Allergies

[Splendid Splinter]

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

 

[micropolitan guy]

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

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

 

[Cosmo]

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.

 

[outofplace]

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 pish-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.

 

[User 150927]

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

 

[Cosmo]

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

 

[Regan MacNeil]

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

 

[Michael_ Gee]

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.

 

[playthrough]

Been fighting them my whole life. Went to see an allergist shortly after moving to a new town once, and she gave me the skin test where they brick your back with 100 or so allergens to see what's what. My back lit up like the Vegas strip and she said she had seen very few like that before. (So I've got that going for me.)

Took biweekly allergy shots for 30-plus years, then once I moved out of the south for good I gave them up. Just couldn't stand the hassle and figured it was time for my body to fight them itself, with the occasional Zyrtec or whatever. My body hasn't exactly been winning. Granted, I have grass allergies and I'm not giving up golf, so it is what it is.

 

[ChrisLong]

Been fighting them my whole life. Went to see an allergist shortly after moving to a new town once, and she gave me the skin test where they brick your back with 100 or so allergens to see what's what. My back lit up like the Vegas strip and she said she had seen very few like that before. (So I've got that going for me.)

Took biweekly allergy shots for 30-plus years, then once I moved out of the south for good I gave them up. Just couldn't stand the hassle and figured it was time for my body to fight them itself, with the occasional Zyrtec or whatever. My body hasn't exactly been winning. Granted, I have grass allergies and I'm not giving up golf, so it is what it is.

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 bricks 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.

 

[MileHigh]

I did the back test as a kid and also lit up with environmental allergies. I fight them what seems like year-round. I'm constantly blowing my nose just to clear things out. Daily Claritin not strong enough. Just something I live with. And now it's spring.

 

[Wenders]

After 20 years of cycling through allergy med after allergy med, I went to an allergist. I did the skin brick test and the blood test. Nothing. Zilch. I am not allergic to anything, which is a condition known as non-allergic rhinitis. It forking 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..."