Allergies! Man they're hitting me hard!

[jerrybob]

Pollen is bad this year in the Northwest as well. Alder trees are starting to blossom....yellow dust on cars you can write your name in. I take a couple Benadryl when mowing.

 

[CurlyDave]

For years I have used a neti pot to wash my nasal passages.

This reduces allergic reactions to very low levels.

I know it seems weird and strange at first, but it is inexpensive, drug free, and very effective.

 

[Pilot]

Here's some advice from an allergy veteran--50+ years of sneezing, runny nose, itchy eyes, etc.

1. Allegra and Claritin have different modes of operation, according to my allergist. So, you can safely take both at the same time and you won't O.D.

2. When mowing the lawn, use a pollen or dust mask, and maybe safety goggles, the kind that wrap around and just about seal your eyes from all sides. Then rinse your face after you finish mowing and maybe even change your clothes.

3. Get a Neti pot or a Neil Med sinus rinse kit. The kit, you can get from Costco for a reasonable price and it's got enough saline for a season. It's gross, but you use it to rinse out your nasal passages. You will be amazed at how well it works.

Just for info, pretty flowering plants are NOT the source of your allergies. Those plants are pollinated by insects. It's the wind pollinated plants that are the problem, and they may be filling the air with that nasty stuff at the same time as the pretty flowers are out. So don't blame the flowers.

My allergist told me my allergies would calm down when I get older as the immune system gets weaker. Worked for me, I have a lot less trouble now that I am in my late 60's. So, take hope, in a twisted sort of way.

 

[farmgirl19]

Neti Pot is the best for allergies. Can be used several times a day, if needed, with no drug effects to deal with. Also, be sure and shower and wash hair at night, so you clear all of the day's pollens on your body before bedtime. (Otherwise, the pollen on your hair and skin just serves to irritate all night, and you never get away from it.)

My mom has serious allergies, but with the above, she hasn't had to take anything for them the last couple of years.

Oh, and if you have a really stuffy or runny nose, you can make the saline flush solution in the Neti Pot, double strength. Still no worries!

 

[sam5570]

thanks everyone for sharing the info. i have had a rough time with allergies this year i mean bad it started 3 years ago and seem's to get worse every year. my eyes water my nose runs my sinus get's infected and then to my chest. i have been taking clariton it has helped some. this stuff is very hard to deal with never been sick in my life till i turned 55 years old and i have had some kind of problem ever sence. i guess the pharse of the day is i'm getting old.

 

[farmgirl19]

At the danger of taking this thread off topic, I am guessing most allergy sufferers have had "extra" vaccinations in life. Mom used to take the flu shot every year. I stopped that too, and she has done better in health in other areas, as well. Vaccines are preserved with heavy metal (mercury), and I have often wodered how the FDA and PA, and all others involved can state, "There is NO safe level of mercury exposure", and then approve mercury as the preservative to be injected into everyone that gets vaccines. Go figure!

 

[farmgirl19]

My previous post should have said "wondered" not "wodered", and "EPA", not "PA". I may never get used to the keyboard on this laptop. And for some reason, I can't seem to edit. Sorry.

 

[dmccarty]

Regarding the use of Neti pots, a few years ago two people died using them because a protazoa was in the water. Course, you got better odds of winning the lottery than dying from a Neti pot. :laughing::laughing::laughing:

How Not to Die Using a Neti Pot - Forbes

Specifically, instructions that come with the products often leave out the all-important requirement that you DO NOT USE TAP WATER in your Neti. Tap water contains trace amounts of bacteria and protozoa, which is usually not a problem when you drink the water because your stomach acid does its job. But, when you are mainlining those organisms into your nasal passages, exceptionally bad outcomes can result.

If you do use tap water water, make sure you致e boiled it for several minutes to kill whatever might be lurking in there. Better yet, only use sterilized or distilled water.

I am lucky, knock on wood, in that I am no bothered by allergies like other people. Worse case I might sneeze a bit and get a scratchy throat. I will wear a very nice mask, one I paid $30ish for years ago when I was ripping out dry wall, when I mow and there is heavy pollen and we have not had rain. I once was cutting sapling in the height of pollen season and we had no rain. The pollen was all in my lungs and sinuses and it was UGLY. The coughing and retching was horrible. If we have heavy pollen and no rain I wear that mask. I don't care what I look like and breathing is important. :laughing::laughing::laughing:

Later,
Dan

 

[TripleR]

Wife and I tried the neti pot and it didn't do any good, I am glad it works for others. I often wear a mask even in our cab tractors.

 

[dusty3030]

Allegra saves me much misery.
Rye grass and wheat when it heads out rips me a new one.

Word of advice, don't drink beer all day at a crawfish cooking, get smacked down by an allergy attack, and wash down two Benadryls with a Budweiser.
You end up sitting in a folding chair staring at the ground drooling on yourself. Sneezing stops but embarrassing pictures last perpetually.