This year I have decided that I'm too old to just tough it out. For those springtime allergy sufferers among us, what OTC med do you take and how does it work for you? Any negative effects? Any hippie homeopathic essential oil stuff I should consider?
Subject line typo: should be meds, LOL
Zyrtec. Nasal spray. I challenge if any of it helps. Wife says netti pot is magic.
Zirtec-D when necessary.
Claritan-D is the only other one that works for me.
In the past I've had to use a nasal steroid inhalant, but I've not needed that in a long time thankfully.
Basically if it doesn't have Pseudophedrine its mostly worthless for my allergies and just makes me sleepy.
Unfortunately the Meth epidemic makes getting those a bit more difficult, especially here in the PNW.
Claritan-D works magic + netti pot at night in the shower. Keeps me sane.
Claritan-D for me as well - but has to be the OTC version you have to sign for at the pharmacy counter. The "OTS" (On The Shelf) version doesn't do squat for me.
Generic Loratadine. Cheap as dirt from the wholesale clubs. Works well for me. In fact, I think it cured me, since I didn't even have to take it this spring.
I do zyrtec + flonase daily with Neti pot.. When stuff gets real bad I take this as well allermax The NAC in it helps break down the mucous so I don't choke so much.
Yes.. I have allergies, bad, and two sinus surgeries and two cases of Peri-orbital cellulitus to prove it.
You want one of the many histamine blockers of the current generation: zyrtec, claritin, and famotdine. On top of that introduce Flonase, as it's a great antiinflammatory since it's a steroid. If nothing works, you could also try one of the H2, histamine-2, stomach acid reducers too. Benadryl as a last resort as it completely knocks you out, but damn it works.
*The above is not medical advise, but how I have had to treat my allergies over the years.
I never had much luck with flonase, claritin, zyrtec, etc.
I found out that half a Benadryl totally does the trick. A whole one puts me to sleep like it does everyone else, but a half pill is juuuuust right. So instead of drugging up on claritin etc for months at a time, I take 1 benadryl a day, spaced out as two half doses, for just the month or so that allergies are bad.
If I am inside all day, or it rains and knocks all the pollen out of the air, I can easily skip doses since I get a little antsy about unnecessarily medicating myself. On the other hand I can take a half a pill if I am going to be in a super dusty environment or forget and pet a cat then rub my eyes, or something, rather than needing to build up 2 weeks of claritin/flonase in my system to have any effect.
I use Claritin and don't notice any side effects. If you are looking for a hippie option, look for local unfiltered honey. It does not have to have the comb included to be unfiltered. A teaspoon to a tablespoon a day does work wonders due to the local pollen content. You help your body to build an immunity to the pollen that is local to your area.
I'm only really bothered when the pine trees start painting things yellow, but good old diphenhydramine (benadryl) has worked for me.
Way back when I lived in the country surrounded by brome grass, I took chlor tripolon, which is a basic first generation antihistamine. It worked, and I have no memory of side effects, but I was under 20 at the time. I once took a "non drowsy" thing like Claritin and I felt like I was gonna die, for some reason. Never tried one again.
Instant help for me was to walk in the back porch, open the chest freezer, stick my head in, and close the lid.
Long term solution was to move to the city.
AngryCorvair wrote: This year I have decided that I'm too old to just tough it out. For those springtime allergy sufferers among us, what OTC med do you take and how does it work for you? Any negative effects? Any hippie homeopathic essential oil stuff I should consider?
Nasal flushing is gross but pretty durn effective as a temporary relief thing. It's kinda homeeopathic. Do not dink around with the wrong waters! At the least, it'll physically hurt. At the worse, you can get interesting parasites and such. Nasal cavities are about as close to the blood flow as you can get with water. So no generic well or chlorinated tap water.
Long ago an allergist gave me a weeks worth of all kinds of medications to try. For some work well, some not. We found one that worked very well for me. So of course it's no longer around. None the less, I'd suggest you experiment with various ones to see what works best for you.
Local honey is another homeopathic thing that may or may not help over the long run. The theory is taking a spoonful of local honey exposes you to the local allergens at a low level and helps build up tolerance and thereby some level of immunity.
Get the small packs of Zyrtec, Claritin, and Allegra. Try each and see how you respond - Claritin doesn't do a thing for me, but Zyrtec works. Once you figure out which one works, you can then go to Costco and get the giant pack of the generic version.
I used to use the generic version of Claratin, and that seemed to do OK - but now that Flonase is available OTC, I tried that and found it is way more effective. Neither seem to produce any side effects in me.
My allergies are pretty bad and I have a bunch of sinus issues. Anything with a -D or Benedryl gets my blood pressure up and I feel like crap. I couldn't get a Neti pot to work well but got a nasal rinse which is a fancy squeeze bottle with some salt to add to the water. It usually helps but once I used a bit too much pressure and felt like I blew out my ear drums and got too dizzy to stand. I've also been spraying coidial(sp) silver in my nose and CPAP mask which my father thinks helps him but I'm not convinced yet.
AngryCorvair wrote: This year I have decided that I'm too old to just tough it out. For those springtime allergy sufferers among us, what OTC med do you take and how does it work for you? Any negative effects? Any hippie homeopathic essential oil stuff I should consider?
i have had really bad spring and fall allergies since i was little. last year i started taking bee pollen pills daily and i was skeptical at the beginning but my allergy issues have been cut drastically.
i refuse to take medications unless it's absolutely necessary
Benadryl scares the berkeley out of me, seriously psycho dreams. Claritin is good, and another vote for neti pot.
foxtrapper wrote: . Local honey is another homeopathic thing that may or may not help over the long run. .
You seem to have not chosen the correct word there. I am guessing you mean a more natural option.
Homeopathy is the belief that like cures like and dilution makes things stronger. IE if you have a rash, ridiculously diluting something that also causes a rash like poison ivy and consuming or applying it to the site will "cure" it. A true homeopathic allergy remedy would be more pollen, diluted by a minimum factor of 1:1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 or to the point where it contains zero active ingredient.
I use the combo of zyrtec and flonase to deal with the brutal pollen counts of the Willamette valley. I have had crippling allergies all my life. The zyrtec is fine for a week or so but it really makes me exhausted if I take it for too long. I will find myself spacing out for half an hour at a time at work, falling asleep whenever I sit down for more than 10 minutes and generally feeling like crap.
The flonase also causes nose bleeds if I use it often.
I will be trying other methods this year. Claritin has never worked for me. Perhaps one of the newer formulations is worth a shot. The bee pollen/honey thing doesn't work well here since the problem it is mostly grass pollen. The Willamette valley is the world's largest grass seed producer.
Zyrtec and Nasacort. D level if things really get serious.
Oddly enough, I never really had allergies until my mid-30's. Which was when I was with my non-outdoorsy (now ex-) g/f and stopped being outside as much and especially during the early Spring. I remember in years when I could be outside a lot more riding my bikes, my allergies were much reduced or non-existent. So I'm firmly in the camp of homeopathic solutions working.
Jumper K. Balls wrote:foxtrapper wrote: Local honey is another homeopathic thing that may or may not help over the long run.You seem to have not chosen the correct word there. I am guessing you mean a more natural option. Homeopathy is the belief that like cures like and dilution makes things stronger.
I was going with the more conventional meaning of homeopathy, being an alternative to conventional medicine. Which does happen to align with the general direction indicated by the OP in his first post.
I have never seen a definition of homeopathy as you described it.
Zyrtec makes me sad. I usually tend to be happy, content, or grumpy, rarely sad. With Zyrtec I have a fairly constant underlying feeling of sadness. Allegra doesn't seem to do that and does pretty well with my allergies (Cat and lots of pollens).
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