So this might be a weird one because I can just look this up anywhere, but Ive been dealing with some vexing medical problems the past year and I just want to see how allergies affect others. Maybe hearing from regular people instead of doctors will ease my mind a bit. A little back-story on my issue (though I’m not looking for a diagnosis), almost exactly a year ago I developed sever constant chronic rhino-sinusitis. I am constantly having to clear my throat and snort/sniffle. Its non stop every 30 seconds or so and no matter what combo of meds I take for allergies, nothing really helps. I have never had allergies before (that i know of) and all of a sudden, after well over 40 years on this earth, I’m allergic to everything. And I do have allergies. According to the test I took a few months ago, I tested positive for 45 out of 50 allergens they tested for. To make a long story short, every doctor I go to says its allergies. Says to get allergy shots and keep taking sprays and pills everyday etc. Nothing brings me any relief. I’m on the strongest sprays that are killing my sinuses and multiple 24hr allergy pills (Doctor ordered), and its almost like I’m not taking anything. So my questions to you wonderful people:
- What do allergies feel like for you?
- Are they constant or do you have flareups?
- Do meds help you significantly?
- Am I just being a big baby and how I feel is just what allergies feel like?
I know this is subjective and everyone will have different answers and that’s fine. Honestly, I don’t really have anyone to bounce ideas off of and talk about this, so this is as much a way for me to scream into the void and vent, as it is to gather info. Again, I’m not looking for a diagnosis, just your personal anecdotes so I can put my own situation into perspective. Love all of you peeps, thanks in advance for any replies!
Edit- Mods, I realize this kinda flirts with rule 3, please feel free to remove it if you so deem.
This may not be helpful, but since you asked for experiences:
I had allergies as a kid, so never could breathe through my nose easily, even as an adult when the allergies eased. Yoga unexpectedly fixed it. The breathing exercises in particular, at first nothing opened but over time my nasal passages opened, or healed, or whatever had to happen and I now breathe easily and comfortably through my nose.
So if the drugs aren’t working and it’s a nasal thing, no itchy eyes, etc. it’s worth trying yoga, and when gunky maybe the neti pot (boiled and cooled water, a little salt). I really had no idea yoga would have that effect so pretty sure it’s not some placebo thing.
I’ve had a stuffy nose for almost 50 years. Food makes me stuffy, dust and pollen make me runny.
If I behave food wise and it’s not fall or winter I can be somewhat normal.
Visiting Vegas had me breathing clear if I didn’t make bad food choices.
Medicine is barely effective. Never tried the shots because they’re not effective with food
Visit Meow Wolf while you’re out there
If you play your cards right you can get decent rooms at the LINQ for $50 a night.
I get really bad brain fog. It’s like I wake up and feel my IQ has halved. Simple problems seem gigantic, everything is a hassle. On top of that - general fatigue, like walking up the stairs or running a bit gets me all breathless. Even though I should be familiar with it by now, I always keep thinking: “is it COVID?”
Then one day it rains and the pollen subsides and suddenly I can run and think and feel like myself again.
A doc described allergies and migraines the same way to me - you have a cup and different triggers add a bit to your cup. That cup is your tolerance and you get symptoms when it overflows. It can be really hard to detect your triggers because it’s not just mountain cedar or soy or whatever - is 2% this and 3% that until it’s full. You can try a journal of everywhere you go, everything you eat, when/where you’re outside, etc.; but it’s easier to just take the meds. If you think the meds aren’t working, go off them for a few days and see how terrible you feel. On day 1 i get sniffly. By day 3 I itch so bad i can’t sleep.
I suddenly picked up “allergies*” in my late 30s - couldn’t work out what they were, other than antihistamines (cetirizine or loratidine) made them “not as bad”, and I also needed to avoid certain things in particular (breathing in dust, aerosols, perfumes, other chemical fumes, car fumes, cigarette fumes, wood dust and drinking alcohol).
Turned out to be Nasal Polyps. I was due for surgery to remove them in 2020, but then Covid happened and I’ve been on a waiting list since. Surgery may completely remove the problem, or at least lessen it - but they could grow back within five years.
Basically every day is like I’ve got cold or sometimes flu. Sometimes I feel like I’m drowning in phlegm. If I take antihistamines, it’s pretty mild or controllable, as long as I can reasonably avoid those triggers. Sometimes I have to drink lemsip in the morning (powdered hot drink of paracetamol, lemon flavour & decongestant). It’s there every day, permanently, but how severe it is varies between “slightly inconvenient” and “too unwell to work”.
Antihistamines are essential for me to function at all, and make a huge difference - though I feel they’ve become less effective in the last year or so. Thankfully they’re very cheap over the counter (~£1.30 for 30 days’ worth). I also use a saltwater nasal spray sometimes, and I sometimes eat a lot of menthol sweets. I have to be careful with decongestants to avoid “rebound congestion” where your nose adjusts to life with decongestants, then becomes twice as blocked up if you stop.
If I drink alcohol or breathe perfume etc, my sinuses block up within half an hour, I can get an asthmatic response, and I get crippling arthritic pain in my hands and joints. Sometimes perfume and other sprays can cause severe, possibly dangerous breathing problems. I have an asthma inhaler for these emergencies, and always have to carry it with me, in case someone sprays perfume in an enclosed space (which might cause me to die).
If I keep reasonable control over these things, I can live pretty “normally”. If I actually get a cold, it’s like I’ve got a “double cold”, and it can make me too ill to go to work.
When it’s bad, it’s a pretty miserable existence to be honest, but in the larger scale of things it’s not a serious or life-threatening illness, so you feel guilty for complaining.
When it’s not so bad, I can normally ignore it for most of the day - and I have a pretty active job and am otherwise fairly healthy. It’s worst in the morning/night when I’m horizontal.
Your case outlined in the original post sounds particularly upsetting and you have my sympathies. You’re not being a baby.
*technically it’s an intolerance or hypersensitivity, and not truly an allergy, though it behaves in much the same way, and symptoms can be controlled in much the same way.
