allergies/asthma

[OakLeaf]

My experience with echinacea is the opposite. With me, it ramps up my immune system indiscriminately, making my allergies much worse.

The good news is we decided to go ahead with last week's allergy shot and I didn't have any reaction. Phew. Still wish I knew what did cause it though - inflammatory arthritis scares the cr*p out of me.

[Slowspoke]

It's unseasonably warm here and has been for the past few days. My throat is getting more and more sore and I started coughing. The worst part is the foggy brain and feeling soo tired. My DH has not experienced this and doesn't really get how I can be so tired! I have dealt with alergies all my life. I can already tell this spring will be a hard one.

[Slowspoke]

Honestly, I am so tired of coughing! I went to the doctor. I got nasonex and claritin. By the second day, BAM my throat got more sore and I was up for 30 hours straight! No, not just awake, but cartwheels while I vacuume at 4 am awake! I stopped taking everything and am staying indoors and waiting it out. Thankfully my lungs are clear and I am not wheezing at all.

[Owlie]

Honestly, I am so tired of coughing! I went to the doctor. I got nasonex and claritin. By the second day, BAM my throat got more sore and I was up for 30 hours straight! No, not just awake, but cartwheels while I vacuume at 4 am awake! I stopped taking everything and am staying indoors and waiting it out. Thankfully my lungs are clear and I am not wheezing at all.

Slowspoke, are you one of those people who react "strangely" to Benadryl?

Claratin does nothing for me. I've tried Zyrtec and Allegra this season. The Allegra controls the snot fountains, but not the eyes. The Zyrtec manages the eyes, but not so much the runny nose. However, Zyrtec is a 10mg pill (much easier to swallow than the 180mg Allegra, and according to most theories, fewer side effects), and it doesn't have nearly the sedating effects that Allegra does. (Non-sedating antihistamines, my a$$.) My attention span is still shot, though.

Can I go live in Antarctica or something, just until the trees stop shedding? Knowing my luck, I'd probably be allergic to penguins, though...

[alexis_the_tiny]

Can I go live in Antarctica or something, just until the trees stop shedding? Knowing my luck, I'd probably be allergic to penguins, though...

+1 for living in Antarctica. I just went to the school doctor. We went over a list of what worked or didn't worked (just about everything) for my allergies in the past. She's now got me on nasal steroids and patanol for my eyes. I'm worried about the cataracts thing but it's summer all year round here and pretty much everyday is allergy season. Plus, people do this ridiculous thing where they refrigerate all indoor areas with air conditioning to 10C under the outside temperatures and the temperature difference will trigger all my symptoms. Lovely doctor also told me that I need a break from any kind of exercise for a few days because she's worried that the current breathlessness and airways itch I'm experiencing means my allergies are going to give me asthma. What kind of exercise can you do when you're supposed to 'take it easy'? Walk?

[OakLeaf]

I'm speaking from personal experience and not from biochemistry, but Singulair (leukotriene blocker) does much, much more for my mental symptoms than any antihistamine ever did. It's expensive as h$ll, but if your insurance will cover it, it's well worth it to me.

(It helps me with my asthma symptoms too, which I'm apparently in the minority there, but I'd still take it if "all" it did was let me think straight.)

[indysteel]

Here's something I've been pondering. In the past few years, my seasonal allergies went from mild to severe. This time of year is typically one of the worst (the flowering trees do me in). During this same 2-3 year time period, it would appear that my thyroid started to go wonky, resulting finally in a mild or sub-clinical case of Graves. I haven't had a thyroid antibody test done since August, but with my regular use of anti-thyroid meds, it's likely that my thyroid-related antibody load has decreased.

Interestingly, I've had virtually no nasal allergy symptoms yet this season. I've been wondering if there's a connection. Has my immunse system stopped fighting me so badly?