I'm in week three of the NASTISEST allergy outbreak I've had in my life. Misery, anguish and pretty please make it STOP!
UGH. I usually have mild seasonal allergies, and I have a mild cat allergy. This year due to the unseasonably warm winter in DC my allergens of choice all pollinated early. And the cats had to decide to shed at the same time. This all coincides with a period of no cash meaning I can't get drugs.
UGH.
It's finally leveling out. I've got Claratin and Flonase, the Minions of Chaos and Destruction have been brushed and bathed, and I got Fabreeze Allergen reducer. Wonderful stuff. I just wish there'd be a nice rainstorm in my future.
I don't know what doctors' position is on this these days, but years ago I had desensitisation injections. (I'm talking severe allergies, though, and not just to "spring" things; eyes swelling shut, 15, 20 consecutive sneezes with no chance to breathe between, etc.) I had them for 7 years, but since then it's been wonderful! Maybe once or twice a year I'll get a small reaction to something, but THAT I can handle.
Maybe Dr. Atchoo can answer this one?
It's such a wonderful time of year that it's tragic to be not able to enjoy it, and believe me, I know that when you have allergies, you don't care about ANYthing else :(
Sure, we do allergy shots all the time. I try medicine first (nasal steroids daily with either daily or as needed antihistamine). If people don't think they work well enough or don't want to take medicine then we can try immunotherapy, but that is a long and slow process taking about 3 years to be fully effective (although studies say you get benefit the first year already).
Immunotherapy is an attempt and fooling your immune system into not paying attention to the pollens. It thinks the pollen is a germ and is fighting it as such. The pollen, of course, isn't going to hurt you for real, so your immune system is overreacting.
So why did I have to have seven years? I started out at 3 a week, gradually dropping to once a week for about 3 years until I finally just quit because I was a student and too broke to pay for the serum.
This was back in the 70's, btw.
So why did I have to have seven years? I started out at 3 a week, gradually dropping to once a week for about 3 years until I finally just quit because I was a student and too broke to pay for the serum.
This was back in the 70's, btw.
We didn't know you could limit the therapy to 3-5 years until the late 90s. Now a typical regimen is once or twice a week during buildup to a maintenance dose. Once you are at maintenance it is once a month for the rest of the time. I put myself on IT during fellowship and am now entering my second grass season. I no longer have symptoms around cats or grass.
We didn't know you could limit the therapy to 3-5 years until the late 90s. Now a typical regimen is once or twice a week during buildup to a maintenance dose. Once you are at maintenance it is once a month for the rest of the time. I put myself on IT during fellowship and am now entering my second grass season. I no longer have symptoms around cats or grass.
Lol, all those jabs for nothing... ah well, at least now I have NO problem with needles! Thanks for the info, Doc :)
I periodically consider the merits of shots, but my allergies just are not normally bad enough. I live with cats, so I'm used to the constant mild congestion. It's not bad until they shed.
Juniper on the other hand is of the devil. Man, this was a really, really nasty reaction to juniper this year. Eyes swelling, coughing and sneezing, and that wonderful feeling of a brillo pad being pulled up and down my throat.
I was sooooooooooooo glad that it rained and knocked some of that down.
I do OK with the breathing while riding part, but it's the "can't see" when I get done part that's annoying. And the waking up in the morning with the "can't breathe" part. And I swear when my allergies are bad it makes my arthritis in my hands worse!
