I found a cure for my allergies

[Alex Franke]

I had a *really* bad allergy day today. I've been taking claritin since the pollen has been high, but every once in a while even that just doesn't help -- on the really bad days.

But here's something that did: I've discovered that so long as I am eating ice cream, the itchy eyes, clogged head, runny nose, and sneezing goes away almost entirely. I can even breathe through my nose when I'm eating ice cream. But within ten minutes of putting the spoon down the sneezing comes back.

Coincidence? Psychological? Medical? I wonder....

I've tested it twice today. Maybe I'll have ice cream for breakfast tomorrow, too.

My wife, of course, is very suspicious.

[Richard in Smithville]

Ice cream eh? I have found that going to work actually helps me. I know it sounds sad but there is something behind this. You see, often I have to wear a respairator and that filters out all the stuff that makes me sneeze. Guess I can enjoy work for one season at least.

[pacwind3]

That's funny!

On a serious note, try a neti pot.

http://www.neti-pot.com/

[scmhogg]

pacwind

It's funny you should mention neti pots. I had never heard of them two weeks ago. I got an ad from Amazon that showed a ceramic one from the Himalayan Institute. I sounded very cultish.

Anyway, I bought one with salt and magic drops for LOML. She has allergies and frequent sinus headaches. So she now uses her little neti pot every night and so far no headaches and better sleep.

Steve

[Uncle Cracker]

I think they had a demo for those things on the Today Show a couple of days ago. I'd probably drown...

[cabinetman]

LOML believes entirely in home remedies. We've found several that are instrumental in maintaining good health, and building our resistance to allergies. First we pour a half glass of very good red wine. After ingesting, we embrace (in order to combine our immune energies) and then a slight breathing on her neck increases our libidos and seemingly, our allergies disappear for a while.

Another we found to ward off allergies is while showering together (to save water) hand feeding each other small chunks of chocolate fudge. Allergies at that moment aren't part of our mindset, and disappear for a while.

You can try these at home.
.

[germdoc]

FWIW here's my medical protocol for nasal allergies (which I suffer from as well), starting with the first and adding on as necessary:

steroid nasal spray such as Nasonex or Flonase

non-sedating antihistamine (such as claritin/loratidine) +/- decongestant (pseudoephedrine)

Singulair

Consult with an allergist

Most patients get by with nasal inhaler +/- antihistamines. If you're really discomforted by it don't hesitate to consult with a reputable allergist.

I would shy away from allergists promoting desensitization by nasal drops. That's an unproven remedy. Shots are expensive but effective if there are 1 or 2 things that specifically trigger your allergies. There's a lot in the world of allergy that is flaky, so buyer beware.

The Neti pot, or nasal irrigation, is harmless and a lot of people swear by it, but to me it sounds like waterboarding...

[dkerfoot]

There is a plastic squeeze bottle alternative to the neti pot. Walgreens carries them. After you use all the packets, kosher salt works just as well.

Having both Claritin (loratadine) and now Zyrtec (cetirizine) available as generic over the counter is a blessing. Sam's Club has them both really, really cheap - like 300 pills for $30. As a self-employed, under-insured guy, this saves me close to $200 a month.

[Uncle Cracker]

You can try these at home.

What time should I be there?

[radhak]

This is a true story.

A friend used to work in manufacturing, and then was moved to working in a somewhat polluted environment - gases et al. Not too bad, but he started getting headaches. Not intense pain, but persistent thru the week; he did not work the weekends, so by sunday his headache would go off, only to return next week. None of his colleagues had this, and he did not want to give up the job (extra pay). Doctors gave him painkillers that did not really do the job.

So one day he discovers that when he got lucky with his wife , he did not any headache for that whole night, till the next day. He experimented a bit - tracking his headache against the days he got some nookie (or not), and it followed the pattern exactly - nookie = no headache; argument with wife=headache !!! Even the doctor agreed that it was possible that some harmones were getting released that negated his allergies.

So guess what - he had a perfect excuse with his wife - "honey, what do you expect me to do, suffer this headache??!!!".
They were not exactly newly-married, almost 10 years, so he was very happy with the excuse.

Of course, his wife got really upset with him for sharing this nugget with his male friends, and he had to suffer headache for a few days when she found out, but on the overall, he made me wish I could switch jobs !!

[newood2]

Hey Alex, same here. 2 days ago after working in the backyard I had runny nose and sneezing all evening 'til around 11pm when I got so fed up I went and had 2 scoop of ice cream. It stopped then started again 1/2hr after I finish the ice cream. Maybe I'll try ice cubes next time, it's too late at night for ice cream.
Howie

[Slik Geek]

I've found that dairy products tend to thicken mucus rather quickly - could that be what is happening? If you drink milk, or eat yogurt, a bowl of cereal with milk, etc. do you get the same results?