Allergies

Anyone else have allergies? How severe? Do you take anything to help? Is it all year round?

 

Nasacort. Works great for me; I live in the grass-seed capitol of the world and it can be hell from April through June-July.

Nasacort ® | Adult Allergy Relief Nasal Spray | Over the Counter

 

Never got them until last year. Did not realize allergies first appearing in your 40s was a thing. Not severe, just a lot of dry throat and stuffy nose. Haven't really needed to take anything other than nasal spray for them yet, at least.

 

I was diagnosed with allergies when I was very young, maybe six or seven years old. One thing I've learned in over 40 years of being treated for allergies is that doctors do a piss-poor job defining what they are and how they work.

I also have asthma, so I'm always on one set of meds or another. Allegra is a good non-drowsy option.

 

Claritin and flonase worked for me. Both are over the counter now, but were subscription then. I got allergies late and the list most of them when I moved to FL

 

Had a girlfriend once who said, "I like Claritin but I can't take the Claritin D because the D makes me crazy."

 

I have moderate hay fever grass allergies. I am also deathly (not an exaggeration) allergic to Brazil nuts. If I ate one, I would go into anaphylactic shock very quickly. Only happened once, 50 years ago, but that's why I have an epipen. Fortunately, Brazil nuts are easy to avoid in normal life. Oddly enough, I have no other nut allergies at all.

 

You're the first person I've heard of who had the back thingee and got significant reactions. I developed vertigo and they did a bunch of tests, but never determined the reason. It still cracks me up that the nurse did the needle pricks and said, "The doctor will be in shortly to read your back." I have total respect for everybody in the medical profession, but if I was ever going to call someone a quack, it was this allergy doctor. He said, "You're mildly allergic to a lot of things, but nothing serious. Sorry I couldn't help you." He walked out before I could blink. That guy was a Goofball with a capital G. Incidentally, they probably used about 20 needles on me, not the 100 that you endured.

 

After 20 years of cycling through allergy med after allergy med, I went to an allergist. I did the skin prick test and the blood test. Nothing. Zilch. I am not allergic to anything, which is a condition known as non-allergic rhinitis. It fucking sucks and the only thing they can do is tell me to use nasal spray, which seems to kinda work.

But yeah, Benadryl was my go-to as a kid. I can use it for rashes and bug bites, but not sinus allergies now. I was on Allegra so long that it is no longer effective. Claritin puts me to sleep. Zyrtec does nothing. I literally have a box of Kleenex in every room of my house, in my car and carry pocket tissues in my purse, because my nose is likely running 365 days a year. (I once had one of my many sinus infections and the RN asked "how long have you had a runny nose?" Me: "It's Tuesday, so...about 34 years..."