Training & Nutrition - Allergies

Are these bothering anybody else? How does it affect your riding?

I take claritin every day, but woke up this morning with a sore throat from post nasal drip - yuck. I gargled salt water last night, but it didn't help much. Any suggestions for relieving the sore throat?

Every year at this time I go through the same thing for about 4 weeks. It happens again in the fall. I usually bicycle 5 days a week 25 to 40 miles a day. I also bicycle in the winter but during these peak allergy periods for me I scale back my cycling because I suffer too much. In fact, right now I have taken a week and a half off because of my allergies.

I have tried claritan too and it just does not seem to help and I don't want to take anything stronger. I just wait it out. Its horrible, especially on such nice days.

Sore throats from post nasal drip are the worst.

I had one a couple of weeks ago, the only thing that made it go away was some anti-biotics to clear up the infection.

Take some lemon juice and mix it with honey, warm it up in the microwave. Drink it slowly, enjoy the relief.(thank you snowy!)

I've recently begun sneezing like nobody's business in the morning. I do find it helpful to spend a few minutes blowing my nose before I leave. I actually don't mind the sneezing. I just mind my nose running.

Koffee

I live in the Land of Perpetual Allergy Season. My nose runs all year long b/c I won't take the drugs and can't afford homeopathy. The worst attacks happened two weeks ago, taking down people right and left. My head felt like it was filled with helium and lead at the same time. But... I did the commute. It actually seemed to help, at least while I was riding.

Taking showers before bed can help, it gets the allergens off you.

I too, suffer from the early allergy season. Lately, I have been taking Benedryl OTC, and it seems to help. Could be that my system hasn't built any immunities towards it yet.

I talked with an Allergist (sp) about seasonal allergies recently. We live in allergy central by the way. Anyhooo, the best results for a lot of people are to use a drug like Clarinex, Claritin etc... in combination with a non-absorbed nasal steroid like Nasacort or Nasalcrom. It takes about three days for the nasal steroid to really begin to take effect but then once or twice a day is fine. Used with the daily pill everything dries up nicely. Also, I haven't noticed any effects on the bike at all...

I've found with Claritin that you have to get on it and stick with it every day for it to work. Taking it just on bad days doesn't do a thing -- it's too weak to work for just a day. I take it every day, and helps keep my allergies in check. I still have bad days, and the first night after a ride is usually pretty sniffly, but I recover the next day.

Once you get on the Claritin, though, you can't really go off it or they just come right back.

I live in Iowa also and I took my first Clariten of the season yesterday. I was miserablea all morning, as soon as I took the Clariten, I was in perfect the rest of the day. FYI i only take 1/2 of a 24 hour Clariten-D every day, works fine.

I live in Iowa and I use nasalcort (perscription nasal spray) and after about 1 week my allergies are completly gone. Of course if you miss a couple of days, they come right back.

Are these bothering anybody else? How does it affect your riding?I have to blow out snot every 5 minutes.



Any suggestions for relieving the sore throat?Prescription (a.k.a., non-drowsy in the USA) antihistamine. Try Allegra or something other than Claritin.

Zyrtec all the time. Tylenol sinus as needed. When all else fails, I try to get my nose to drip on the chain....free lube! <grin>

ewwwww.....

Today on my ride I had to blow my nose about every other minute. I always carry kleenex with me, in those little packs. My eyes were watering too. But it's not really bad enough to take drugs; if it gets bad I'll take claritin or reactine. But I usually don't bother.

Apparently I have a tendency to develop allergies, there's a medical term for it. I developed allergies to penicillin and sulfa, and pistachios, all as an adult. But I've had hay fever for years. I get post nasal drip so what I do is flush my sinuses with salt water. It really works, also when you have a cold and your sinuses get all backed up. It prevents you from having to use a lot of nose drops and getting dependent on them.

You mix 1 cup of water to 1/2 tsp salt, warm water but not hot. Get one of those saline nose spray bottles from the drug store. I take off the top and use the bottle with my own mixture. When you fill the bottle with the salt water mix, tilt your head back and spray the mixture toward the back of your nose. Don't worry if it feels funny, you get used to it. Do both sides. Then, blow your nose gently into kleenex. Do it as often as you need. IF you have high blood pressure, use 1/3 tsp salt.

Thanks to all that posted. I am going to have to try the Claritan. (sp?)

I didn't develop allergies till I was about 24 (26 now). man do they suck.

why the crap don't our immune systems adapt to allergies? this is my 3rd year mowing and they seem even worse now than when i started. i'll be out there sneezin for hours on end before...

i've decided i will no longer waste money on allergy pills. my body will adapt or it'll just have to start liking sneezing and flem and snot and so forth. :mad:

Zyrtech is great stuff. I use it and RhinoCort.
There is a trick to using sprays. You need to have a partially open nasal passage. Then (if you are new to the spray) do a double dose
for the first week. Immediately after you spray,lie down, and hang your head over
the edge of the bed. This will keep gravity from draining it out of your sinuses as fast as it went in. Stay there until you feel the stuff soak in. This can take anything from seconds to a few minutes. If 5 minutes goes by, whatever's going to happen has happened.

Most sprays don't carry enough moisture. I use a OTC product called Nasal Chrom.
Nasal Chrom is a mildly effective allergy treatment that won't either help or hurt much. After I spray with RhinoCort I do a spray of Nasal Chrom and hang my head. This provides enough liquid for the stuff to soak in.

hey merton, i don't know how much you know about the immune system, but all allergies are is a histamine response to whatever you're allergic to, so all allergies are is your immune system actually working over something foreign in your body. Sorry it was OT, but sort of interesting. Anyways, I take allegra-d daily during allergy season and a nasal spray like nasonex when it gets bad. It works pretty well for me.

I'm 41, and have never been bothered with allergies till now. It's miserable to say the least. Here is a informative link: www.pollen.com

hey merton, i don't know how much you know about the immune system, but all allergies are is a histamine response to whatever you're allergic to, so all allergies are is your immune system actually working over something foreign in your body. Sorry it was OT, but sort of interesting. Anyways, I take allegra-d daily during allergy season and a nasal spray like nasonex when it gets bad. It works pretty well for me.


allergy shot get rid of allergies... allergies are your immune system being a wuss and sneezing like crazy trying to eject the pollen instead of just dealing with it like a proper imune system should.

also, if my immune system were really all that good at being immune it wouldn't fill my ears with snot and cause me ear infections all summer.

can allergies cause tinitus?

you don't have to take claritin (or alavert- they're both loratadine) every day for them to work- When the pollen's in the air, I'm sneezing constantly, and my nose drips like a faucet. I'll take an alavert, and be good to go in about 1/2 hour. The stuff works great for me. So I only need to take them when I feel the symptoms are getting unbearable.

Taking a shower in the morning and evening works well too- allows you to expel anything that's been collecting in your nasal passages. The steam is great too...

Oh yeah, I've heard great things about flonase as well. I don't take it but friends swear by it.

I am typing this message, with a stuffy nose, a mild headache, a tender forehead and a ringing in my ears. Yes, I suffer from sinuses. Sometimes it just a few sneezes (hay fever), but at it's worst I need to sleep off the headache. I sometimes have trouble getting to sleep, because of the ringing. But it could be worse, I could get migranes like my mother does.
What helps relieve my symptoms is to avoid certain situations like:
Smoke filled pubs, stuffy buses, citric acid, excessive caffiene, loud noises & bending over.
I don't want to rely on medication too much, & I find a bit of fresh air does help a bit.
A bit of Vick's Vapour Rub under the nostrils helps clear the head too.

As if Sinititus is not bad enough, my gut doesn't cope well with dairy products or fruits. Weird eh!
Enough of my problems.

Happy Cycling

Part of the reason there are so many different types of allergy meds out there, is there are so many types of people out there. I have suffered allergies all my life and my allergies (along with exercise) trigger my Asthma. My daughter is an allergy sufferer as well. Her doctor uses Zyrtec to address her allergies. The doctor tried the same for mine. It didn't do anything for me but controls her allergies just fine. The doc switched me to Allegra which was ok but not great. Then they switched me to Claritin which dried up the nasal passages but filled my sinuses causing constant pain. My new doctor has switched me to Singulair which has prevented me from having any issues this Spring what so ever.

The reason for that diatribe? To point out that different meds will work differently for different people. You have to have the patience to work through the process of finding out what fits for you. Kind of like finding the right saddle to ride on.

Sore throats from post nasal drip are the worst.

I had one a couple of weeks ago, the only thing that made it go away was some anti-biotics to clear up the infection.

Take some lemon juice and mix it with honey, warm it up in the microwave. Drink it slowly, enjoy the relief.(thank you snowy!)


Post nasal drip itself is a reason to kill yourself!

I ahd it pretty bad for about a week. It SUCKED MAJOR!

Being born and raised tropical never had these problems...until I moved to North Carolina!! While riding I feel great but after my ride my head feel like is about to explode, my eyes are a bit swollen, drippy nose, sneezing ..you know. This started about two weeks ago. I tried to push hard yesterday, in our Wednesday ride, but it felt as my lungs were on fire, so I slowed down... dry cough all night!! I have taken Allegra-D, it feels great in the morning but I usually ride in the afternoon so I don't feel that great at night.

Two Saturdays ago.

So I spent the last month looking forward to the Bristol Road Race held in Western New York. I start the race with some overly heavy breathing and wheezing on the first hill. Next thing you know, I'm off the back and left to finish the race by myself ... WTF? I am normally able to hang with all of the guys in the lead group no matter what the terrain.

I failed to notice the day of the race that the pollen count was high for the first time this year. Oh and I have minor allergies to pollen, grass, and kitty dander.

I drug up with Claritin on the Sunday and Monday and do the local Tuesday training race feeling like a new man. I placed well. Stupid allergies!

I have a co-worker with fairly severe allergies that swears by Singulair.

Mark