Benadryl @ MindSay

I am a long time seasonal allergy sufferer, despite the fact that I love gardening. So for years I was a benadryl kid, and for years I too felt the well-known "sleepy" side affects. However, I have come across some allergy relief products that have seriously eliminated my need for Benadryl, Claritin, Allegra, Zyrtec, and Flonase. Yeah, I'm pretty much allergic to any and everything haha.

For sneezing, itchy, dry nose, constant running, and all those other fun symptoms these next couple of items have honestly been my panacea.

Ayr Brand Nasal Gel: This saline nasal gel is quite honestly the most amazing thing ever for nasal allergies. It's perfect for dry, scratchy irritation, that constant need to rub your nose, and helps soothe that tingly sensation. Just place a little dab around the nostrils, and then carefully put some up your nose. A little goes a long way! You don't have to plug your nose with this stuff to make it work. It has aloe that will immediately remove itch feelings, plus the saline solution keeps it moist. This also helps to prevent pollen from entering all the way up the nose to the olfactory foramen. (fancy term for where the pollen drives you crazy.)

SinuCleanse Squeeze: Sometimes all you really need is to clean out your Nasal Sinuses to remove any built up pollen and air particles. This simple nasal wash kit will remove built up mucous, pollen, misc particles that get stuck in the mucous membranes. It uses warm water, Sodium Bicarbonate and Sodium Chloride (saline solution) to naturally wash out the nasal sinuses. If you click the link it will describe how to use it properly. It's very easy to do, and after the first try I immediately felt better. I highly recommend this one. It's pretty much what you would get done at an ENT's office, but much cheaper.

Now let's say you can't be bothered to have water rushing up your nose and out the other end. Well here is a great all natural tea that will help stimulate your mucuous sinuses to loosen up and help flush out your allergens. Not to mention this tastes GREAT!

Nasal Cleanse Tea:

1/2" slice of fresh ginger
3-4 clove pieces
small cinnamon stick (broken into two)
5-6 cardamom pods
*you will also need your own Tea Bags or a Tea Ball

You will need to dice the ginger into nice size bits. The cinnamon sticks will also need to be shortened to fit inside the tea bag or tea ball. I would not recommend using ground cinnamon, because it will be too overpowering. The cardamom pods can be crushed open, but keep the seeds in the pod.

Once you have everything in the tea bag or tea ball, time to boil some water. Make sure the water boils for just a second, then remove from the heat. Pour hot water over tea bag or tea ball and allow to seep for 5-10 minutes. You should be able to smell the tea (it will smell amazing). Then you may add some sugar or sweetener, but not too much. Sip Slowly and allow the tea to warm up your throat. This will help stimulate your nasal passages and you should notice your nose starting to drain. If you notice your nose is really starting to run, this would be a great time to try the SinuCleanse Squeeze! Or you can just blow your nose.

don't take 4 and decide you can handle going to school.
it's a bad idea, trust me.

Mold has always gotten me and I'd actually started to do better with it, taking a homeopathic tincture and Claritin only when I really needed it.  Turns out my allergy was affecting my sleep as well so occasionally a half a Benadryl would do me right.

 

Well, the party is over.  They say in Austin your allergies/sinuses get worse every year and this is the year for me.  Good God, something has wrapped itself around my brain and sinuses and is making me miserable!  Ragweed has come in and I guess this now affects me.  I've had to take Claritin every single day but it's doing almost nothing.  The only thing it's helped is that if I don't take it my tummy gets upset (probably from all the post-nasal drip) but otherwise, not helping the whole front part of my head.  [Forgot to add:  the doc's office gave me some nasal spray samples and not a bit of help that I can tell.]  Have started taking a piece of Benadryl at night which helps me sleep but as soon as I stand up in the morning I feel the weight of congestion descend.  Funny how you can be so snotty and yet so dried out in your eyes and inside your nose from all the drugs.  Ugh!!  A couple of people I know are taking Zyrtec and like it but I hear it makes some people drowsy so I might experiment with it this weekend.  I might also do the "I'm not cooking meth in my kitchen" dance with the pharmacist and see if I can score some pseudoephedrine, if there's any to be had.

 

Somebody help me!  *Achoo!*  (Yep, it was a WET one!!)

So not much really went on today, except for my worst case of allergies ever....I had to help dig and landscape our front yard...which meant grass, flowers, and POLLEN AHHHHH...so it started out as sneezing, then on came the watery itchy dry eyes, and along came the itchy skin and then I was going to die.........but I took some benadryl and soon everything became calm again....ahh I love that stuff...

also here is a link to my other blog...not much different except for the appearance and all but the posts are usually the same.. http://www.xanga.com/home.aspx?user=Meccorad so thats about it for today....