Last year, I developed allergies for the first time around this time of year. This year, right now, they're sucking somewhat awful. I'm using nasonex and claritin and keeping okay with a clear nose that sneezes a lot (better than stuffed up) and my head feeling a bit weird, but it's a whole lot worse without the medication.
What exactly is out this time of year that hates me so much? (In terms of allergies. We've leave other hatreds for another thread. )
Posts: 14745 | Registered: Dec 1999
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There are millions of plants that pollinate in the fall, and this is what is starting to occur. Most of us think of late March or April when things start to come into bloom, but there are so many other species that do it 6 months later (starting right about now).
Literally, it would be impossible to determine what exactly is causing your allergies, Mack, but ragweed is the most common one implicated. Sorry to not have better news, but it is most likely going to be this way for you every fall!
Posts: 1870 | Registered: Mar 2003
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Actually Christy beat me to the punch. I was going to suggest ragweed. Drives many people crazy out here this time of year. Posts: 2506 | Registered: Jul 2003
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Yes you can, but that is a toxic dose. In other words, do not!
I recommend Chlor-Trimeton for difficult periods such as this, but it causes drowsiness. At least consider taking an 8 hour formula at bedtime while still taking Claritin in the AM. Also, try taking Claritin with food as it greatly boosts its absorption (little known fact! )
If Chlor-Trimeton is out of the picture, ask your doctor about an antihistamine nasal spray called Astelin. It works really well but costs about $70 per unit. I do not know how your insurance helps, but this is another option.
Good luck.
P.S. My non-pharmacological recommendation is to stick wadded-up plugs of tissue up each nostril and replace them as they get either soft and mushy or hard and crusty.
Posts: 1870 | Registered: Mar 2003
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Oh, and mack, I used to say I was allergic to school because my allergies always started about the same time as school did every year.
Posts: 9871 | Registered: Aug 2001
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At least you can take something that helps. I've got horrible allergies, and I've yet to find anything that helps me enough to put up with the side effects. As I type this, I'm sitting here feeling like someone hit me in the middle of the face with a baseball bat, with one ear feeling like there's some drainage going on there as well as in my throat, and intermittently not being able to breathe through my nose at all. I will probably be this way until the last of the raisins are dried and rolled and up off the ground - say, the end of September or the beginning of October or so.
Still, you've got my sympathies, mac. I know how miserable it can be. I was never allergic to anything until I moved here to the San Joaquin Valley. Now, I'm allergic to about three-quarters of the things they grow around here (not a good thing in an agricultural area), the worst being the grapes and the worst of that being when the raisin grapes are on the ground drying. That's because besides the grapeness itself, it gets moldy on those paper grape trays, and I'm allergic to mold as well.
Posts: 2454 | Registered: Jan 2003
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My allergies were just killer the other week. High pollen count + high smog levels at the same time = BAD, VERY BAD! I'm still sniffling a bit, but that I can handle. It's the non-stop sneezing and coughing, and the feeling like I've been run over by a truck that I can't handle -- which is hopefully behind me for at least a few months!
quote: At least you can take something that helps. I've got horrible allergies, and I've yet to find anything that helps me enough to put up with the side effects.
For me, there are the ones that are only effective for a day or too (then I get rebound, just like with the OTCs), and the ones that give me side effects that are worse than the allergic symptoms. Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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