I live in Connecticut, and the past few days have been warmer with a pretty lively wind blowing--so much so that several towns had downed trees and power outages...

I was fine at work until yesterday afternoon when suddenly I began sneezing, my eyes felt watery and my nose tickled something fierce. The symptoms continue today and it's pretty annoying. I have no fever, so I know it's not a cold. I cannot figure what has triggered this. I am allergic to ragweed, mold and certain tree pollens but cannot seem to find anything on the internet that gives me info on what the levels are in my area.

So....I just keep sneezing and blowing my nose, debating on whether I should take Benedryl or something.

What the H E double hockey sticks is going on?

I don't know, maybe stuff upwind from you? I'd like to suggest something I found recently that helps me w/o any side effects at all - Nasalcrom. It's an OTC spray that blocks allergens from triggering a response. I'm on the other side of the country, where 'false springs', wind and no rain make allergy sufferers miserable. I can't take allergy medicine and tend to bite the dust big time when the season starts. Your symptoms sure sound like an allergy response. Maybe a neti pot? Good luck.

I suppose the really frustrating thing about allergens is that they are invisible. We never know what is floating round in our environment. Added to that is the fact that during Perimenopause and beyond we do not have the protection against the allergies we used to enjoy. As a youngster I suffered terribly with allergies which improved greatly when I started my periods. I was beginning to think that I had 'grown out ' of my problems but as soon as I hit the final stages of Peri, bang! I was in trouble again, especially in my nose. I think that the loss of oestrogen makes the membranes very dry which decreases the ability to shrug off allergens. Recently I found myself 'allergic' to an overnight hotel room. it really was unpleasant. I then found out that the hotel, 'welcomed pets.' Great for pets and their owners but sadly, disastrous for me! Sigh............


XIII

Bookworm: I live right next door to you...in fact, my house is exactly 6 miles from the Conn. border. The winds have been crazy lately...I've never seen so many trees and branches blown around--during winter. It's got to be kicking stuff up into the air.

I've been waking up every morning with clogges sinuses and a headache. Benadryl is my savior...go ahead and take it, but beware that it does make you sleepy. You can also try chlophenarimine...it's a 'cousin' to Benedryl, but it isn't as sedating. You can buy it generic..I think it comes in 4 mg tabs..and you take up to 2 every 6 hours. I just take the Benadryl and drink more coffee

FYI, when I was in Florida last week, I didn't have any problems at all, so it's gotta be this crazy weather...

Oh yes, the northeast winds. Allergy city. I also have this and it seems that anymore I have year round allergies. SOme weeks worse than others. benadryl is great at night, helps the congestion and sleep too. I have yet to find a daytime pill that keeps me awake without getting jittery. I hope you feel better.