Allergies – UPDATED

[LBJ10]

Anyone else having horrific allergies?

A few years ago, I went through an episode where my allergies were totally out of control. I tried EVERYTHING under the sun. Claritin, Clarinex, Singulair, Allegra, Zyrtec, all those nasal sprays, you name it. Nothing worked. I mean nothing. Plus some of them just gave me sinus infections. A long long time ago, I used to take Chlor Trimeton (active ingredient is chlorpheniramine). That stuff was awesome, but extremely addicting. It suddenly disappeared from the store shelves and I went through withdraw so bad. I can find it here and there, but only the 4 hour formula. I don’t want to take it because I am afraid I’ll just become addicted again.

Anyway, my allergies have been acting up these last few months. This last week was pretty bad. I have been sneezing uncontrollably and I have been having an asthma attack almost every night. I have been taking Benedryl and using my inhaler. I haven’t had to use that stupid inhaler for such a long time. I don’t know what’s going on. Why are my allergies so bad? I’m worried now because I’m afraid I might have developed an allergy to the rabbits. Is that possible? I didn’t have any sort of reaction when we first got them over a year ago.

By the way, I have talked to the doctor at school but they don’t really know what to tell me. They don’t have an allergist there and my “health plan” doesn’t appear to cover it. I can’t afford going to one right now, I hear it’s around $300.

[Monkeybun]

I would suspect the hay before the actual bunnies, to be honest.

[Sarita]

It sounds like seasonal allergies to me.

I agree as well with Monkeybun more likely hay than the rabbits. It’s all too common that rabbits are the suspect but most doctor’s don’t realize that with rabbits comes hay.

[Sam and Lady's Human]

This might not work since you have asthma, but try those store brand Halls, the menthol kind. I have awful awful seasonal allergies, to the point where I don’t go outside some days because it just sucks so bad. I don’t like to take medications though, and I couldn’t for the last 4 years because I was either pregnant or breastfeeding, so one day I was at our local zoo and I was a mess and the owner gave me a menthol and instantly I could breathe again and stopped sneezing. It was amazing. Anyway, now I suck on one when I’m adding hay to the buns pens or I’ll wear one of those medical masks, or sometimes just hold my breath and then run into the bathroom and scrub down haha.

[LBJ10]

I switched to oat hay a few months after getting Leopold. I was very obviously allergic to the timothy. They won’t touch orchard grass. Are people normally allergic to oat hay?

[Eepster]

Do you live in the north-east or mid-atlantic states of the US?

If you do, it has been a very unusually wet summer and fall, and mold is thriving. All my roses have bad cases of black spot, and our trumpet vine is covered in mildew. Mold allergies are common.

[LBJ10]

I’m in the center. LOL
It has actually be very dry here this summer and fall (we had a wet spring though). We were also experiencing above normal temps this last week and it was VERY windy. The house is shut up though, we haven’t been opening the windows. I just felt another attack coming on just a while ago when I was sitting here this evening grading assignments. I wasn’t doing anything, just sitting here with my laptop. So I’m not sure what’s causing it. I made sure to grab my inhaler immediately so it didn’t go full blown. Now my ears just itch at the moment.

[LBJ10]

Ugh, I woke up this morning and I couldn’t breathe. I coughed uncontrollably for a bit. I took two Benedryl tablets and used my inhaler. This is insane.

[Elrohwen]

Would it be impossible to see a different doctor? Even if you can’t afford to see an allergist, another doctor might be able to tell you more. The asthma, especially, is worrying as that could put you in the hospital.

[LBJ10]

I can only see doctors at the health center at my school. Maybe I can ask them if there is anyone that comes there that might be more knowledgeable. They have different doctors on different days since many of them have their own practices. My asthma actually hasn’t been a problem for a long time. I wasn’t using my inhaler at all since I wasn’t having any symptoms. I just don’t understand what could have caused this all of the sudden.

[Eepster]

You keep mentioning the health center at you school, are you living in a dorm?

Since this problem is new, I can’t help but think that what ever is causing must be new/different.

[LBJ10]

Eepster, no I’m a grad student. I don’t live on campus, but since I am a TA I get the health plan at a reduced rate. I have to go to the health center though, I can’t just go my regular family doctor.

[Sarita]

I’m experiencing the same things as you LBJ10 – I live in Texas and we are having drought conditions and I think the lack of rain is causing all the stuff to just fly all over the place.

Even with the windows not open, it’s been a problem. I think it’s just normal city pollution and change of weather causing mine.

I finally went to a doc in the box since I really don’t have a regular doc, just an ob/gyn and she gave me some zithromax because she thought it may have turned into a sinus infection.

I’ve been glugging down dayquil and nytril. I’m always worse in the morning when I get up as well – it’s painful but once I get going and my sinus start draining, I’m only half as sick.

[TriBun]

Ugh LBJ10, my allergies are horrendous! I’m extremely allergic to Timothy hay and only slightly less so to the other hays. Also, Kevin is molting and if I even look at him I start sneezing. I swear I’m allergic to Kevin, but I have no reactions to Rosy at all…? I don’t know, but I think you probably have hay allergies and your seasonal allergies are acting up. It’ll probably get better in the winter.

As for now, I have actually taken to using a filtered mask while I clean the bunnies cage or fill up their hay. I take it off after the dust dies down and I’ve washed my hands. Allergy meds don’t work that great for me either, but fortunately I don’t have asthma. I can only imagine what you’re going through. My problem is the throat itching. It can get so bad that it’ll wake me up at night and drives me nuts. Bleh. Honestly, the thing that works best for me is the cheap Western Family brand allergy medication (I don’t know if you get Western Family where you live, it’s a store brand here). All I can say is keep trying stuff. I feel for you.

[Stickerbunny]

People can be allergic to _any_ hay. Do you have an air purifier ? If so, keep that running and maybe close up the hay in a plastic storage bin / in a closet to keep some of the dust out of the air for the bags and see if that helps? Vacuuming often helps too. And if your PC is a desktop take the case off and dust it with compressed air – they hold in dust really well and then spread it around your house via the fans to keep it cool, good for your PC too since dust insulates heat.

[Joyfull_music]

I have horrible year round allergies. What I find to help is nasal rinses. I also have a deviated septum, so for me November to May is one big sinus infection and I can not function. But I found that with the nasal rinse, I still get the sinus infections, but they are less severe and I have more time between infections.

[Monkeybun]

The dry air likely isn’t helping, the wind stirring up dust and such. See if you can’t get an air purifier, and maybe a humidifier too. That would help alot I think.

[LoveChaCha]

My allergies lasted until September – which is unusual. O_O

[LBJ10]

We have a large air purifier that is really loud. I could run it during the day though I suppose. We used to have an Ionic Breeze, but my husband made me get rid of it because it gave him a headache.

[Stickerbunny]

We have a honeywell – it has the OPTION for ionic but you can turn ti off and it’s really quiet when on the lowest setting. Was only about $40 too. See if it helps during the day and if it does, try getting a quieter one with the option to turn off ionic.

[longhairmike]

today while inside the post office, some old dude with horrible congestion was in line behind me breathing really loudly,, i was tempted to offer him $5 to recite some darth vader lines…

[Joyfull_music]

LOL Mike that is mean! We have an air purifier, not sure what brand it is, something we found at costco. It isn’t too loud and my husband runs it 24/7 at the foot of our bed. This also reminds me I need to clean out the humidifier for heater season. The dry air absolutely kills my eczema plagued skin.

[LBJ10]

You have eczema too? I have it on my face mostly. The dr gave me smelly sulfur cream for it and said it would clear it up no problem. Yeah, it clears it up, but it just comes back less than a week later. =\

[Joyfull_music]

Oh God do I have eczema! I had to wear bandaids on my fingers at work today, two of them are so badly cracked. Makes knitting a tad painful too. I highly recommend a skin cream from Japan called Yu-be. http://www.yu-be.com/ I swear by this stuff! And I use it for everything from my eczema, to dry skin, rash, sun burn, chapped lips, wind burn. You name it. Sad thing is it is expensive and can be really hard to find. I was so bummed when I ran out and found out that the store I was getting it from stopped carrying it. So I looked online and found another store that carries it. But that store is far away, overpriced and only carries the little tubes of cream. I need the big jar of cream and the lotion. So I bought the overpriced little tube and some other skin cream that is ok, but still not as good. And I am waiting to order myself a bunch of yu-be online. If you can find it, please give it a try. Only thing is if you are really cracked or your skin is really raw, that stuff might sting a bit when you first use it. But I promise you will wake up in the morning and be like “what eczema?”

[Joyfull_music]

Also there really is no cure for eczema. I have had it my whole life. So you need to keep treating it forever.

[LBJ10]

I’m lucky that it isn’t really nasty. I’ve seen some horrible pictures where it’s all scaly-looking. It looks more like I have acne, which I guess is annoying itself. My face will be red and it will start to get bumpy. Sometimes I get little “bubbles”. Yuck!

[LBJ10]

UPDATE: So I didn’t get around to calling the health center at my school on Friday, so I had to wait until today. They said that they don’t have an allergist that comes there, they just have a nurse who can give you your allergy shots if an allergist has already made up a batch for you. They said I might be able to get a referral, but I would need to see one of their doctors first and then the doctor would decide if a referral was “necessary”. Then she said something about deductibles and blah blah. If I did that, I would have to wait until my monthly stipend check comes at the end of the month. I’m down to about $15 in my checking account. I get paid from my other job on Friday, but I’m going to need to buy dog and rabbit food with that money. O_o At the very least though, I’m going to need to get a refill on my inhaler since I have been using it practically every day and I’m afraid I’m going to run out (and really need it).

[Sam and Lady's Human]

There’s this stuff called Emu oil, it works AMAZING on eczema, I buy mine from http://www.4dacresemuoil.com. My daughter had it really bad, literally nothing helped and after one drop of this stuff it was visibly better.

[Stickerbunny]

Rubbing the fat tissue of a large non-flighted bird onto skin just sounds gross to me lol I have a light case of it and moisturizing well every day really helps keep it down. Most of my family has it and the doctors actually suggested a deep moisturizer instead of any other treatment. I only really get a flare up when I get lazy and stop doing it. :s Oatmeal baths help for my mother. My cousin uses Dove body wash and that does it for him.

Top 5 treatments according to the Eczema website are in order or rating:
1. Exzaderm
2. Oxyvectin
3. Grandma’s Rash Remedy
4. Obre Oil
5. Exzemax

Different peoples skin reacts to different things, so you have to experiment and find what works for you, unfortunately there is no “cure all” for it.

[Elrohwen]

I like reading all of these eczema cures. I have a mild case and I’m almost out of the stuff the doctor prescribed. Regular moisturizers haven’t seemed to work in the past, so I’ll have to try some of these suggestions.

[LBJ10]

Okay, so I went to see someone today.

They didn’t think I needed a referral. They just gave me a different inhaler called Dulera. It was a sample, so I didn’t have to pay for it. I asked at the pharmacy how much it was if I had a prescription and about crapped my pants. It’s $200 and if I used my “insurance” to pay for it, it would use up the rest of my pharmacy budget for the rest of the semester. That means if I need anything else, I would have to pay out of pocket for it. They also gave me this new nasal spray to try for my allergies. Not sure how that’s going to work. I told them I tried everything.

Then the rabbits came up. It was suggested that I move them outside onto the patio. Yeah…

So has anyone ever tried Dulcera before? It has warnings all over it saying there’s an increased risk of asthma-related death. =\

[LoveChaCha]

LBJ, have you searched up any perscription programs online for that medication? I have ADD, and EVEN WITH my insurance, the thing is $124.00. I have been using a perscription program for about 3 years now and it costs me $7 out of my pocket. The company goes by income level and such. I do have insurance, but my income is really not that much.

My dad also has eczema. It isn’t too bad and his is under control.

[LBJ10]

Whoops, it’s Dulera. I’m not sure where the C came from on my second mention of it.

What sort of insurance are you talking about? I guess I’ve never heard of such a thing (just “discount” clubs). I have insurance through school. It’s not really good insurance, it’s just what the school provides to grad students. In order to receive the benefits, you are supposed to use the school’s facilities. The pharmacy portion has a budget (a limit) for each semester. You have a co-pay that you pay out of pocket and then the rest of the cost is deducted from your budget. Once your budget is used up, that’s it. Since this medication costs so much, it would eat the entire remaining budget (since I have already gotten other medications this year).

[TaraMichele]

 I totally know how you feel!!! I havent been around much because I was sick for months ( even had hospital visits) and just finally have gotten better thanks to dulera and singulair!!  I had been to numerous doctors and finally the last one dx me with seasonal asthma most likely due to mold within a day my breathing improved!

[MayaConsuelo]

Oooh, allergies are rough Sorry you’re going through this. I’ve had them my whole life. Since I moved to NYC my allergies/asthma have improved a lot and I never use my inhaler – however, instead of congestion and wheezing, I now developed a cough in the morning and late at night. Not sure which is worse.

The problem with allergies is that they can very obviously be caused by the animals (and hay) so doctors will often assume it’s that because it’s the most obvious answer – when they can also be due to mold, dust, pollen, unseen rot or mold in the house, chemicals or pollutants from factories nearby OR faraway, household chemicals, and can even be aggravated by diet. There’s nothing more annoying than somebody saying you should get rid of your animals when the fact is, you’d STILL have allergies without them, so what’s the point?

Things I think that can help allergies are 1. Sinus rinse – I would die without mine! 2. Keep the house really clean (with face masks if necessary) – try to use natural cleaning products, and possibly an air filter, and 3. Try to cut down or eliminate processed foods. There is no “cure” for allergies but they can be managed. Good luck!

P.S. I know a lot of people that pop Benadryl like candy, but it should be used only occasionally because it can be quite damaging to the body, as well as reducing its effectiveness over time so that in an emergency it won’t work as well.

[LBJ10]

TaraMichele – So the Dulera is working okay for you then? It doesn’t scare you to use it. It scares me. I’ve tried Singulair in the past and it did nothing for my allergies.

MayaConsuelo – I was annoyed, but I just ignored it. I’m not going to put the rabbits outside on the patio. I don’t care if she had rabbits when she was growing up and they were “fine” outside. I do have nasal rinse, but I have to be careful not to overuse it because it dries out my nose (and it will actually start cracking and bleeding around the outside). I have tried cleaning with a mask but it doesn’t seem to do any good. Maybe I’m not using the right kind. And we’ll have to see about the processed foods. LOL Real food is so freaking expensive.

Anyway, I’m going to say that this new allergy stuff (the nasal spray) isn’t doing much since I have been sneezing all day so far. The doctor told me to give it 3 days, but I don’t know. Unfortunately, I might have to end up back with the Benedryl. I really don’t know what to do, especially since I have to take it more and more.

[LBJ10]

Ugh, just had to listen to “Well, what if you really are allergic to the rabbits?” from my mom. I just got done brushing Wooly and nothing really happened.

[LBJ10]

Okay, now I’m complaining a bit. I feel dizzy and light headed. I don’t know if it is the new medication or the lack of Benedryl in my system. Thoughts?

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