allergies/asthma

[fetchspot]

Does anyone else find the weather.com allergy maps (Mold, Tree, Grass, and Weed) helpful to pre-treat for allergies before heading outdoors for a ride? Do you have any other suggestions on finding allergy pollen levels?

Haven't been riding as pollen is high for the trees currently.

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[pumpkinpony]

I do, but for me I need to look a few days in advance, not just right before a ride. I find the allergy medicine to be much more effective if I'm taking it up to 48 hours prior. I also travel a lot so find that quite useful.

[Owlie]

Does anyone else find the weather.com allergy maps (Mold, Tree, Grass, and Weed) helpful to pre-treat for allergies before heading outdoors for a ride? Do you have any other suggestions on finding allergy pollen levels?

Haven't been riding as pollen is high for the trees currently.

fetchspot

I can't actually go outside during pollen season (April and May for me) without being miserable, unless it's just rained. Then I'll head outside!

[OakLeaf]

If you don't mind looking weird, you might try wearing a respirator. The ones they sell in the drugstores for pollen are useless, but the slightly more expensive OSHA sanding masks work great for me. I only use them on the moto, not on the bici, though.

[Eden]

most allergy meds work best if you start getting them at least a week before you hit your allergy....

I find I'm just as miserable indoors, unless I'm in a super tight HEPA filtered building.... (like at work, I work in a hospital), so I just ride. My nose runs more initially, but the congestion actually clears a bit with exercise and in the long run I feel better.

[fetchspot]

I am so glad others find these maps helpful. I love that this site has mold allergens also. My relatives are all over the US and I can just tell when they will be miserable. Also it helps me plan vacations to areas.

[Owlie]

most allergy meds work best if you start getting them at least a week before you hit your allergy....

I find I'm just as miserable indoors, unless I'm in a super tight HEPA filtered building.... (like at work, I work in a hospital), so I just ride. My nose runs more initially, but the congestion actually clears a bit with exercise and in the long run I feel better.

I start taking them at the end of March or thereabouts, depending on how bad the winter was. (I should probably pick my pill and stock up, given how mild this winter has been.)
My problem is that I must have stupid histamine receptors or something, because every drug I've tried works for one season and then barely the next. It's not so much the congestion that gets me (I can live with that), it's the constantly itchy, watery eyes.

[OakLeaf]

It's not so much the congestion that gets me (I can live with that), it's the constantly itchy, watery eyes.

If you have drug coverage, see if you can get a scrip for Patanol. I still have breakthrough symptoms even with immunotherapy, antihistamines AND leukotreine blockers, and last year I wound up with a raging case of conjunctivitis. The stuff is expensive, but it works.

I also take the old fashioned sleep inducing antihistamines at night. It helps me get on top of the symptoms and lets my sinuses clear a bit.

[Eden]

I only get the itchy, watery eyes at the absolute height of the pollen. My worst symptom is the post nasal drip that makes me cough - and cough and cough and cough until I want to puke....

[OakLeaf]

My worst symptom (assuming my asthma is under control) is the fatigue and general mental fuzziness. The rest of it is just discomfort, really, to me.

I do think everyone with known allergies who hasn't already done a food challenge should try it. It costs nothing and if you identify some food allergens it can really save you a lot of misery. It's the total allergic load that gets you. I basically manage my food allergies, but when the inhalants are high (and also before a goal event) I clean up my diet, and it makes a world of difference.

[fetchspot]

OakLeaf

Have you read anything about Oral Allergy Syndrome? About food allergies related to the typical pollen allergies. That may help not having to limit foods when you are out of that pollen allergy. That is why I like the maps to let me know which pollens are high where I am located.

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[malkin]

We have a local allergy site sponsored by a medical practice.
I saw one of their allergists a few years ago and it was one of the best 'going to the doctor' experiences I have ever had.

I sometimes use one of the way too expensive nasal steroid sprays too.

[Crankin]

I use Flonase almost everyday, all year round (the steroid nasal spray). I recently ran out of it about a month ago and since I am in the process of switching PCPs, I decided to wait until I go for my physical. Bad decision. About 2 weeks ago, I started incessantly sneezing and feeling achy. Then the headache came. Now, I don't get headaches, even with sinus infections. I started the saline rinse and Claritin, enough to make me feel OK when I went nordic skiing last weekend, but by Monday I felt horrible. I ended up going to the walk in clinic at CVS, where she took a look up my nose and sighed... got my Flonase and 10 days of Bactrim, as she really felt it had developed into a bacterial sinus infection.
The moral is: don't run out of my Flonase! My symptoms started just when I was hearing reports on the news about early allergy symptoms because of the warm winter. I wanted to stop taking this because of my osteoporosis, but my doctor felt for such a small amount going into my nasal passages, it's not worth my suffering. In a way, he was right. Once my allergies start, I leave myself open to asthma, bronchitis, sinus infections and all kinds of other bad stuff. While I usually can stop taking it for a few months of the year, now is not the time.

[OakLeaf]

Also, why the heck is the worst pollen weather, also the best weather for drying laundry???

I'm doing the workout clothes, socks and dish towels, but blankets are just going to have to wait.

[fetchspot]

I start taking them at the end of March or thereabouts, depending on how bad the winter was. (I should probably pick my pill and stock up, given how mild this winter has been.) ....

Owlie,

If you start looking at the maps two weeks or so before your allergy season you can get an idea when the pollens will be in your area.

http://www.weather.com/maps/activity...dex_large.html

They really do fluctuate according to the wearther though.

Crankin,

I gave up on the year-round nasal spray steroids. I got just as many sinus infections on them as without. I find I can get by on the OTC Nasalcrom in a pinch.


Mid-January everyone here was getting "colds and flu" but the tree pollen was on a major increase. I used to keep bees and new that birch was blooming in January.

Surprisingly since I found out by testing, what allergies I have, I have not had a "cold" if I keep after the allergy and don't let it go into a sinus infection. It took going to a allergy specialist and ENT to figure on my own how to keep my nose passages open. I hate that I miss out on outdoor activities when pollen is high. Once or twice a week I can get out and ride/whatever if I am on top of my allergy treatments.

Here is a note- my kids are getting treated with allergy shots. A few days after a treatment (the 22 yo, she is 2 years into treatment) she got shingles. I think it may have been due to weakness from the immune stress. She did enjoy reading about how the shingles vaccination is suggested for persons over 65yo while waiting for her pain meds at the pharmacy.

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