Seasonal alergies and pregnancy

[rose]

I'm dying... Well, drama aside, I'm at least suffering here. Last night was so bad. I woke up at 1am and my sinuses hurt and were running like a faucet, my eyes were poring, my throat hurt and my was itchy and worst of all my lungs were afflicted. I don't have asthma but it felt like I did. I've had seasonal allergies for years but I had no idea how bad they can be. I didn't even know till this summer that they can affect the lungs of non-asthmatic people. I caved and took some dimenhydrinate aka. Dramimine in the US or Gravol in Canada. It's a class 1 anti-histamine and they are generally considered safe in pregnancy. Taking anything in pregnancy just gives me the heebie jeebies especially since in the two pregnancies that I took stuff to control nausea I had symptoms of cholestatis of pregnancy in the last few weeks.

 

So, do you all have any non-medication tips for dealing with seasonal allergies? I'm not a big alternative meds sort of gal but I'll hear you out and consider anything. More I'm thinking of tips like use a netti-pot or close your window at night.

[Mergath]

Your best bet is probably the meds. I have a horrible tree pollen allergy, and I tried it all. Benadryl was the only thing that worked. Keeping the windows closed and running an air purifier helped inside, but you're probably going to have to go outside occasionally.

 

Fwiw, I'm pregnant and took Benadryl regularly during allergy season. I'm 33 weeks now and me and baby are both perfectly healthy as far as anyone can tell.

[Ali in OR]

The only time in my life that I had asthma was when I was a couple of months pregnant with youngest during allergy season. We were moving in-town--lots of time outside, physical exertion. Ended up wheezing and not liking the feeling of having trouble breathing. So yeah, you can have asthma during allergy season while pregnant.

 

The other tip I'll suggest is showering at night to get all of the pollen off of you before you go to bed. I'd be asking my doctor about Naphcon A eye drops and flonase to see if they're okay during pregnancy, because they sure help a lot this time of year.

[ktgrok]

I took Zyrtec.

[My4arrows]

The two things that help me (but don't make it all go away completely) are local raw honey daily (a spoonful here and there) and chamomile tea. They sooth and have taken away the itchy and irritation. They have also helped me with the sinus pain as well as headaches. I still had major drainage and coughing that was horrible. Thankfully it's cleared up here for me.

[kbutton]

Under my allergist/OB's guidance, I took two antihistamines, a steroid inhaler, and a mucinex-type product (can't remember if it was with or without a decongestant). Otherwise, I would not have been breathing, so neither would baby. I was also taking allergy shots (well established at that point). 

 

Do you know what your specific triggers are? If dust is part of it, or you go in and out of the house a lot, washing ALL of your bedding weekly on hot is a huge help. You can change your pillowcase more often than that, and you want to use allergen covers for both the pillow and the mattress.

 

Vacuum with a hepa filter or some other really good filtration, and try to do it a little while before bed so that you aren't stirring things up. Have someone else dust if you can. You can wear a mask for dusting or outside (a half-face respirator mask is a good option, but it's hot!). 

 

Change clothes after you go outside. Shower at night as a previous poster mentioned.

 

Wash pets thoroughly. Have your kids change clothes and bathe once they are in the house for the day.

 

Air conditioning keeps humidity in check, and that helps.

 

FWIW, there are some really bad respiratory/sinus colds and infections going around this summer, and I hear about them from numerous states (I think you are in Canada?). I think the icky stuff is just hanging on longer than typical this year.

 

As for raw honey and chamomile, they can be great for some people (or echinacea), but it can exacerbate (sometimes severely) some people's allergies and asthma. I could not do raw honey, and chamomile and echinacea are too close to ragweed--they make me miserable. Sometimes there are food triggers that go along with pollen allergies--you might look into common ones to see if you are inadvertently exacerbating yours.