The Best Allergy Season Ever

I always dread a 3+ week period from about mid-April through the first week or so of May. My allergies are always in full swing and there's a good week in there when I want to scratch my eyeballs out. Every year I treat my symptoms with one thing or another, but I either end up not getting enough relief or else alleviating my symptoms but falling asleep every time I stop moving. I walk around in a fog and never stray too far from the Kleenex box. This year I tried something different.

Nasacort was on sale in early April. Not having used nasal spray before, I decided I had nothing to lose. Because my allergies hadn't hit yet, I started using it the next day in hopes of staying ahead of the game. I've used it every day since. It's the first thing I do when my alarm goes off in the morning then I hit snooze and go back to sleep for another 10-20 minutes.

Now you may remember that we just had the worst winter in 30 years. It lasted forever. When my allergies never hit, I just assumed that it was because everything got a late start and my allergies would hit eventually. But then I was talking to my mother-in-law one day and mentioned that little theory. She told me that in reality everything was blooming all at the same time so allergies were much worse this year than usual. Not for me! I had no symptoms. 

Even when it's not the thick of allergy season for me, I sneeze several times every morning when I wake up. I don't even do that anymore. I have never been this allergy-free. Ever. 

I still had some trouble with my itchy eyes during one week, so I used a 12-hour eyedrop with the active ingredient of Ketoifen Fumarate right when I woke up in the morning, before they had a chance to get irritated. Problem solved. I used Thera Tears brand this year, because it was the least expensive, but there are several brands with this active ingredient and any of them will work. 

I realize this reads like an endorsement of these products. I have never been paid or otherwise rewarded for promoting anything on this blog and this is no exception. I am just posting this here because allergies make me a little bit grumpy so, naturally, not having allergies makes me pretty happy! And I want to remember what worked so I can do it again next year. :)