ok, so I'm 27 this year and my allergies are THE SUCK. I live in the nashville area, so the valley here makes things worse, but to top it off we had a mega-mild winter this year and the pollen count is sick this year. I've tried claritin, allegra, and various other prescriptions to no avail. i'm about to give up and just accept the fact that i'm going to have a funky cough from sinus drip and congestion all f'in summer...that is unless some of you have any suggestions. i'm open to trying anything at almost any cost, this sucks, i can't enjoy the outdoors without becoming a phlegm factory. please, any suggestions? i'm desperate!
I drink a ton of water and hot tea...that kinda helps to brake up the congestion, and helps quite a bit with coughing and sore throat. I also use a lot of cough drops. Hot showers and saunas are good for clearing up congestion, the latter being the best, I think. I've also heard about stinging nettle tea...can anyone comment on that?
Hmm, sounds like me year-round for the past six years of my life. Try Nasonex. It's the only thing that stopped working for me. It cleared me up completely for about 6 months so I stopped taking it, and when I tried to start taking it again, my nose was so raw on the inside that the sting and pressure from using it would hurt WAAAAAY too much and it would make me start sneezing again anyway, so I gave up.
Oh yeah...I forgot about RX medicines. Flonase works great for me, and I just go off it every now and then to make sure nothing dries out *too* much.
eating milk and dairy products makes my sinus allergies much much worse (I'm also in TN). You might want to look into the possibility of a food allergy triggering some of the problem as well. I can't do the meds, so I use eucalyptus oil and menthol crystals in a pot of water simmering on the back burner of the stove to break up the congestion and it works really well.
I to suffer from allergies, used to be unbearable but now I just deal with it. I have started using all-natural soaps and such so thats helped my skin. I suffer from siccan, what the NET(nose, ear, throat) specialist said; which is dry eyes and throat. You could try a humidifier or an air purifier and if vacuuming bothers you try a RAINBOW vacuum they are the BEST. I know I used one for a while. You could also go to the doctors and see if they can prescribe you Rinotan, which is for itchin my mother takes it but it was to strong for me. I have to take a lesser form of claritan which is an over the counter no-drowsy 10mg medicine that is called Loratidine but its pretty much what claritan has in it. If you dont mind being drowsy Benadryl has worked for me but sometimes leaves me feeling like I have a pressure in my head almost like a hang over......lol www.dawnson64.piczo.com
im with the food allergies and the dairy. just think about the consistency of dairy-very thick and phlegmmy-in chinese medicine certain foods (dairy being the main one) are considered damp producing and the sinus congestion is the #1 way dampness in the body manifests itself. maybe consider doing a food diary to see if you can pinpoint what may be aggravating it. some damp foods are: dairy, peanuts, tomatoes, wheat, bread or yeast, bananas and any sugar or saturated fats some foods that help dampness:mushrooms are the best,garlic, green tea, rye & barley, mustard or any serious greens
yeah Loratadine is good or you could try Cetrizine (packaged here under the brand name Zyrtec, I'm not sure what it would be called where you are).
Such wonderful suggestions, I will be taking a close look at my diet as well. I'm not much of a dairy person, I never really liked it that well and I'm a bit lactose intolerant (i can still eat dairy foods, etc). Drinking lots of water and liquids helped today alot, I just hope it isn't my occasional pot smokage that's doing it. Thank you all again for the suggestions, and if you have more, I'm open to them all!! Love ya'll --Kev
this is so useful, ive got terrible allergies, its snowing allergies outside right now, damn pollen. i dunno, lots of cough drops, "ricola" is great, the original type. otherwise ive used the 12hrs nosedrops..but those stop working once it gets really bad. and nasonex does sting like a bitch, however, my dad was told it heals the nose membrane which has been damaged from the use of any nosedrops used too often... i dnt know. well good luck... its all such a drag
