Allergies—diagnose me

[nicolewi]

In Wisconsin and all the allergy counts I can find online just say moderate for this week. It’s not supposed to be that bad. But for the past couple days, I have been horribly horribly allergic to something. I tested positive for allergies to all kinds of stuff years ago, but I usually have not had many problems, except for with cats, and I very rarely even have to take allergy medication.

I took loratadine yesterday morning and this morning and I am still feeling it. I felt super allergic all night. What in the world could this be? I’m worried for some reason it’s the dog because I am allergic to dogs, but I have tolerated our multi generational doodle extremely well so far. and she’s almost two. On the other hand, we had all of our windows open yesterday, and it was really windy, so maybe letting the air inside so much made it worse?

I read online that allergies getting a lot worse is another perimenopause thing. That’s probably not helping.

Is there anything else I can do beyond taking a daily 24 hour allergy pill until this (hopefully) subsides?? Should I try a different type of allergy pill? I’m not used to dealing with this and it’s impacting my life right now.

[charlatti]

Are you sure you don’t have a cold? What symptoms make you think it’s allergies? My allergy symptoms tend to be very similar to cold symptoms, but if it’s allergies acting up the antihistamines will provide at least some relief.

[nicolewi]

Oct 7, 2024 11:37:43 GMT -5 charlatti said:

Are you sure you don’t have a cold? What symptoms make you think it’s allergies? My allergy symptoms tend to be very similar to cold symptoms, but if it’s allergies acting up the antihistamines will provide at least some relief.

I don't know. That has crossed my mind as well! Didn't seem like a normal "cold" to me but who knows. I feel like it started with more of itching/sneezing. My throat feels kind of itchy and irritated. I'm going to see if this whole situation blows over in a day or two. 

[luckystar2]

Yeah it could very well be a cold. However itchiness would be more likely to be allergies. Is it possibly some mild food allergen? There is also oral allergy syndrome which you could look up and see if you’ve had any of those recently. I went through a phase where I would get mouth itchiness after eating sunflower seeds which is one of the oral allergy syndrome foods linked to ragweed which is my biggest allergen. It started out of nowhere and stopped suddenly too.
www.healthline.com/health/oral-allergy-syndrome

Also loratadine is the mildest allergy med. I would try something else to see if it helps. For times when you’re really struggling Benedryl is a good option to try. If that helps then it would likely be allergen related. Benedryl knocks me out so I would only take at night. My go to allergy med the last several years is xyzal if you need something daily. It’s helped a ton.

[jeaniebueller]

Try Flonase too

[statgirl]

I do Allegra daily with Flonase support for bad times. For really bad times, I do Benadryl and sleep. My son does better with Xyzal but it makes me too tired.

[nicolewi]

Okay, so, I think I do have a cold. Which I know makes me sound totally goofy. But, I also think I am having some kind of crazy seasonal allergies. So in the morning, I'm sneezing and blowing my nose like crazy...but then it just doesn't go away and I stay stuffy and I think that's the cold on top of allergies?

Doing better today.

Also weirdly my neighbor said the exact same thing today! She thinks she has allergies, but she's starting to wonder if it could be a cold, and she skipped an event today.