rootofnewt | (no subject)

There are worse ways to spend a night, but the one I experienced involved waking up after three and a half hours of sleep, gagging on mucus and having sneezing fits. After a couple visits to the bathroom to blow my nose and 45 minutes of tissue tossing, I grabbed my pillow, socks, a sheet, and my afghan and fled to the couch, where I could toss and turn on my recliner and be cold. I eventually got up, grabbed a polarfleece sleeping bag from on top of the HEPA filter... got up again and turned on that filter (we usually turn it off at night, we leave the bedroom unit on 24-7)... got up again to find some sweats... and I slept fitfully until nearly nine AM, waking up in fits and starts to desperately reach for tissue.

A night of mouth breathing and gagging has left me with TM(J)D issues this morning. The only thing which is clearing out my sinuses is walking. Damn turbinates, requiring motion to work... And I'm too tired and achy to keep doing that.

I'm well hydrated, taking decongestants, taking both first *and* second or third gen antihistamines at night, irrigating my sinuses daily, washing bedlinens (including blankets) regularly, showering before bed so I don't drag pollen to bed... what am I doing wrong?

nasal sprays aren't an option. i'm going extremely light on dairy (very, very little, if any at all). i'm allergic to diphenhydramine, so my first gen antihistamine of choice is chlorpheniramine.

And this isn't even peak season... it'll be much, much worse in a couple weeks. I can still wear my contacts, provided I use my patanol eye drops right now. Soon, I won't be able to wear them at all for a week or so.

Ugh.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

My allergies have been acting up all week.. I've been getting congested badly at night, and this morning I believe I am the groggiest I've been in quite awhile. Not to mention the puffyness/swollenness of my eyelids. I think I can finally relate to your tree sex in the nasal passages statement. Ugggh. Hopefully, Loratadine will work for me up here as it did back home.

I just think that the spores are out to kill us this season. My ears have been clicking for the last week and I haven't been able to properly breathe in the last month. Fucking trees. This year seems to be lasting a LOT longer then last year too. Now, I'm dealing with post nasal drip on top of everything else. So, what I'm saying is, I sort of feel some of your pain. Damn pollen.

Sometimes allergies just attack for reasons we can't understand, it seems.

I hope yours dies down soon. It's so uncomfortable to feel that way.

"A night of mouth breathing and gagging has left me with TM(J)D issues this morning"

When I read that, I interpretted it to mean that there are times you don't have to breathe through your mouth and was surprised. I can only breathe through my nose for a short bit before having to open my mouth and take some serious air in. I wish all the allergy meds I'd tried lately didn't give me menopause symptoms -- I hate this. If my allergies were as bad as yours, I don't know what I'd do. :P

much sympathy - i dread nights like that.

is guaifenesin something you take (or can take)? my doc gave it to me last year when i went through a period of waking up choking on mucus.

Yes, I can take it. Unfortunately, it's gone completely over the counter and is *quite* expensive. It's about USD20 for 40 tablets. It used to be dirt cheap. Only one company has the right to sell it OTC at the moment, which is why it's so darned pricey.

I tried to buy some last night, but the pharmacy was all out. *sigh* I bought some pseudoephedrin/guai combos, but I try to avoid those--high doses of guai help me more than low doses and the combo pills are very low guai.

In years past, I've had a springtime 'script for guai. I called, pleading, and my doctor called in a monster prescription of it. I took it as I needed it and had enough to last me through any pollen scare. ;)