[bpm2000]

I am having the worst bout of (and earliest) allegries ever this year. I've avoided taking meds in the past and have suffered through the years, but this year is some totally different beast. I have tried wal-itin (Walgreens claritin rip-off, I assume), but it does not last too long, and it is supposed to be 1 per 24 hours. Does anyone have bad allergies, and what is your recommendation for the best OTC med? (No insurance...)

thx!

 

[Aman]

I have a prescription to Zyrtec because I get pretty bad alergies from Tree Polen in the Spring.

It's fantastic stuff, and it even helps out when you have a common cold.

OTC.. hmm - you know I just use cold medicine, since it does the same thing for me mostly - stops my nose and throat and such.. just use Dayquil -- it's nyquil's day medicine.

 

[elrod-tom]

I have very nasty allergies...I've been getting shots for them for the better part of 5 years now, and taking cortical steroids in nasal spray form, and taking Allegra. I still have some VERY bad days.

The only thing that really works for me is Benadryl...and that's too bad, because nobody would put up with the side effects (knocks me right on my ass!!) if it didn't. If you aren't going in to work, I'd give that a try. It will at least get your reaction under control.

 

[stevesurf]

There are a great deal of herbal allergy relief products; one of them here. You really have to make the decision whether you're treating the source or symptom. Believe it or not, sometimes swabbing the noses's mucous membranes with aloe and/or glycerine can tackle the source of the problem. In any case, you should really consult an herbologist or find an experienced person at GNC. Good luck!

 

[AuroraProject]

I get bad allergies every year 'round this time. I take Claritin D 12 hour, I tried the 24 hour pills but they don't let me fall asleep!

 

[jpr703]

I'm going to go out of limb here. This may sound a little granola, but it worked for me. When I lived in Texas I had allergy problems for years. A friend told me about a local Whole Foods store that sold local bee pollen. It looked like a bunch a little yellow and greenish grains and contained about every substance known to man that could cause allergies.

He told me that long, long ago the number one way that kings were killed was poisioning. Eventually, some royals started wising up and, starting at a young age, began purposely ingesting very small quantities of known posions. They would start very small and keep gradually upping the dosage until, wallah, they were immune to that posion. He suggested doing the same thing with the bee pollen.

Well, it sounded crazy but I was desperate. I started off swallowing one or two grains of that stuff in the morning. At first it drove me crazy, but after a few days, that dosage would have no effect. Then I'd up it just enough to get a small reaction and do the same cycle all over again. Well, I repeated this enough times to where I could swallow two heaping teaspoons of the stuff and not even sneeze.

I've moved several times since then, and still get the ocassional stuffy nose but I have to admit that my allergies are nowhere near as bad as they used to be. I've probably saved a small fortune not buying so many over the counter medicines and I defintely feel better.

Maybe it's a wacky theory, but it helped me so I thought I'd share it.

 

[wallijonn]

I'm surprised that Seattle has a pollen problem. (I thought it rains 360 days a year there). Here in Phoenix (where it is sunny 360 days a year) all the rain has really set everyone off.

I just get sinus headaches and just ignore them. My headaches are usually late at night, with sinus pressure during the day. Every now and then I'll take an anti-histamine. To me this is just a slight nusiance.

We're expected to have a bumper crop for bees (maybe because of all the pollen?) this year and we had 15 deaths last year to the mosquitoes. In the East the mosquitoes were black with white dots and supposedly the American Mosquitoe, which is all brown, was immune to the disease. Here in Phoenix the mosquitoes are over an inch and a half long, brown, so I don't know if they are infected. Standing water fines are in place and spraying has already started.

I'm just glad that I no longer live in the East. There it was mold, pollen, ragweed and spores that really set me off. Sometimes you could track the pollen all the way from Colorado to Massachusettes.

Hope you get better soon. Take a anti-histermine (allergy tablet) if you must. All you can do is keep the windows closed and the air conditioner on too filter out the pollen. Here in Phoneix we wake up to dust or pollen covering our cars and it seeps through all door openings. So you may need to caulk the house against dirt and pollen.

 

[kramer5150]

I use 12 hour claritin. Works well for me.

Garrett

 

[Bunnyears]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wallijonn I'm surprised that Seattle has a pollen problem. (I thought it rains 360 days a year there).

I'm very allergic to mold spores. I'll bet there are tons of that floating in the air there.

 

[Angelfly]

I get really bad Hayfever in the summer months, and I have found some very, very effective drugs which reduce the symptoms to almost zero.

I use Telfast 180mg antihistamine tablets and Flixonase aqueous nasal spray decongestant.

 

[Daroid]

I suffer from Hayfever too, and I have tried various medicine to help it bugger off. That includes Clarityn, Livostin and some more i don't remember.... The only thing that works for a month is 1 mL of injected Diprospan. Unfortunately there are serious adverse effects like higher blood pressure, weight increases due to swelling body, mental changes, stomach problems, moon face etc... (I don't suffer from any of these adverse effects yet)
I'll need to try that antihistamine and Flihoxane some day

 

[raisin]

Get a prescription for a steroid nasal spray, like Nasonex, very few side affects.

 

[jpr703]

You could always take the "Beavis Approach" and remove your mucous membranes with a pair of pliers.

 

[Romanee]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jpr703 You could always take the "Beavis Approach" and remove your mucous membranes with a pair of pliers.

FINALLY! A PRACTICAL APPROACH!!!!!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA....

HEH HehHeh HmHm Heh HehHeh. (sorry... allergy delirium...)

 

[Distroyed]

Near everyone who suffers from allergies have an extremely heightened IgE level, which equates to an over-active immune system. The trick to properly treating allergies is to figure out what's causing the elevated immune response. Some of the more holistic doctors suggest that there's a link between small holes in the stomach from poor diets that leak food directly into the blood stream, setting off antibodies everywhere that react with pollens, molds, and other foods. Thus, you might consider restrictive diets to see if you can find any obvious allergens (dairy, gluten, onions, etc) and supplement it with probiotics to repair the holes, which should, in theory, ameliorate the allergies.

But this is all theory of a small portion of medical practitioners. There's no proper evidence for any of this.