Allergy relief at long last?

Hello faithful readers… it’s been an overcast rainy week. Not too cold but certainly not warm either (mid 50’s on average). I can’t decided between heater and A/C though. I switch over every couple of days. LOL. What a strange, mild winter it has been. It sure has wreaked havoc with my allergies.

Yeah, ever since December it seems like I had had some form of congestion. Often it was mild, at times I was unable to breathe through at least one of my nostrils. I knew it was allergies because I had no other symptoms. The congestion was all contained in my head. I resorted to various combinations of Claritin to get through the day and a generic nasal spray to clear my nose and get some sleep at night. The process was getting old though and I was going through boxes of tissue fast. I finally decided to go to the doctor and see if there was a longer-term solution.

She gave me Zyrtec and despite the skeptic in me, I think it is working. I have had no side affects – unlike Claritin that made me feel really out of it while at work and always dehydrated me – and I haven’t used the nasal spray while I have been on it (I used the nasal spray almost every night for the past few weeks). Yay for me, yay for my nose!

I am a bit surprised at how quickly it worked and how seemingly effective it is. The true test though is to find out if it remains effective since my doctor told me to take the Zyrtec seasonally – in February, March & April then again in August, September, October. Only drawback I can see at this time – my insurance considers it a “Tier 3” medicine so it’s a whopping $50/month. Ugh.

In conjunction with the new meds, I finally dusted and vacuumed the bedroom and changed the bedsheets. I hope to do this more often (I always neglect it since no ones goes in there) so between my new air purifier, more cleaning and the meds I should able to keep the allergies at bay or at least better managed.

If you have allergies, share your experiences and what has or hasn’t worked for you…