Before I tell you all the little tips and tricks for whipping allergies, I've got tell you, if you've got 'em, you've got 'em. All you're going to be able to do is make little positive changes. You can't beat them for good, but maybe with some help you can fight through them.
Now that I've ruined your day, let's see what we can do.
First off, before I do the whole "what to do" thing, it's even more important to give you the "dude, don't do that" part.
REALLY IMPORTANT.
Please, for the love of addiction-freedom and rebound-avoidance, do not get into the Afrin trap. There's literally nothing better for bringing your nasal passages back into shape than a squirt of Afrin up each nostril. Works like an absolute champ.
And then after a while it doesn't.
So you give yourself another little squirt. And pretty soon you're living under a bridge, collecting cans to pay for Afrin. Well, maybe not that bad, but it is addictive. It's not addictive like Adderall or something, but it's hell coming off it from an allergy standpoint. If you start off feeling like a 4 out of 10, and the Afrin makes you feel 9 out of ten, when it wears off you're a 3. So you squirt more. Then you're a 9 again, but after a while, you're a 2. See how that works? Eventually you HAVE to do it or you're hosed.
So pay attention here: After a while Afrin can start making your heart race, increase your blood pressure, and even lead to dizziness and confusion. This stuff is meant to be taken SPARINGLY.
Same story with Claritin D. You can actually lose a little weight on this stuff, but that's because you're nervous, your pulse increases, etc.
So yeah, let's find other ways around the allergies.
OF COURSE I'm going to shill for you to get an #ImmuneTune #IV from us. It has a lot of #VitaminC, which is great for lowering inflammation in your sinuses. It's also got a bunch of #zinc, and we all know zinc shortens the duration of colds and is great for the allergy symptoms that mimic a cold. Okay, thus ends the sales pitch.
What about trying a cheap #zinc supplement? For about five bucks you can get a month's worth of 50mg zinc supplement, and it's a hell of an antioxidant, but it's also a great anti-inflammatory. Part of what's kicking your butt is inflamed nasal passages. So, about two weeks before allergy season starts, get you a supplement and get to taking it every day. Let it build up in your system.
EmergenC. Well, that's a lie. I buy the cheapo Walgreen's version. Same stuff. Get a 12 ounce glass of water, pour one of those 1mg packets into it, and slam it. Every morning. I use it to take my daily supplements. Gets old, but it's going to keep your sinuses less inflamed, help boost your immune system in general, and help the allergies from leading to a cold/viral infection.
Time out: Now you're saying "What?! Allergies don't lead to colds..."
Au contraire mon frere. When your nose is stopped up or runny, you breathe through your mouth. Your nose filters contaminants, including viruses. Your mouth doesn't. You get one. A cold that is. So, make sure you're breathing through your nose, and use the supplements to do that.
Okay, back to the stuff to do. Here are some simple ones:
Drive with your windows up, turn on your AC on, and click the "recirculate" button. If you don't have the recirculate button on you're dragging air in from outside the car, and I don't care how good your cabin filter is, you're getting pollen inside the car. Also, on that note, get your cabin filter replaced. It's pretty cheap and you might even be able to do it yourself.
Don't drag that crap into your house. Try to make sure you're pollen/allergen-free before going inside and sitting on the couch if you've been out all day playing golf, or working in the yard, or whatever. A quick dusting, or a trip straight to the laundry room to get out of clothing that's been covered in allergens is always a good idea. Better than plopping down on the couch and spreading funky dust everywhere.
I'm obliged to tell you about using a Neti Pot or that gross booger vacuum they advertise on TV and the radio, but I find the whole thing disgusting so that's all I'm gonna say on that topic.
Wet wipes for the win. Seriously, Wet Wipes. Buy the cheap, generic ones at the dollar store and keep a pack handy in your office, and your car. Set your phone down for a second outside and take a look at it in 15 minutes. All that yellow stuff is pollen. You blow on it or wipe it on your pants, but that doesn't get it all, and a good bit of it goes right into your sinuses. If you've got wipes you can wipe it off and get almost all of it. Same goes for your dashboard, your laptop, whatever. Try it and see what a wipe looks like after you're done. Nasty.
Believe it or not, those crappy cloth surgical masks that aren't great at stopping viruses are great at stopping pollen. You're usually outside when pollen is a problem, and it's already hot as Hell in the South and hard to breathe well anyway, and the mask will only make it worse, but if you see cottonwood and waves of pollen in the air, and you're bigtime allergic to that kind of stuff, probably not an awful idea to keep one in your pocket. Also people might think you're sick or paranoid and you won't have to talk to strangers. ;-)
Diphenhydramine is always good to have around. It's usually used for people with colds so they can breathe without a ton of congestion, but they actually work well for allergies too.
So that's about that. A bunch of half-assed attempts to get you through it. You aren't going to completely eliminate the problem, but you can mitigate it. And of course, if worse comes to worst you can give The Immune Tune a shot.
Good luck!!
Comments