Allergy Season

The Spring months of April and May mark the peak of what many experience as allergy hell in Davis. Hundreds of folks retreat into their homes and cubicles with red eyes, sneezing noses, and fatigued limbs.

Head down to a local pharmacy for medication, or one of the other remedies:

• Kaiser Permanente offers generic Claritin (loratadine) for only a few bucks. Also, they have an allergy kit that contains Sudafed and an antihistamine. This also costs a mere few bucks.
  

• Costco will net you a Kirkland brand bottle with hundreds of loratadine tablets for next to nothing. Same goes for cetirizine (Zyrtec) now that a prescription isn't required for it.
  

• Nasalcrom (cromolyn) is a non-prescription nasal spray that doesn't cause drowsy-ness.
  

• Using nasal saline spray a couple of times per day and then blowing your nose is helpful for allergies because it washes pollen and dust from your nasal cavity.
  

• Saline eye drops alleviates allergy-induced dryness and burning of the eyeballs.
  

• Hydration helps a sore burning throat, as do Ricola throat lozenges and/or Cold-Eeze zinc tablets.
  

• Avoiding certain foods helps. Melons and cucumbers, for example, are known to aggravate allergies to pollen, dust, and airborne particulate matter.
  

• Personal steam machines are helpful for allergies.
  

• Local honey is argued by some to help a bit with pollen allergies. Find it at Pedrick Produce, the Davis Food Co-op and the Davis Farmers Market.
  

• Herbal remedies include nettles and Quercetin, which can both be purchased in capsule form at the Davis Food Co-op or Natural Food Works.
  

• Other non-medication interventions include using a Netti Pot to clear your sinuses (sold at the Davis Food Co-op). It feels weird but it works.
  

• Some forms of Chinese medicine and facial acupuncture may also be used as treatments by allergy sufferers.
  

• If you have a ridiculously runny nose, take the time to go to a pharmacy and ask for the real Pseudoephedrine based nasal decongestants. Everything on the shelves has been replaced with Phenylephrine which is not nearly as effective.
  

• If your allergies are extreme you can always get allergy shots from Dr. Brown at the Sutter West Medical Group or, if you are a UC student, the Cowell Student Health Center. They really do work!! But you have to get them for a few years
  

• If severe, try filtering the air you breathe to reduce your exposure to pollen and other irritants. When outside, try wearing a surgical mask.

Comments:

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2006-05-10 17:47:45   I find that loratidine-based tablets are too weak for my allergies. 12-hour Drixoral seems to do a pretty good job for medium-heavy seasonal allergies. Mmm... 6 mg of Dexbrompheniramine Maleate. —KarlMogel

2007-03-30 20:17:22   I believe dexbrompheniramine is prescription only, so if you don't wanna go through the hassle...but if you don't then your allergies aren't bad enough. —BradBenedict

2007-04-01 04:05:53   My eyes are burning. I don't want to go outside anymore! —KaiWan

2008-03-16 02:09:04   I had really horrible allergies at Davis, but when I took Claritin (loratadine), I experienced some very vivid and lucid dreams. I was warned that one of the possible side effects was sleep disturbances. I felt like I was on drugs during my dreams. I had to discontinue Claritin, because the effects were just too disturbing. I tried over the counter Nasalcrom spray, which worked but I had to use the spray many times a day just to keep the allergies away. Eventually, I tried Flonase(fluticasone), which was very effective and gave me no side effects. I only had to use the spray once or twice a day and my allergies went away. It was amazing! —Jedron

2008-04-13 16:01:02   That'd be horrible to have such severe allergies to have to need to wear a surgical mask. —SunjeetBaadkar

• I did this once, for some reason some guy asked me if I was Muslim because he saw me doing it. —BrendanChan
  

2008-05-14 16:35:08   i hate spring —shigella

2008-05-19 19:33:58   Recently, my family and I have been bicycling out around the backroads near the dump/water processing planet. When we go out there, we all experience this intense itching, burning, painful rash on our exposed skin. Anyone have a clue what's growing out there that could cause this? It doesn't happen anywhere else... —anattadoll