*ahhh* POLLEN!!!!!

[sammy101]

grr,i hate pollen!!! Its all over the place here!!Good thing im not allergic to it,wow that would be bad.Pollen is making my eyes puffy and swollen ,so i wake up every morning with puffy,swollen eyes lol,what a pain!!and plus,my eyes are somtimes dry and itchy yucky...
sorry just a vent

[Soapets]

I hear ya! I recently learned that I am allergic to a lot of tree pollens. I had allergy testing in December after either having to frequently be on Prednisone or getting Depo Medrol injections for recurrent and increasingly severe sinus problems.

I am now getting weekly immunotherapy shots, but they won't start having much of a positive effect until I've been getting them for a year, and it will be about five years total before I'm finished with them. I just started them in January.

This is the first Spring that I have actually been aware of WHAT I am allergic to, and I almost wish I didn't know. I love to take my son camping and fishing quite a bit during the warmer months, but knowing that I'm allergic to most of the tree pollens kind of puts a damper on that this year.

Anyway, I've been made a LOT more aware of what pollens are in the air at which times of the year through this process, and am much more in tune to what sets my allergies off. I can relate better to other people who have to go through all kinds of allergy treatments now, too. I really feel for them!

Are you SURE you aren't allergic to any of the pollens you are experiencing in your environment? Having puffy and swollen eyes are a symptom of allergies. There are eyedrops available to help with that, by the way, but NOT any of the over-the-counter "redness relievers"---they will actually make your eyes worse than just using artificial tears to dilute the allergens. (I work for an eye doctor, so have learned about these things there.) There are prescription allergy eye drops that work very well, if it gets bad enough, too.

[Karen]

Yup, that's an allergic reaction. As Soapets mentioned, there are anti-histamine eyedrops that will help. Also, don;t sleep with your windows open, and if you have fans in the windows, point them so they blow out, not so they suck pollen in!

Pollen, now there's a thought. We're supposed to get another maybe ten inches of snow today, so there's no pollen in this neck of the woods yet!

[sammy101]

i probably am having a small reaction to it.I'll have to look into those eyedrops...thanks!!

[Soapets]

Just don't leave any eye drops out near a bottle of Super Glue and then accidently use the Super Glue instead of the drops sometime! (See the thread about the man who did this.)

[sammy101]

Originally posted by Soapets
Just don't leave any eye drops out near a bottle of Super Glue and then accidently use the Super Glue instead of the drops sometime! (See the thread about the man who did this.)

lol!i wont!! I'll double check the bottles

[KYS]

AGGGGH! I am allergic to pollen and we have plenty
of it now with the flowers,trees and grasses blooming.
I have had this combination sinus infection with allergy and
now I have a cold on top of it.

It's never ending.

Soapets, I have been getting allergy shots for years.
What are Depo Medrol injections?
I get cronic sinus infections and was on antibiotics
constantly. I actually got an allergic reaction
from Sulfa anti-biotics because of over use with
my sinus infections.

[Soapets]

KYS; Depo Medrol is a steroid injection I get when the Prednisone doesn't quell the allergic reaction adequately. It stays in your system about 6 weeks. I was on antibiotics and Prednisone almost constantly since last October, and intermittently before that, for several years, with just occasional Depo Medrol injections (most recently two in the Spring, 6 weeks apart, and two in the Fall, 6 weeks apart.)

Since last summer, my sinuses would flare up again as soon as I started tapering the Prednisone, or as soon as the Depo Medrol injection started to wear off. I can't use nasal sprays because I get nosebleeds real easily, and the nasal sprays aggravate the nose bleeds. I can take antihistamines, but not decongestants because I am susceptible to my heart racing (SVT-Super Ventricular Tachycardia) which can be triggered by decongestants.

I had a Depo Medrol injection in November, and was on Prednisone in December and January, and got another Depo Medrol injection Feb. 2. I can tell it's pretty well worn off now, and will probably have to go in and get another one this next week.

Steroid use isn't healthy long-term, and my gen. MD was concerned about using the Depo Medrol and/or Prednisone so often, which was why he referred me to the Allergist. I had been getting by with a Depo Medrol injection about twice a year before that, but things have just progressed to the point that the sinus inflammation and/or infection was almost constant without regular treatment. (I even had sinus surgery 2 1/2 years ago for the frequent sinus infections and a deviated septum.)

Anyway, how do the immunotherapy injections work for you? I was told I would need to get one weekly for 18 months, then every two weeks for another 18 months, then every three weeks for another 2 years, for a total of 5 years of injections. Their purpose is to help my system build up an immunity to the things I am allergice to, and there's a 90% chance that they will be effective for me after that amount of time. The doctor also told me it would be at least a year of the weekly injections before I started noticing any improvement at all.

You say you have been on these injections for years? How many years, and are they starting to be effective for you? I'm still fairly new at this, but was willing to try it if it would ease my symptoms, even if it takes that long to reach its full effect.