Allergies

[NETWizz]

I am just curious if any of you have allergies. If you do, where do you live, what are you allergic too, and how do you treat it?

[bananaman]

I am allergic to girls. I usually end up retreating to some geeky activity like computer programming to help overcome the reaction.

Besides, that, I am completely non-allergenic.

[Super Speler]

I'm very allergic to dust. The best treatment, I find, is to be outside as much as possible. Most allergy medicine dehydrates me and leaves me feeling worse off then I did before taking it, but when it gets really bad I just take some claritin and drink lots of water. The claritin has the bonus effect of helping me fall asleep which is hard to do when your allergies get particularly bad (weirdly enough, the nondrowsy makes it extremely difficult for me to stay awake).

I'm also slightly allergic to pineapple, but pineapple is kinda gross anyways.

[thornahawk]

@Speler: That'd be weird, because Claritin does advertise itself as being non-sedating in the recommended doses:

[Art_of_camelot]

I have pollen allergies and I live in North Carolina. I used to take a knock-off of claritin. Then I found a natural solution; I take a table spoon of raw honey once per day(someimes twice, evening and morning) starting right before and going through allergy season. It seems to help alot.

[cjgone]

When I was younger I didn't really have to bad allergies, but it seems that as I get older my allergies get worse -- mostly pollen and the like.

[NETWizz]

I like Claritin a lot, but it makes me tired too though it does not cause any problems for me such as dry mouth. Surprisingly, Zyrtec makes me less tired than Claritin and works better; I think though it is kind of a waste of money at $1 a day when generic Claritin works 90% as well for about $1 a week.

I think I am allergic to pollen and will try that honey trick.

[Art_of_camelot]

Just make sure it is raw (as in unprocessed). You should be able to find it at the grocery store. They have it in my area at least.

[thornahawk]

[lordofthegeeks]

Besides a slight allergy to dustmites and a random tree pollen I am fairly free of Allergies.
many in my close family are not though.
My little bro is allergic to corn , fish , soy , tomatatos carrots,many of the tree and grass pollens. poor kid

[Galandros]

I am allergic to none as far as I know.
But maybe I am little allergic to some things, not sure because I don't know how we feel when allergic. xD

[DigiTan]

My family was coughing and sneezing for 4 or 5 years until we found out our walls were growing fur on the insides. The mold treatment guys had to take down just about every inside wall.

[thornahawk]

@Galandros: I did say "at least" because I'm pretty sure I'd also be allergic to chemically related drugs as well. I can see it being a problem for one of those classes because there are no better alternatives for those... *sigh*

Also, those drugs may have a different brand name in Portugal, so you might have to look for them under their generic names first.

@DigiTan: Does it really get that humid where you live? To have a wall-full of fuzzies...

thornahawk

[elfprince13]

The honey thing works best with locally produced honey as it's most likely to contain the pollen that you're reacting to. I also have pollen allerges.

[DigiTan]

[NETWizz]

I take Zyrtec or Claritin. I cannot decide which is best, but I think Zyrtec is better... at least it lasts longer for me.

Claritin is by far the cheapest with the generic costing $4 for 30 days, no doctor, no insurance claims.

Anyone with alergies, read this Wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loratadine and find Loratadine (Claritin) in your country. It may have a different name in different countries, but it is a very good place to start since it is not likely to cause side effects and will make you feel at least somewhat better for around 24 hours.

If I were in Canada, I would buy Desloratadine (Clarinex); since, it is the second generation of Claritin and available over the counter.

[Harrierfalcon]

I have bad seasonal allergies.

Really bad.

Put it this way. My mom got me to mow the lawn (which is about 1/4th acres) on an overcast spring day, and my dad opened the windows in the house.

By the time I came back in I was literally crying because my eyes hurt so much, and I didn't stop until I'd closed all the windows and waited for an hour.

I've tried Claritin (and Claritin D, and Claritin Reditabs, other loratadine pills), Zyrtec, Allegra...none of them work particularly well, and they all make me drowsy to the point of me rather being sniffly and dazed instead of being so drowsy.

[Galandros]

[bfr]

Even though I eat healthy food, exercise, and try to get plenty of sleep every day, for some reason, it seems like if I wake up earlier than I normally would, such as with an alarm when I go to school, I often feel sick. I'll get eight or nine hours of sleep, which is probably plenty for most people, and yet I'll wake up sneezing and having a runny nose wherever I am up until about 11:00 (after waking up at around 8:00 and falling asleep around 11:00). I still might feel a little sick the rest of the day, but it's significantly better than in the morning.

Also, eating unhealthy food (like artificial sweets and stuff - I don't really mean fatty foods and stuff like hamburgers), especially if I have been woken up early, even something as small as a single doughnut, will sometimes make me feel sick (even if I haven't had anything else unhealthy in weeks).

This lasts all year, and I don't know why. My mom and doctor think it's because of allergies, but we're not sure what kind.

[calc84maniac]

Right now I have a cough and a runny nose, which may or may not be caused by allergies... most likely it is, though.