Quick Note: I’m sharing this based on my personal experience and research, but I’m not a medical professional. This post is for informational purposes only and isn’t medical advice. You can find my full medical disclaimer
at the bottom of this page.
Chlorpheniramine maleate
Chlorpheniramine Maleate is a first generation oral antihistamine. I’ve being using it for years now and find that it works better than any other antihistamines that I have tried. Supposedly it can make you drowsy, but I have never noticed any issues with it. And I’m the kind of person who won’t take Benadryl because of how much it affects my level of drowsiness and brain fog. One nice thing about Chlorpheniramine is that it can cross the blood brain barrier which can give it a bit of an edge over other antihistamines. A down side though is that it only lasts about 4-6 hours for the most part, so it does need to be taken more than once a day. For myself at this point though, most of the year I can get away with only taking it in the morning and evening.
Pataday Eye Drops
Pataday is a dual purpose eye drop. It is an antihistamine drop, so it quickly reduces the immediate feeling of itching. It is also a mast cell stabilizer which means that it helps with a more long term goal, reducing the histamine. Histamine is contained within Mast cells. When you have an allergic reaction the mast cells split open and dump histamine into your system. Mast cell stabilizers work to stop the mast cells from splitting, keeping that histamine contained inside where they aren’t going to cause allergy symptoms. This eye drop takes only one drop in each eye once per day. I’ve been using it off and on for a year or two now and it really helps for the itchy eyeball feeling. A couple of months ago, I had gotten kind of lazy and I hadn’t been using them and I kept feeling like there was grit or something in my right eye. It was so bad that I thought I was going to have to go see an eye doctor. But I thought, I better try my eyedrops first, because I don’t want to rack up that bill just to find out that I have dry eyes. I started using the Pataday at night and the Systane eye drops in the morning and after a few days it felt so much better. I am back to using them every day now.
Azelastine HCI Nasal Spray
Azelastine is antihistamine nasal spray. Azelastine is available by prescription or available over the counter under the name Astepro. Although both options seem to work pretty good, I have to say I prefer the prescription option a lot better because there is way less of an aftertaste than with the over the counter option. If you opt to try the Astepro, I strongly suggest ringing and gargling a little after using it. When I used it, if I didn’t rinse my mouth and gargle afterwards I could taste it all day. It really doesn’t have a pleasant taste. The prescription option doesn’t leave that long lingering taste though thank goodness. I use it twice a day during the times of year when my allergies are worse and once a day when they aren’t as bad.
Cromolyn Sodium nasal spray
Cromolyn Sodium is a Mast Cell Stabilizer. Which is pretty important for those of us with allergies because Mast Cells contain histamine. When you are having an allergic reaction the mast cells in your body burst and dump histamine in your system. Mast Cell Stabilizers help prevent those mast cells from exploding and releasing the histamine in the first place. So, it doesn’t stop an allergy attack that is already in full swing, but it does stop the cascade of future symptoms. Or least slows them down. It kind of helped when I first started using this spray, but after I got on the Dupixent for the type 2 inflammation, I really started to see how well this spray actually works. It is available by prescription or can be purchased on Amazon under the brand NasalCrom.
Nasacort
Nasacort is a steroid nasal spray. It works by helping reduce the inflammation in the nasal passages. This treatment works best for more short term sinus inflammation, although some doctors have recommended me using it on a more long term basis. For myself however, I find that I can’t tolerate Nasacort for more than a handful of days before my nasal passages start to hurt and crack and bleed. Which I imagine doesn’t make it sound very good. But, for a few days here and there, when the inflammation is pretty bad, works well for opening up the airways.
NeilMed Sinus Relief nasal rinse
There are multiple nasal rinses available. I know people who prefer a NettiPot for example. But personally I prefer the NeilMed Sinus Relief nasal rinse. It’s a squeeze bottle with a tube that goes down inside of it. It comes with little packets that are basically comprised of salt and baking soda. (Probably not exactly the same stuff that you’d find in your kitchen, so I wouldn’t really suggest trying to recreate it.) The little packets go into the squeeze bottle. One for each use. Then just fill the bottle to the line with distilled water, preferably slightly warmed. (I’ve tried cold and boy is that a shock to the system. I wouldn’t recommend it.) Personally I just get the little 8 ounce bottles of water and warm them for a few seconds in the microwave. (Don’t overheat them. Lukewarm is the maximum temp I would go. You do not want to burn your nose and make your problem worse.) It it’s important that it be distilled or sterilized water because tap water can contain chemicals or minerals or bacteria that is not recommended inside the nasal passages. After adding the saline packet and water, swoosh slightly to incorporate. Then you basically press it up flush to your nostril, while leaning over a sink and squeeze the bottle, allowing the fluid to flush through your sinus passages. I usually do half the bottle on one side and the other half on the other side. That helps flush out allergens, dust, mold spores and other irritants.
MSM
MSM is short for Methysulfonylmethane. Don’t ask me to pronounce that, because I don’t have a clue. MSM is a organic sulfur compound. I don’t fully understand the whys and hows of how it works, but I have noticed that since I started taking it, my overall body pain and discomfort has been reduced. It also seems to help take the edge off of the allergy attacks. Again, my noticeably since I started taking the Dupixent for the type 2 inflammation. (It’s hard to gauge as well before that because my symptoms were completely out of control.) My understanding though is that it is supposed to help by promoting healthy tissue repair.
Showering
This might seem like an odd choice to list as a treatment, but seriously, that’s exactly what it is. When you go out and get exposed to a bunch of allergens, chemicals, irritants, ect. The best thing that you can do is get those things off of you as soon as possible. You want to stop having an allergic reaction? You have to leave the environment or micro ecosystem that is making you sick. I have been doing this for years now and I can’t even begin to tell you what a difference it makes. I go to town, I come home and shower. I go to church, I hug people, I come home and shower. I go outside for an extended period of time, or in the spring, any time at all really, I come inside and shower. This helps keep the external micro ecosystems off of me and reduces the amount that builds up in my house.
Systane eye drops
Ok, so if you shower your body to get the allergens and irritants off your skin, the Systane eyedrops is what helps rinse the allergens and irritants off of your eyeballs. Sometimes my eyes are so dry and irritated due to allergies or weather or what have you that I end up using this stuff 2-3 times a day. Just to keep my eyes moist and to cut down on the things that could be affecting me. These are just a lubricating eye drop, nothing overly fancy, but they do seem to work a little bit better than other brands I’ve tried.
HEPA air filters
I am talking about the kind of air filters that you are going to find in an air purifier. HEPA filters are top rated for grabbing even itty bitty little particles out of the air. They claim to grab 99.97% of particles down to as small as .3 microns. Now, I don’t understand exactly how small that is, but according to my research, that is smaller than a speck of dust, it is smaller than a mold spore or pollen. So in my Lind of thinking, that aught to grab a whole lot of what’s bothering me that’s in the air. I have some free standing air purifiers in my house right now and I will tell you, they pull a lot of debris out of the air in my house. It’s kind of distrusting really how much stuff they are able to suck up in just a week around here. I would recommend them but they are currently not available for purchase but I am sure that there are other brands that also work very well. It’s just one more line of intervention into keeping the environment as safe and irritant free as we can.
Thank you for your time in reading my top 10 allergy treatments that have worked for me. I hope that you are able to find at least one of two new options that will help reduce your’s body overload of allergies. If you have found something that you find to be particularly helpful in reducing your allergy symptoms please comment below.
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The information provided on MelSeeley.com is for general informational and educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.
Always seek the advice of your physician or another qualified healthcare provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition, allergy (such as latex or environmental sensitivities), or health regimen. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read on this website.
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