I hate allergies

[dagibbs]

I hate allergies. I feel like my brains are running out my nose. I'm sneezing, sniffling, blowing, and my eyes are itching. And, this is with anti-histamines coursing through my system.

From the weather network's website, today's pollen count for ragweed is 225, "high" is "80+". Joy. I mean, *sniffle*.

I can barely smell, or taste, my Caribean left-overs.

Comments

[elizilla]

At least you can go down to the local pharmacy and buy the latest allergy drugs right off the shelf. Here I have to wait a week for a doctor appointment, go to their office and tell them about my allergies in person and not even get examined, pay $50 co-pay, get the prescription, go to the pharmacy, pay $134 a month for the pills, then pay the $19 bill that arrives a month later in the mail, for the portion of the doctor visit that the insurance company denied the claim for.

The same pills are $20 Canadian for a month's worth of pills, over the counter.

I've had allergies for 38 years now. Seems like I ought to be trusted to know what these symptoms are, which remedies work for me, and I could just go buy whichever allergy pills I liked.

[dagibbs.livejournal.com]

Hm... would it be faster, and cheaper even with current cost of gas, to ride to Windsor and buy them in Canada? Or, if you want a more social visit, go up to Sarnia and visit Jeff for a while. At least then you won't quite look like 10 minutes in Canada, what were you doing?

Still, making basic anti-histamines prescription seems pretty strange to me. Gah.

[i-and-t.livejournal.com]

aren't any of the non-drowsy new generation antihistamines over the counter yet in the US? certainly old generation benadryl (diphenhydramine) is, which is very effective, if you are one of the people that it doesn't make drowsy.
i.

[dagibbs.livejournal.com]

Oddly, I was looking at a bunch of the sleeping remedies available in the pharmacy -- all but one of them were Benadryl. The one that wasn't Benadryl was an herbal, which I recognised, but can't bring to mind at the moment.

[i-and-t.livejournal.com]

all the otc sleeping remedies are working thru an antihistamine mechanism in varying doses.100-150 mg of generic gravol and I'm out like a light.
all the herbals are not clinically tested against placebo, not regulated (so you have no idea what is in them)so god knows how they might or might not work.
i.

[elizilla]

I sometimes get desperate enough to take a Benedryl, but it completely puts me to sleep.

Allegra-D has been helping quite a bit. I still sniffle and sneeze but the itchy eyes and throat go away, which is huge.

[elizilla]

I have occasionally resorted to driving to Windsor for allergy drugs. And whenever I'm in Canada anyway, I try to remember to pick some up. I don't know if it is legal or not, though, so I don't dare stock up by buying more than one or two boxes.

[elizilla]

It would be cool to just drive over and get one of each and try them all. Think I'd get in trouble for that?

[dagibbs.livejournal.com]

Our government wouldn't care.

Now, your government -- I dunno. They might. I dunno where/how you'd find out though.

[i-and-t.livejournal.com]

as long as they're not narcotic/restricted (which no allergy medication is) i can't see as they'd care. all the allergy medications are available in the states as prescriptions. lots of seniors come over the border to purchace prescription drugs and don't get hung up at the border. i can't see why you'd get harrased for otc non-prescription drugs.
i.