Actually, it's clearly jealousy. I have been incapacitated in the last 2 years by cedar, this year is totally under control for me. No sneezing, noithing except about 2 sinus headaches this year. I take a generic claritin each night, but I think Claritin only has a mild effect. NasalCrom every 4 hours does it. NasalCrom is fantastic.
I second that. And same here - I haven't had nearly as many allergy problems as I did the previous years. Though the previous years, I worked at a school with Cedar trees on its playground. D'OH! This year, I went corporate - no cedar trees in the vicinity for me!
Those allergy readings are very random -- 5000 in one spot can be 20,000 in another (or zero). If you walk by a large area of cedar on a day like today I guarantee that the readings were way above 10,000.
I have been living in Austin for 4 years now and this January has been the second worst of my tenure here. Nasal drip, sore throat, runny nose, itchy eyes and nose, sinus headaches. I am taking generic sudafed every 4 hours, it is the only thing that offers an relief. I am also staying in doors as much as humanly possible, not opening my windows in my car or apartment. Sucks because the weather is amazing right now. Hopefully this doesn't last much longer. Anyone ever get allergy shots or steroid shots? I got allergy shots as a kid and not sure how much they would help now a days. I have heard the steroid shot can help if you get one just before whatever you are mainly allergic to hits. The guy next to me at work who gets a shot every year in December to prepare for the cedar swears by it but he seems to be in worse shape than me.
It's been a tough few days for me and the cedar as well. I'm surrounded by them, so it's never a surprise, but this current situation has been pretty abrupt and severe. I don't like taking benadryl, but have been for a couple of days trying to get over it. Yesterday was pretty bad, though I've been hiking out in the trees since the weather is so nice, so that doesn't help. My physician did give me a steroid shot for them last year when it got bad, and it seemed to help overall, but it wasn't as awesome as he acted like it would be. That said, maybe it kept it manageable. I dunno. I'd prefer not going that route, but we'll see how this season goes. I have heard of a couple of remedies, and am going to try that this year to see if they help. I hear eating local fresh honey helps, gonna give that a shot first.
flonase works differently. Its a steroid that treats the inflammation in you nasal cavity. Benadryl is an antihistamine like zyrtec and claratin. Benadryl has been proven more effective than zyrtec and claratin but it has some pretty noticable side effects such as drowsiness.
Have never had allergies and living in Austin the past two years have never had anything. Two weeks ago I started getting extremely congested and have been trying 5 different drugs trying to fix it. Afrin severe congestion spray and Claritin D seemed to work but they seem to not be working after a week and half. Do people switch and go back and forth? Yesterday was terrible. Waiting to go to the doctor as my final option.
It's bad this year. I've been taking Claritin and Flonase, and started before the cedar season began (which is always a good idea), but I still feel rundown. The air is thick with the stuff. Damn, worthless cedar!
Claritin was completely useless for me. I prefer Zyrtec. If I have an allergy attack, I take a Zyrtec and problem solved.
Afrin is the devil's joke on humanity. The more you use it, the more you rebound when it wears off, and feel like you need more of it, ad infinitum. I had terrible allergy problems for 20 years, finally my fourth ENT/Allergist hooked me up with Ritchie's Compounding Pharmacy in Conroe. They make up a Betamethasone powder that you mix with a Neilmed nasal rinse. This puts a much stronger dose of steroid than Flonase right in your nose. It works. (I was allergic to fungus that the worse the allergy and more clogged I got, the more the fungus propagated, so, I also mix Ritchie's Cipro/Fluconozol in my bottles. I swear it will cure a head cold) The betamethasone is about $50 (ships the same day) but I think you do need a prescription. You could just rinse the allergen out of your sinuses with the Neilmed and probably get some relief. Do it a couple of times a day. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betamethasone http://www.richies.com/
Yeah, watched the game out back last night and got a massive dose of allergic badness. Ugh. Wasn't sure if it was the cedar or the mold, but I know the cedar pollen count has been higher earlier than usual.
