Any allergy sufferers here ever tried those allergen-blocking gels?

[SacredCow]

When they first came out, I thought it sounded like snake oil- not to mention the fact that I'm not all that interested in sliming up the inside of my nose. x(

But now that the pine trees have launched an attack to kill me with yellow dust, and I'm hacking and dripping non-stop (and my Zyrtec isn't doing a damn thing), I'm distinctly in the "I'll try ANYTHING" mode.

Thanks in advance!

[Deep13]

1. I like Naseral (OTC)

Don't know anything about these gels. MY guess is if it doesn't say "homeopathic" or "supplement" on the box, it will probably work.

[TZ]

2. Or if it says "these statements have not been evaluated by the FDA"

Thats pretty much an admittance of snake oil.

[Deep13]

4. Yes. "We're just guessing here!"

:hi:

[SacredCow]

9. I love how all of those "detox" pills tell you to drink 10 to 12 glasses of water per day....

Um, yeah- that will flush you out fairly well, so why do I need your dandelion-clover-yakkahookah weed extracts?

[NJmaverick]

3. No but I have found a couple of things that work well

one is HEPA filtration unit in the bedroom (or if you have central air a HEPA filter in that unit). The other thing that really helps is a NETI pot. I rinse every night and if it's allergy season I will use it after being outside for an extended period of time.

[SacredCow]

6. I've had a number of people suggest the NETI pot....

at this point, I'm willing to try anything.

[NJmaverick]

8. Neti pots are great, but they sound awful. I have convinced a number of people to try them

and they all were happy they did.

[Deep13]

15. Any saline rinse--Neti pot, squeeze bottle--will decongest your nose...

...and sinuses. It will not prevent allergy symptoms from continuing.

[RockaFowler]

13. Love the Neti Pot

And no chemicals in your nose

[TZ]

19. Hello. Salt water is a chemical!

Duh! Geezus. :banghead:

[JCMach1]

5. Pseudoephedrine...

Still one of the best...

[SacredCow]

7. It isn't working at all for me at the moment.

It used to, but not this year. And I haven't even taken any of it since last summer, so it isn't that my body got acclimated to it.

[Deep13]

14. Sudafed is a decongestant.

It would not stop other allergy symptoms like runny nose or nasal drip.

[JCMach1]

18. Doesn't work for everyone... the Neem trees will be blooming here soon

so I will be suffering majorly... :(

[Kali]

10. haven't heard of it - what is it?

I add nasalchrom (sp?) to regular OTC generic loratidine (sp?) to get through my fall allergies.

sitting in the air conditioned car for a few hours helps too (work outdoors a lot plus in a house with no central air - doors and windows open from april through october + animals/dust/slob)

[SacredCow]

11. Supposedly....

It's a gel that is electrostatically charged to attract allergens. You apply it to the inside of your nasal canal and (in theory) the allergens get trapped on the gel before you inhale them into your sinuses or lungs. It sounds logical and suspicious all at the same time (like most good snake oil ads).

I've tried pretty much every OTC allergy medicine out there, and nothing is working. Benadryl usually knocks it out pretty well but this year? Nada (also, I can't function through the benadryl fog, so it's only an option for night time).

[Kali]

12. benadryl has never done anything for me

I just looked up allergy gels on google - sounds like $14 for essentially fake snot. Better off wearing a good dust mask, I would think.

http://www.nasalcrom.com/nasal-spray

http://www.medicinenet.com/cromolyn-nasal/article.htm

the nasalcrom helps a lot but you kind of need to be using it before the pollen hits - takes a few days to start having an effect, and it is pretty expensive too. I can usually get buy with a single bottle for my "season" - it was recommended to me by an allergy specialist (MD) when I sold myself for an allergy treatment experiment (a different med). After the trial he said to try this and gave me a sample. It really helped. That is also where I learned you can get through the haze of drowsy antihistamines too - you just have to stick with them and it lessens over time. Start on a dead weekend so you can be unconscious for a couple days, then by the middle of the week it is hardly noticeable.

Found out about the loratidine in another medical test (sleep study) and while it isn't quite as effective as the old sllep inducing pills, it does not cause drowsiness at all, so the combo of it and the spray gets me through Aug., Sept. and Oct.

Don't know about zyrtec, but you can double the dose of loratidine no prob.

Have read numerous good things about netipots - seems kind of gross or painful but didn't we snort up a lot of water back on the white powder days?}(

[Deep13]

17. +1 on the filter mask.

There are special allergy masks available now.

[Deep13]

16. Right, Nasalchrom, not Nasaral like I wrote earlier.

Nasaral is a prescription cortizone spray. It works very well, but it has to be used everyday.