Hayfever

Yeah I'm getting an itchy face most days, streaming eyes and sneezes come in batches of four, minimum.
Hayfever and mosquitos are things I hate about spring/summer.

But y tho?

Pollen counts are supposedly low...

Woke up because my eyes hurt yesterday morning. Overdosed on cetirizine and eye drops and was able to start my day after a couple of hours. Felt like shit for most of the day. I think it's Forsythia that's killing me as there's a lot of it in my vicinity.

It gets much worse, these are just like the tickles for me.

There's some sort of tree that's doing it for me I think. Not sure what it's called. There's a bunch of them near our house and when the wind blows I can actually see clouds of pollen coming off them.

Ordered some fexofenadine yesterday. Worked really well for me last year. OTC antihistamines just don't seem to cut it for me anymore.

Hmm. I think its a variety of cypress tree that is the problem for me right now.

Yes, eyes bad, seems to be windy every day without fail which doesn’t help!

Different pollens affect different people. Differently.

And London is a microclimate, particularly when it comes to pollen.

I don't pretend to understand how pollen counts are measured / calculated / forecast, but I don't have much faith in them, except as a vague indicator.

I've normally started taking antihistamines by this time of the year but I think being stuck indoors has helped. Now I'm just playing chicken with the pollen for when to start.

Thanks. This is all pretty new to me. This will be my third season of noticeably feeling like shit. Took me quite a while to figure out that allergies are the reason that I sometimes feel utterly levelled and exhausted in Spring/Summer.

If anyone suffers in the nose like I do, I’ve found this stuff to be excellent and quick clearing. Cheap too, but I guess it is just salty water in a spray...

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I discovered sterimar when I hurt my nostrils by breathing in super cold air on a climbing trip in Northern Canada. I had nosebleeds and blood clots for months without improvement and it settled down within a week of using Sterimar. It was a game changer.

Can't say I've found somewhere to buy it cheaply though. Always seems pretty pricey for what it is. How much do you pay?

I paid about £3.50 for 50ml cans, which after paying a lot more for Beconase, I find wallet friendly, especially given its effectiveness. Got it from a small online pharmacy, ‘clear pharmacy’ or something similar.

Ha ha. Yeah, I've clearly been fleeced in the past. Think I paid over £10 for a 100ml last year. And you're right, it's cheap compared to the less effective alternatives.

Mental notes to self:

1) shop around
2) stop being a tightwad

Anyone used the kenalog jab?

Started couple weeks ago for me, loratidine tablets to the rescue.

My fexofenadine arrived yesterday. 2nd tablet this morning. I feel like a new person.

Three days ago I couldn't run a mile without having to walk. Legs felt like concrete. Just been out for a nippy 5 miler in the wind and feel great.

I don't think I'll ever grow accustomed to how shit my hayfever can make me feel at this time of year. It feels like I'm getting properly sick when it kicks in!

how exactly do these wonder pills make your legs work?

Serious question? By reducing your body's histamine response to allergens. Hayfever causes fatigue if you're unlucky to get it badly enough.

It's not that's make your legs work, they stop your body releasing chemicals that make you feel fatigued.

deadly serious. i've been getting shocking leg cramps and wondering if it's related to snotjizz in the air. are these available off the shelf?

I've not heard of cramps being caused by allergies before but I wouldn't be suprised if that is possible.

I don't think fexofenadine is anything special. Its just a slightly stronger antihistamine thats technically prescription only. I only take it becasue none of the non drowsy OTC ones really help me and I just end up asleep at my desk if I take the various drowsy ones that do work. I think the only reason Fexofenadine is prescription only is because its bad news if you're pregnant or breastfeeding which is thankfully quite a low risk for me.

I get mine through these guys..."online consultation"

https://www.chemistclick.co.uk/hayfever-allergies/fexofenadine

ah right. i'll stick any pill going anywhere in service of alleviating this shit so i might just give it a whirl. the Citrizine i shoplift from the local tesco's has never really knocked me out, but maybe that's because i usually end up taking one at night when i'm trying to get some shut eye.

Well cetirizine is technically non drowsy. It does still make people a little sleepy though.

When it gets really bad, I have 1 cetirizine in the morning, and 1 loratadine in the evening.
Sometimes to very little effect.

Might get a stock of Fexofenadine to see how I get on with that.

Make sure you switch to bottle feeding first

Yep, had it 2 years ago. Worked a treat for hayfever symptoms, but I had a series of coughs and colds due to weakened immune system response to it. Probably won't risk it this year with COVID around