thing to force that on people when Austin is often referred to as the “Allergy Capital of the US!”
Anyhow…sorry for the rant…I totally feel your pain. If you don’t want your Allegra, you can send it my way!!
Since all of the antihistamines make you drowsy, I think this is a tough one. For the watery eyes, there is a solution which worked pretty well for me (in the last few years, allergies have developed for me too). Naphcon A. Hard to find because sometimes they sell out but I love them.
Also I would check vitamin therapy. Since I have an autoimmune disease, I have to watch what I take. You shouldn’t have a problem though.
http://ezinearticles.com/?Dealing-with-Allergies-Using-Vitamins&id=269699
Take Zyrtek at night. Its a 24 hour pill so should last till the next day. Start taking Allegra in early December and this will help your allergies that start with the Mt Cedar season that kicks in during January. It takes approx 2 weeks for Allegra to start working after taking daily before allergy season.
The drugs you mentioned don’t work for me either. The only things that work for me are Tylenol allergy and other similar OTC drugs. Maybe because we’re related, those might work for you too!
I’ve suffered all my life with the same thing, and antihistamines make me a zombie. I actually moved to el paso trying to escape mostly cedar allertgis. I discovered NAET treatments about 4 years ago and have been thru 3 winters with almost no suffering. I found this blog because I’m thinking of moving to costa rica and was ckkg out the allergy situation there. Would love to hear anything you have to say about costa rica. thx
Use a netty pot every night before you go to bed. It will wash out the pollen in your passages and you won’t be steeped in it as you sleep. My children were plagued with allergies that turned into infections and I wish I had known about the netty pot all those years ago. Sorry for your misery…hope this helps.
I suffer severely from Mt. Cedar allergy. I take allergy shots but they don’t seem to help much. What I started using at the beginning of the year was a prescription nasal steriod called Astelin. It helps but does not do the job completely. I started on the generic Zyrtec from Walgreens Wal-Zyr this weekend and using both seems to be doing the trick! Zyrtec does make me very sleepy but I take it at night, so I get a great night’s sleep and wake up refreshed. It works for 24 hours so I don’t have to take another one til the next evening. I hope you find what works for you!