Man. I thought all day yesterday, “No one is commenting on my blog! Do my entries suck?” And then I checked my site last night thinking the comments weren’t working and I saw, “Hm…no entries!” I thought I had written 3 blog entries yesterday. Now - either I dreamed it or my “Post to the Future” tool was off. I looked at it and…oops. Those entries were set to post April 2nd 2008.
I like to plan ahead.
So - instead I’ll post a time-relevant entry where I talk about what’s going on in my life RIGHT NOW. Either my allergies have gotten substantially worse, or I’ve been infected with some sort of brain-eating virus that liquifies the content of my skull and shoots it out my nose. I think it’s the virus. I’ve never had allergies this bad so I am starting to think I’m actually dying. It’s hard to tell. MrZ swears that his allergies have gotten to the KILL ME level before, but man - how can I feel this crappy and not deserve to be prescribed some sort of rockin’ narcotic? GIVE ME DRUGS.
Although I did take some Tylenol PM last night and combined with the benedryl? I passed out in about 2.2 seconds and I think I slept so heavily I may have actually died at some point in time. Probably a bad idea to combine two drugs that say may cause drowsiness. I think the dual-action converts “drowsiness” to “coma” if my sleep last night is any indication.
LilZ is still fighting his run with bronchitis. Luckily, he at least got some good cough medicine for his disease. I told him, “Dude. You have real DRUGS. You are so lucky. I’m totally going to get bronchitis too, watch me.”
I’m nothing if not a responsible parent.
I just read yesterday that Tylenol PM and Benadryl have some sort of the same medicine in them, but I didn’t pay enough attention to remember what it was. And! TV told me this morning that this allergy season is going to be extra bad, which is why you feel like poo. Great, right? I had allergies for years, had shots, and now my body has given me new ones. My husband has horrible allergies and the shots don’t seem to help him. Even our dog has allergies, he goes outside and sneezes his head off.
I hope you start feeling better soon! Allergies are baaaaad. You can see a nice fine yellow dusting of pollen all over cars, our porch is covered with it, it doesn’t come off easily. It is a pain.
I got allergies for the first time this year - not surprising, with how high the pollen count has been - and it was miserable. I was like you, I wanted to walk around and apologize to people for not being totally sympathetic to their pain. Yesterday was the first day in over a WEEK that I felt truly WELL. So, I’m hoping you either get some get GOOD drugs or start feeling human again soon!
Echoing Jenn - Tylenol PM has 25 mg of Diphenhydramine HCl. Benadryl also has 25 mg of Diphenhydramine HCl. You were still under the maximum daily dose (I think around 300 mg, but I could be wrong). Just be careful! Most Benadryl boxes say not to take it if you are already taking something that contains Diphenhydramine HCl.
I was wondering why your post didn’t show up in my feed yesterday. But I still read them because I just knew you had posted something recently so I came directly to your site. Which is kinda funny since yesterday you were talking about how people who read feeds harldy ever visit the actual blog.
you need to start taking Clariton daily. It’s OTC and easy to find. I start taking it in February and keep on taking it through part of the summer. It has changed my life. I used to take other allergy stuff but it made me so drowsy I couldn’t function. Clariton keeps my allergies at by and lets me keep going.
I also use Nasonex (doc gave DH samples) and it works really good for the snotty nose.
Hope you are feeling better soon! I can so sympathize with you!
sorry, I spelled it wrong…it’s Claritin. I use generic so I was guessing at the spelling.
My allergies have never been as bad as this year. I’m currently accessorizing the allergies with a sinus infection, so I’m taking Allegra and Sudafed and ladeeda - no snot. I recommend it.
I also read that allergies are at an all time high this year - fabulous! So far mine hgaven’t kicked in, but last year they were SO AWFUL, and I was very pregnant, so I couldn’t really take much of anything. over teh years my body has built up an immunity to shots and RX meds, I’ve found that Claratin OTC works really well though. Tylenol used to ahve an Allerigy and cold formula, but they changed it and now, it doesn’t seem to work as well. But yeah, go the the pharmacy counter and try the OTC claratin. OHHH!!! Or, call your doctor and ask what they reccomend and ask if you can try a sample - mine is always willing to give me whatever they have on hand to try before I go out and spend money on something.
Damn meth-making kids ruined all the good OTC drugs!
More people complaining about allergies and general worsening of allergies here on the other side of the ocean too. Maybe the green house effect again. You know what stinks too (although i must admit i’m quite happy with it on another level?), having great drugs for allergies but not being able to take them because you’re pregnant? But having 5 packets of the happy blue pills just lying there on your desk, teasing you? While i cough en sneeze my guts out.
I finally broke down and went to the doc after my allergies were so bad that I was audibly wheezing at night and waking myself up because I couldn’t breathe. He said that because of our MidSouth weird weather (freezing Feb and 80s in March) we had the growing seasons from 3 different months all exploding at once. Apparently in TN at least, the pollen counts have been 20x normal this spring. He gave me a shot and the happy happy medicine from that shot combined with the FOUR other prescriptions he wrote have left me feelin’ faaahhhhhhnnnneeeee. I highly recommend it. Its strange how much we take breathing for granted until we can’t do it and are struggling to try while our lungs burn and eyes itch and water and nose slowly strangles itself.
Just echoing that yes, it is looking to be a very bad year for those of us who are allergy sufferers. There are fantastic meds out there that won’t knock you out (and Jenn and Laura are right, you doubled up!). If Claritin (or Loratidine) works for you, great, but do take it every day. If it isn’t enough, see a Dr. and try a different one, Zyrtec, Allegra, Clarinex, etc. and add a nose spray, Nasocort, rhinocort, etc. And for pregnancy safe options, I’ve been switched to zyrtec and rhinocort by my allergist with the approval of my ob. I’m using them as sparingly as possible, but they are category B, where as many of the others are C. I think Claritin is B as well. Best of luck!
Dude, I never had allergies until I started sleeping with someone who has them, and now I’m on the Benedryl train. The hell?
Hope you feel better soon. And I am SO looking forward to April 2, 2008 and reading those posts. *lol*
Here’s what I’m trying, but it’s a long-term fix, so it may not help you until next year. I had allergies really bad the second spring I lived here, and one day at least three people in a row said “bee pollen and honey.” You can get bee pollen and honey from your local health food store. The key is that it has to be “local” (within 50 miles of where you live). The theory is that the bees collect pollen from all that stuff you’re allergic to and the beekeepers collect it (don’t ask me how–I don’t want to know). And the bees also make honey from that pollen. When you take a teaspoon of bee pollen every day and a couple of tablespoons of local honey, you’re actually building up an immunity to it over a period of time.
The third spring was much better. Then I let myself run out of bee pollen for about 9 months (kept forgetting to get over to the health food store) and this spring my allergies are terrible. Back on the Claritin and Sudafed to try to deal with them until I build the immunities back up.
Give it a try–it’s not that expensive and if it works, way cheaper than manufactured drugs. My new strategy is to buy two packages of the bee pollen–one to use and one to put in the freezer. When I use up one and get the one out of the freezer, it’s time to go to the health food store.
I see nothing wrong with combining those medications. I’m not sick right now, but I’m thinking about trying it tonight…