Head Cold and Allergies?

Mark Dygert

Yea yea go see a Dr... bla-la-la... Probably will if it keeps up.

I'm pretty sure I have both and I was wondering when you guys have been hit with one or the other what do you guys do to get around them?

So far I've been taking claritin and getting some sleep when I can but its rough getting sleep during the day and at night its at its worst.

Filbot

Possibly give Zyrtec a try, Claritin never cleared up my allergies this time of year, a Doc a few years ago switched me to Zyrtec and it worked wonders for me. Zyrtec is now over the counter too.That and lots of hot showers, before bed and in the morning helps me get through the night when my allergies are killing me.

bearkub

http://www.ehow.com/how_2167016_use-netty-pot.html Netty pot!

OK, first off, the very idea of doing this sounds awful and it did to me as well. However, a friend of mine insisted I try one because he had been using one for some time and it cleared him out in no time. I must say, it does get rid of the headaches and open shit up. You just have to be able to get used to the method in which you use it.

Other than that......I usually just suffer em out. *shrugs*

e-freak

used to take zyrtec as a child and it worked wonders, but nowadays (for the last 6 years) i've declared my self as healthy and if i had a cold or/and an allergy i was taking a role of toilett paper with me to sneeze my nose.

for the allergys you should ask your doctor/health insurrance for a desensibilisation-cure (you get an injection of the things you are allergic every week then with some modifications to it and your body will eventually learn how to absorb the effects).

also try to eat as much vegetables and salad-stuff. i know that hurts (at least for me it does) but it will help you get over the cold in no time.

Firebert

That whole Netty pot thing sounds like a sure fire way to get Pneumonia if you are not uber careful.

Claritin usually works best for me for allergies.... but you're already trying that. Anything that will dry that stuff up is key. I would say stay on the Claritin as if it doesn't really make you drowsy. If I ever get a cold, I get down on like two Echinacea, two Zinc tablets, and the Halls Vitamin C drops (sparingly on the drops, otherwise you just piss out unused vitamin C). I'll usually feel better in a day or two, but you need to keep up the Echinacea/Zinc regemin for a couple of days after you start to feel better.

Being sick sucks, especially when you're trying to work. Feel better man.

edit: e-freak is right man... vegetables are key, as well as good fruits like grapes or blueberries.... mmmmmmm blueberry

sir-knight

if you can find single pasturized honey or even unpasturized from the local area, that usually helps your allergy symptoms. You want the purest form you can find to get the allergy fighting goodness.

Works great for both of the things you got... hot water, lemon and honey.

If you want drugs, neo ctiran is great stuff.

[Deleted User]

You probably have swine flu.

Josh_Singh

Kaskad wrote: »

You probably have swine flu.

qft

Ben Apuna

Thanks for the advice guys I've got a pretty bad head cold going as well, I don't think it's swine flu I just might try that Netty pot thing if I get desperate enough.

seforin

you know me man , I get allergies + sick usually all the time,

a few things I do, clartin during the day, vics chest rub helps alot at night time also putting a bit on a q-tip and putting some inside your nose a bit helps great to during the day time. also plenty of sinus pills (tons of sinus related allergy here due to all the altitude changes from going to city to city up and down the mountains) and worse case theres always scotch

Mark Dygert

Thanks for the great ideas guys. I did a sinus rinse and I immediately felt better, then a few hours later back to the same old. Freaky shit running water up into your nose and magically not drowning. I'll try the vicks thing tonight.

My brother is allergic to most of the same stuff I am, and he did shots for a few years and it seemed to immunize him for a while, to the point he didn't need to do them for 2-3 years. I might have to look into that.

And yea I totally have the swine flu, I think I'll head down to a few schools, the mall and an old folks home and play "how many people can I infect before the cops threaten to shoot me dead". I'll blame it on that sneeze game BoBo linked to.

Pig noses for everyone!

[Deleted User]

A couple of Benadryls are still a great antihistamine but they'll make you extremely drowsy and they only last 4-6 hours (the latter two disadvantages are where Zyrtec is better) and they don't do anything for congestion, but if you take some Sudafed (the kind they keep behind the counter now, not the kind with phenylephrine instead of pseudoephedrine) that will handle the congestion AND counteract the drowsiness. A couple 500mg acetaminophens will lower the fever/headache, if you have one, and then orally disintegrating zinc tablets (Cold-Eze) can reduce the duration of the cold if you take them regularly (really regularly, like what it says on the package). And if the sinus drainage causes a sore throat, skip the Halls and Ludens and go straight to Cepacol lozenges-- they've got benzocaine in them that'll actually numb your throat and make the pain go away almost completely within a few minutes. And then some C, sleep, and echinacea should boost your resistance, theoretically.

I usually get a cold at the beginning of Fall and Spring or Summer and that's the stuff I do to stay functional. I worked in a pharmacy for 3 years and it's what the pharmacists would always recommend for those symptoms.

Going to the doctor usually won't help you though because colds are a viral infection, not bacterial, so there's not much they can prescribe other than prescription antihistamines/decongestants (most of which are just slightly higher dosages of the OTC stuff, so you could exceed the recommended daily dosage from the packages and get the same effect, as long as you stay under the actual safety limits for them, where it says "do not exceed xx in a 24 hour period") or sometimes antibiotics which don't really do anything. Unless you need an Epi-Pen or something. Then they'll hook you up.

Mark Dygert

Wow awesome info Soup thanks a bunch! I'm back at work, just too much stuff to get done and no time to do it. I need to head out and pick up some Zyrtec, I'll spend a little time chewing the fat with the pharmacist, it looks like they're a wealth of knowledge on this kind of stuff.

The sore throat is kicking in so I definitely need to pick up some lozenges. I didn't know that you had to orally disintegrate Cold-Eze I'll pick up some of that while I'm out.

Trying out the honey, lemon tea thing, seems to be helping the throat, not sure how honey fights off allergies. Isn't honey, bee vomit after they chew on pollen? So maybe its a little bit of what doesn't kill you makes you stronger? I dunno it feels pretty good...

Thanks again guys. Kub that thing is freaky, but once I got over it I was surprised how much better I felt, did it again this morning, thanks for posting it. They're actually pretty main stream and carried in a few stores, at least here in the tree-huggin northwest they are...

claydough

pseudoephedrine here as well, anything else supposedly non drowsy makes me hibernate.

Sudafed ( need a license unless u have a friend with a meth lab that can supply u )

t4paN

Filbot wrote: »

Possibly give Zyrtec a try, Claritin never cleared up my allergies this time of year, a Doc a few years ago switched me to Zyrtec and it worked wonders for me. Zyrtec is now over the counter too.That and lots of hot showers, before bed and in the morning helps me get through the night when my allergies are killing me.

Man Zyrtec (dunno if it's spelled that way, haven't used it in a long time) was getting me completely fucking wasted, I was sleepy for days on end when on that stuff.

What I like to take is Aerius which is pretty good if you take it before your nose starts running like a faucet and your eyes swell up and shit. Also, for when my nose just blocks and refuses to let me breath I use some good old Dexa-Rhinaspray (which is discontinued in the UK according to mr. Google). Thing is, I only use Dexa sparingly because your nose could get addicted to it or something.

It helps to have one handy though, especially now that the weather's opening up and there's all these alergens (dunno about the spelling of this either) in the air.

/edit btw Vicks is pretty addictive too, as with Dexa you shouldn't be using it oftenly.

claydough

:poly105:paranoia note:

never had allergies till the mass spraying fer mosquitoes ( west nile /bird flu? )
pharma conspiarcy ( or an idea fer a video game at least )

tone

May not be relevant to the discussion, but we're a couple of weeks into winter in the southern hemisphere and every year at around this time my sinuses go apeshit, but only when I'm at home. It turns out to be an allergic reaction to second-hand fireplace smoke which gets trapped and builds up in my house. pseudoephedrine products are the only thing that worked for me. Couple of weeks ago I asked around at a home renovating showroom and was recommended a 9-stage HEPA purifier similar to this (sales pitch from a U.S. vendor) [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhfOC5JHE7U[/ame]
Wanted one of these, but could only afford this. I was skeptical but it does what it says and I was told that the charcoal filter should last about 18 months, hopefully 3 winter cycles. Now I'm off the pills and able to sleep at night. The only issue to keep in mind is balancing fresh air circulation through the house to avoid getting headaches (or worse) from rising C02 levels.