okay, quit it now!

[mmegaera]

Something out there is pollinating or doing something. I woke up in the middle of the night with my nose running like a faucet, and I've been sneezing and blowing my nose like crazy all day.

And, yes, I'll take something. Just as soon as they invent a decongestant and/or antihistamine that doesn't knock me out for hours on end, or wire me for sound for twenty-four hours (which is what all 'non-drowsy' decongestants/allergy meds do to me, no matter how small a dose I take).

I need a sleep-neutral allergy med, okay? Allergy meds shouldn't be allowed to mess with sleep. It's not their job.

ETA: Okay. This is worse. I feel like I've got an ice pick jammed up my left nostril. I don't care if I don't sleep. I've taken a Claritin and two ibuprofen, but this is as bad as a bad migraine.

So much for quilting in public tomorrow...

ETA the 2nd: Well, I don't think I'm going to get any sleep tonight (she says, wide-eyed), but at least the ice pick is gone and my nose isn't running as much (note, this is not the equivalent of "stopped running", but it's better than nothing).

I still don't think I'm going to be going and sitting outside in the rain all afternoon tomorrow (under shelter, but still) to quilt in public, though. Sigh.

ETA the 3rd: Claritin doesn't keep me awake! Or at least when I combined it with ibuprofen last night it didn't. I am really looking forward to the predicted first fall storm tomorrow, though, which I hope will wash all the icky stuff out of the air so I can breathe unaided again.

Comments

a possible non-med help

[thnidu]

Along with several Rx meds, I use an OTC non-med that my allergist recommended, a sinus rinse called NeilMed. (I know I've mentioned this to someone in social media – I don't remember if it was you – and they said they didn't like neti pots. That was while I was still new to the stuff and didn't think to mention that I don't use a pot.) They have several ways to apply it. The one I use is their 4oz squirt bottle. You dissolve a packet of powder in warm filtered water to make normal saline (it's not just NaCl, there's something else that I forget), bend over a sink, gently squeeze the bottle into one nostril till it's half-empty, then tilt your head to the side away from the bottle to let the liquid run out the other nostril. Then you do the same on the other side. I do this every night before bed and in the mornings when I can. It helps a lot.

Re: a possible non-med help

[mmegaera]

I don't do neti pots. I've tried saline sprays, too. Both of them basically just give me more stuff to blow out of my nose [wry g].

But thanks.

Re: a possible non-med help

[thnidu]

OK.

In my experience with NeilMed, it takes around 15-20 minutes to drain. I've had chronic low-level sinusitis all my life: it's never gone completely. When I have an inflammation, the NeilMed wash takes a fair bit of gunk with it, which as near as I can figure (1) removes that much congestion and (2) reduces the amount of "seed" for the next buildup, which therefore takes longer.

I hope you find some good solutions (NPI*) that work for you.

*no pun intended

Re: a possible non-med help

[mmegaera]

I finally broke down and took some Claritin after it got so bad it felt like a bad migraine late this afternoon. I suspect I will not be sleeping tonight, but at least I don't feel like I've got an ice pick up my nose (which was probably TMI, sorry).

[stoutfellow]

I'm late in acknowledging, but I do hope you're feeling better today!

[mmegaera]

Thanks, I am, thanks to the Claritin, which didn't keep me from sleeping last night after all!

But I didn't risk going and sitting outdoors all afternoon, anyway.

We're supposed to have our first big fall storm tomorrow, so at least that ought to wash the poison out of the air.