Seasonal Allergies - Just Need To Whine...

[june27]

Sorry, I just need to whine a bit...

I had been looking forward to spending a good part of this past weekend outdoors doing yard/garden work.  Instead, I spent almost all of it indoors doing nothing, because I didn't want to make my allergies worse by being outdoors in the pollen, and I didn't feel like doing anything because the allergies were winning the battle.  

 

Last year (after celiac diagnosis in February and diet changes) was the best allergy year I had in many years, so I had thought/hoped I had turned a corner.  I am still on all of the allergy meds (zytec, nasonex, benedryl at night - though I did stop the allergy shots last fall), and had been doing very well this year.  Right until last week, when my body decided to throw in the towel.  I woke up one morning with a sore throat from post nasal drip, sinus headache, and gunk in my chest (which seems to be increasing every day).  I am still waiting for the symptoms to start getting better, but I think my immune system has rocketed to over-drive.  Sigh...

 

Now its time to go back to doing my rain dance (though it doesn't seem to be helping). 

[GFreeMO]

I am going through something very similar.  I agree with the immune system being in over drive.  I live in the mountains and there is no air conditioning here in most houses..Mine included..so, I am in this for the long haul.

 

I have the sore throat, headache and I cant hear out of my clogged up right ear....ugh!

[Adalaide]

I have simply made peace with the face that I am an allergy sufferer and that is how it is. I grew up in PA and was fine as a kid but always felt bad for my mother who suffered terribly. Then, suddenly the spring I was 17 it hit me like a truck. I've had bad years and worse years and the occasional less bad year, but no good years. I thought that moving west to the desert would be helpful. Little did I realize I was moving to a city known as orchard city in the middle of the desert. Trees are the worst offender for me. Oops. It is a beautiful city though!

 

You get a working rain dance you let me know. I'll do anything that will help.

[Gemini]

 

Sorry, I just need to whine a bit...

I had been looking forward to spending a good part of this past weekend outdoors doing yard/garden work.  Instead, I spent almost all of it indoors doing nothing, because I didn't want to make my allergies worse by being outdoors in the pollen, and I didn't feel like doing anything because the allergies were winning the battle.  

 

Last year (after celiac diagnosis in February and diet changes) was the best allergy year I had in many years, so I had thought/hoped I had turned a corner.  I am still on all of the allergy meds (zytec, nasonex, benedryl at night - though I did stop the allergy shots last fall), and had been doing very well this year.  Right until last week, when my body decided to throw in the towel.  I woke up one morning with a sore throat from post nasal drip, sinus headache, and gunk in my chest (which seems to be increasing every day).  I am still waiting for the symptoms to start getting better, but I think my immune system has rocketed to over-drive.  Sigh...

 

Now its time to go back to doing my rain dance (though it doesn't seem to be helping). 

 

Awwwwww, June...........I know you do not live far from me at all and I wanted you to know that I am going through the same thing right now.  It started about 2 weeks ago, when the mold count spiked after we got some rain and it became warm for a few days.  My little Sjogren eyes do NOT LIKE mold.  It's my worst allergy.  I wear dark glasses everywhere because my eyes become terribly light sensitive in allergy season.  My eyes look awful and no, I do not need another person saying how red they look because I see that every time I look in the mirror, thank you.  I took allergy shots for 12 years and stopped those 4 years ago and had been having a good time of it the past few years.  If you remember, it was a very dry and snowless season last winter and that helped with the mold problem.  The past 4 years have been fine but this year, I feel like I have been hit in the eyes with a baseball bat.  I am lucky in that I get little congestion in my head and chest but I get THAT headache from sinus irritation and my eyeballs are so dry from the Sjogren's, they hurt.  I do get the irritated, scratchy throat too.

 

Yesterday, it was just so damn nice outside here in New England, that I went for a walk.  I took some Benadryl before I left the house and did pretty good but by the time I got back inside, my eyes were like little slits and very red.  The oak pollen is starting to blow and it just decimates my eyes.  No one will ever understand what it's like to have Sjogren's dry eye but it's horrible.  You can't wash away any pollen or dust that blows into your eyes.  It just sits there and ittitates your eyeball so you have red eye all the time.  I squirt Refresh into my eyes all day to lubricate them.  I am at the point now where it's getting old and I too, feel like having a giant whine fest over a glass of wine.  THAT makes me feel better......  

 

It's going to rain or shower later in the week so I'll join you in a virtual rain dance!  Oh...and don't ever apologize for whining about allergies.  Sometimes it's enough to drive you batty, so you deserve to vent about it.  How about a cure for allergies???????

[GFinDC]

Quercetin is supposed to help with allergies.  Might be worth a try.  Or maybe goggles when outdoors? 

[Gemini]

I started taking quercetin with Vitamin C a few weeks ago, on advice from my functional doc.  I haven't noticed a huge difference or maybe I would be worse than I am now if I didn't take it.

Nothing seems to help my eyes all that much and I really think the underlying problem is the Sjogren's.  I do not get very much congestion any more and I think the allergy shots helped with that so I don't suffer as much as some people do with that problem.  The trouble with supplements is you have to take a lot of them.....like 3x per day.  I am not good at remembering them all the time and I get annoyed at having to swallow so many pills.

 

It would be so nice if they had a vaccine for allergies....I'd sign up to try that!

[june27]

thanks for the sympathy

 

GFinDC - i am without A/C as well.  at this point, the house is still buttoned up.  i don't even consider opening the windows until i get through the tree pollen season...

 

Adalaide - I have a similar experience with allergies.  I remember being in high school gym class playing softball, and everyone asking me why i was crying.  my eyes just wouldn't stop watering.  that was just the beginning, with the symptoms getting worse each year.  i started seeing a naturopathic doctor last year in hopes of getting to the bottom of the whole allergy thing (she is the one who suspected celiac and had me tested).  the allergies are better, but still not gone - i just keep hoping that one day i will not be plagued with them.  even with all of the meds, and shots for the past 7 or 8 years, my allergies are still worse than most other peoples.  there are so many worse ailments to have, and i know that i shouldn't complain, but i was having a weak moment

 

as far as supplements go, i have tried a few as my naturopathic doc recommends them.  over the weekend i doubled-up the ones that i am taking now, with ginger/tumeric.  it does seem to be helping, but i am still suffering.  one of the ones that i am currently taking does have quercetin.  

 

when i spoke with my naturopathic doc yesterday, she suggested a try a 'wet sock treatment'.  as i was reading the details, i kept expecting to see 'april fools' at the bottom (even though we are way past the date).  i googled it, and it seems that there are a lot of people out there advocating it.  have any of you heard of this/tried it?  just curious...

 

a vaccine for allergies?  what a wonderful thought!  sign me up!

 

gemini - i hear the rain may be coming on wednesday afternoon.  

[GFinDC]

My co-worker who recommended quercetin a few years ago said his wife took it for 5 or 6 weeks and then got substantial allergy relief.  We aren't in touch anymore so I don't know if she still takes it.  Washing your face and hands often can be helpful.  Especially if you do go outdoors.  We all have a thin layer of oil on our skin and allergens stick to it really well.  Then you rub your eyes and boom!  Not that people with allergies ever rub their eyes.  Really, it's all just strange plants having sex in our noses, so nothing to get excited about.  Using us to spread their love making pollen around at 300 mph.  Very sneaky of them.

[Gemini]

My co-worker who recommended quercetin a few years ago said his wife took it for 5 or 6 weeks and then got substantial allergy relief.  We aren't in touch anymore so I don't know if she still takes it.  Washing your face and hands often can be helpful.  Especially if you do go outdoors.  We all have a thin layer of oil on our skin and allergens stick to it really well.  Then you rub your eyes and boom!  Not that people with allergies ever rub their eyes.  Really, it's all just strange plants having sex in our noses, so nothing to get excited about.  Using us to spread their love making pollen around at 300 mph.  Very sneaky of them.

Ha, ha, ha!!!!!!  So I have to suffer so they can have a good time? 

 

Actually, I feel much, much better than I did 3 weeks ago.  My eyes are much less irritated and almost back to normal....for me.  It really is the mold that kills them.  The pollen aggravation is short lived and affects my throat more than it does my eyes.  I was really bothered last week but now I am doing better.  I'll still take the quercitin because it always takes longer for the non-med stuff to kick in.  After having a myriad of weather lately, it has become really clear to me that the drier it is, the better I do.  Rain makes me feel better temporarily because it cleanses the air of allergens but when the sun comes out the day after, I go down hill from the mold.  If I didn't have AC, I'd kill myself......

[june27]

I am feeling a bit better today as well.  I am hoping to feel even better tomorrow - pollen counts should go down.  I am trying not to think about Friday when the pollen counts shoot up again

 

I agree with you Gemini - it doesn't seem fair that we have to suffer for their good time