I am miserable with Allergies! :(
 

I am so afraid I'm allergic to my boys. Over the last 3 years or so, Ive developed allergies. As time goes on they are getting worse & worse!

They are worse in the winter than the summer. So it leads me to think they are dust or dog allergies. My ears leak fluid, which leads to outer ear infections all the time. When I am upright I can breathe, but when I lay down, I get congested almost immediately. I can't sleep because I'm clearing my throat and coughing constantly after laying down. Can only breathe through 1 nostril at night, and I start to panic because I feel like I can't get enough oxygen in.

We are going to replace the carpet in our bedroom this spring, but I wash our bedding completely every week. I have a new pillow. We've replaced the living room carpet with wood flooring, we replaced the cloth furniture with leather. We eliminated big bulky curtains that can catch dust and went with simple panels that just hang. They are also all new too. We totally gutted both bathrooms, and a lot of the kitchen so I don't think its mold as we either didn't have any or had very little and used bleach to clean before rebuilding.

Right now, I am sitting at work miserable. I am tired, my eyes are burning, my ear is in pain and more than likely infected (AGAIN!!!) and I can barely breathe through my nose. If I try to breathe through my mouth, it dries out and I cough.

Its like a I can't win!!!!! :( I am soooooo miserable! Meds do help a bit, but I don't want to be on meds everyday. I am going to get a netie pot and try that because I heard that can work wonders.

sorry your feeling so awful. i have been doing nasalcrome instead of zrytec which i find is helping me more..and i think mine are actually leveling out. i hope you feel better and find a solution i have heard wonders about the netti pot as well. i know how that feels at night and there is nothing worse. i hope you feel better asap.

I hope you are feeling better soon, I take a clariton some times for my allergies mostly brought on by being around someone smoking or the smell of bleach

Praying you can find relief. Have you tried Allegra, Claritin, and Zyrtec? I have had to mix them up over the years. Zyrtec used to work really well for me but then started to be less effective. I then went to Claritin. I've been taking that for almost 3 years now, but it is slowly becoming less effective. My dr says for me to try Allegra next.

If you do think its the dogs (or most likely the dander they bring in), there are also some ideas that might help. Keeping them in shorter coats and well groomed (but not bathed so often that their skin is dry). There is a product that you wipe your pet down with that is supposed to help rid the pet of dander (which is what usually causes the reaction), can't remember the name right now. Of course, you should also try not to sleep with them in the room with you (or the bed)...I have a mild allergy to my cat and I find if I keep her out of the bedroom all the time, it seems to help. I've also heard (but don't know this for sure) that increasing your vitamin C can help with allergies...Vitamin C is supposed to be a natural anti-histamine.

I feel for you...its no fun feeling poor physically, and not great to have to contemplate a life with less puppy love!

Good luck...hopefully you will find a solution or a combination of solutions to manage your allergies.

Aw man that sounds horrible!! :( *IF* it was something in your house or your furbutts don’t you think you would be good at work? Have you ever went to the Dr to get allergy tested? I don’t have allergies so I’m not sure how they work… Maybe you can get testing to pinpoint what it is you are allergic to..

I hope you can get some relief.

Hope you find something that works:(
I know what you mean, I've recently had to rehome my 3 guineapigs I had for 3 years, I tried so hard to keep them but my allergies were getting worse and I was even more allergic to the hay, I would even feel my throat closing sometimes.