Visiting my parents....

[kyrielle]

Went over this morning to visit my parents. Actually was over there fairly early by the clock, due to the time change off of daylight savings time. It was a nice visit, talking about this and that and seeing the inside of the house since the work was done on the siding/windows. There is still a lot planned for the inside so it is a bit unfinished looking, but there's a lot more light. It's really nice. The bigger windows in what used to be my room make the ceiling seem a bit short to me, though. Somewhat unnerving.

It was really nice to sit down and talk. However, as usual, I couldn't resist petting and cuddling the cats. I love cats. I grew up with cats. I have no idea how I survived it. The visit ended, as usual, when my allergies drove me out, more or less. *wry grin* Mom gave me a cloth to wash my face with, and that helped a bit, but the exposure levels were clearly near critical.

I came home and hopped straight into the shower. That helped quite a bit, though my skin's still doing the itchy-annoyance bit.

I need to talk to my doctor about my allergies again. I think I may let her talk me into the allergy shots. This is quite ridiculous. I'd taken my usual claratin just before I left (probably about 45 minutes before I got there, though I didn't keep an eye on the clock).

Comments

[juliann.livejournal.com]

I'm excited at the new genetically modified allergen-free cats. I'm not excited that they will cost $3500 -- I'm on more of an adopt-from-the-shelter budget.

It may be your allergies getting worse, your antibodies getting lower (constant exposure to cats reduces your reaction, hence how you survived childhood, so the less you see them now the more you will react), or you could be getting tolerant to claritin. I used to love claritin but now it does nothing for me. I switched to Zyrtec. (Which is over the counter here so easy to buy just to have on hand in case.) I don't think Claritin is rated for "indoor allergies" -- which includes pet dander. Zyrtec is the only one that I know of that IS for indoor allergies. Since my biggest problem is with dustmites, it's been really useful for going to other people's houses. (At home I have an anti-dustmite ultrasound that prevents the eggs from hatching, and do all of the usual cleaning/encasing of bedding etc and have virtually no problems here anymore.)

[kyrielle]

Claratin's OTC here, the rest aren't. It has to be non-drowsing - I won't consider anything else. Allegra's ruled out (it worked really well, if I didn't mind not eating for a few hours every day or wanting to do anything because I felt horridly queasy...right, next idea!). My doctor doesn't care for the rest of the options except the shots.

It's complicated because I'm allergic to everything. My allergies to cats are worse than to dogs (at least, they were at the last test) but are matched by allergies to dust, mold, pretty much every grass and most of the flowers, and a few trees. :P

[juliann.livejournal.com]

I'm allergic to all grasses, trees, most flower pollens, dust, dustmites, dogs, cats, mold, mildew, and a lot of foods.

I thought Allegra was awful! It made me muddled-headed but did nothing for my allergies.

I got some samples of Zyrtec from my doc in the US, then I found out it was cheaper in the UK anyway. It's the only thing that works for me, or for my mom whose allergies are worse than mine most of the time. But we've mostly got "indoor" allergies as the primary problems. Zyrtec does both indoor and outdoor. Entirely non-drowsy.

[kyrielle]

*chuckles* If Allegra didn't make me queasy, I'd still be taking it. It was so nice how it made the allergies go away. But there was just no way to cope with that particular effect. :P (Which apparently is not a normal side effect.)

I'll check with my doctor but I remember she said she didn't think another antihistamine would help. I don't remember why.