allergies for over two years every day

[adrienne2011]

I have had hay fever symptoms every single day for over two years. The odd part is that they tend to be worse when I wake up, no matter when I wake up. If I wake up when my alarm goes off, then I suffer until the medicine kicks in. If the puppy barks at three in the morning, like last night, my allergies will start usually only if I have to actually get up, walk downstairs, and tell him to stop barking. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night for no reason and my allergies act up, without me actually getting out of bed, but usually the trigger is getting up out of bed. But not every time that I get up causes an allergic reaction. Here is some background:
About six months after this first started happening, I saw an allergist and he tested me. I am highly allergic to dust. So, I paid five hundred dollars to have the air ducts in my house cleaned professionally... and guess what. There was MAYBE an eighth of an inch of dust in the metal ducts. We have a good air filter for the house, so that was a waste of money. I have found that using a humidifier at night does help, but it doesn't do the trick. I started drinking a full glass of water before bed a month ago, to see if extra hydration would help. I don't believe that it's helping much, if at all. I take a generic Zyrtec every night and lately (the past week), I've had to take a Mucinex D once or twice a day because I had a cold for a few days. The cold is gone, but last night at 3:30, after lying awake for a half hour, I took another one.
My symptoms are typically this:
My nose starts tingling, as if I have to sneeze, but it just remains tingling for about fifteen minutes. Then if I pay very close attention (which I did last night, as I was just lying there with nothing else to do) I can feel the inflammation in my nasal cavity start to spread upward and outward. After a while, it felt very similar to someone pinching my nose shut. It got so inflamed that absolutely no breathing was possible - the nasal airways shut down. That's what pretty much always happens. I lose a lot of sleep because of this, because I can't sleep when I can't breathe through my nose.
Oral Benadryl helps in the mornings, but it takes a while. My house is pretty clean... can you help me figure out a solution so I don't lose so much sleep? Do you have any idea why I can wake up at night and often not be affected, but if I actually get up, I often have this problem?
- Adrienne

[texrat]

I sympathize: I'm having the exact same problem.

I've had allergies for 46 years (moving to Texas from California triggered them) and while they've always been bad during Spring and Fall, now it's 24/7/365.  And like you, everything hits when I get out of bed.

We do have triggers in the house, like dogs (I'm mildly allergic) and dust, but there's been no change in these things for years.  However, over the past few years the severity and duration of suffering has steadily increased.

In my childhood ***** helped a great deal, and I udnerwent another round several years ago.  In the last round I started improving significantly for months, then toward the end of treatment my allergies seemed to rebel-- they returned with a vengeance.  I'm wondering if that started this process.

Ragweed is my number one trigger, but surely it's not a factor in November...?

[adrienne2011]

I am bumping this because I hope someone can help me. While I appreciate his response, the information Dr. Rajput offered was generic.
What I really need is someone who might be able to offer me advice for me, personally. It doesn't make sense to me that getting out of bed and walking around for a short period of time, then lying back down should cause hay fever type symptoms.
Yes, I have a humidifier in the bedroom, I take a shower at night, and there are no water leaks, but I don't even know what a swamp cooler is.
Any ideas?

[Dr Rajput]

Hi, welcome to the forum, a knowledge about aeroallergens present in your geographic location and the allergens in your home and work areas is essential in this process.  Allergen exposure is usually seasonal, like tree and grass pollen in the spring (rose fever) or ragweed pollen exposure in the fall (hay fever) are the most likely causative factors.

Some measures which will be helpful to you are-
- Treatment of the outside of a house with pyrethroid (pyrithrin) chemicals prior to cold weather is one of the best measures.
- you need to close the windows of the car and home, stay indoors when possible, and use air conditioners and dehumidifiers to filter the air during times of peak symptoms. It will be particularly helpful, if you are allergic to mold or pollens.
- Showering before bed to remove allergens from hair and skin can help reduce contamination of the bedding.
- Use over the counter nasal saline sprays which will help washout allergens.
- Water leaks should be fixed and swamp coolers should be cleaned periodically.

I hope this helped you. Take care and regards.

[adrienne2011]

I do have gardens, but this happens every day for over two years now, including the winter, when it's frozen outside. My seasonal allergies due to ragweed are on top of the daily allergies.

[margypops]

I sympathise I have the same only its the burning of hives that wakes me and mine is worse in the mornings also, I do sneeze a lot ,and I get up with a sniffy nose, I dont think the air where I live is very good, I have cactus in the garden that could be causing it, do you garden as even at this time of year one can get problems. This appeared after I had dental work done 2 years ago ..maybe others have some ideas for you good Luck

[adrienne2011]

P.S. The puppy is not the problem. We've had him (a Shih-Poo, "hypoallergenic dog") since March, and the symptoms presented WAY before then.