Hayfever and Cycling

shane r

Thought I might escape it this year but came on with a vengeance on my ride last night. What's the best way to cope? Main prob is stuffed up nose.

Ollieda

Cetirizine Hydrochloride 10mg a day - ask your pharamcist!

stfc1

Ollieda wrote:

Cetirizine Hydrochloride 10mg a day - ask your pharamcist!

+1

And for the stuffy nose, Beconase.

sparkins1972

It seems to vary from person to person which medication works - I tried for years to find one and eventually ended up using Benadryl. Another thing I do when cycling is to put vaseline around the inside of my nostrils which helps to capture the pollen before it enters the system (in theory)

MattC59

Having suffered with hayfever for the past 33 years, I've settled with Clarytin and Benedryl.
The standard Benedryl (8mg Acrivastine) are great, they're fast working. You're supposed to take one, as needed, up to three times a day, but I take two at the first sign of Hayfever and they knock it on the head for the reast of the day.

Clarityn (10mg loratadine) are a one-a-day tablet. They're really good as well, but not so fast working. Clarytin are about £5 for 7 tablets !!! However, Tescos version, which are identical are about £2.99 for 30 tablets.

When the pollen is high, I take a Clarityn (or equivalent) in the morning, then a Benedryl or two, should I need it if I get an attack.

The only one I've stayed away from is Zirtec (I think that's what it's called) as it gave me migraines, and Piriton as it made me really drowsey.

shane r

Thanks all, good tips.

I was hoping to avoid tablets but may have to succumb.

What about those strips you put on your nose? Do they work?

Phil_D

I use Ceterizine Hydrochloride as well and it works for me. Don't buy it from the chemist though, it's a rip off if it comes in branded packaging. Buy it online. I use ChemistDirect and it is about £1 for the generic stuff rather than £5 for branded.

What I would say though is that you are supposed to go to the doctors and have your allergy diagnosed. It could be any different kind of pollen and there are different remedies for each. The prescription you get will tell you what to buy.

MattC59

Phil_D wrote:

I use Ceterizine Hydrochloride as well and it works for me. Don't buy it from the chemist though, it's a rip off if it comes in branded packaging. Buy it online. I use ChemistDirect and it is about £1 for the generic stuff rather than £5 for branded.

What I would say though is that you are supposed to go to the doctors and have your allergy diagnosed. It could be any different kind of pollen and there are different remedies for each. The prescription you get will tell you what to buy.

No disrespect to Phil's comment, but the doc will usually just tell you it's Hayfever, and prescribe the latest drug, and suggest that if you don't get on with it, to go back and try a different one. (based on 33 yrs of experience and lots of doctors) Most of the Hayfever drugs are off the shelf anyway, so you don't actually need to see the doc.

Shame that Triludan is no longer available, it was fantastic. I believe that some docs will still prescribe it in extreme cases, but the active ingredient, terfenadine, caused a number of deaths when taken with other drugs. I took it for years and am still alive though

rick_chasey

Different chemicals work for different people.

loratadine works for me - though it's more a gradual build up of tolerance that grows once I start taking it.

After a week or taking that once a day sorts me out.

Just experiment.

Fat-Boy-Roubaix

I have never in 46 years suffered with any knind of hayfever or allergy, cycled right thourgh last summer on the same route. Took the winter off restarted in April, within two weeks felt like I had a really bad cold except no nasal congestion, Except when I ride and it is streaming like never before then this turned in to what I though was a sinus infection had one dose of antibiotics no improvement so I went back and was told it was an allergy, so antihistamin and steriod nasal spary. This didn't seem to work, another dose of antibiotics were not working either.

I stopped cycling wednesday and already there has been a big improvement.

Anyone got this? It seems if it is an allergy that it is cycling related!.

Alibran

I suffer very badly from hayfever (although less since I started eating local honey, which may or may not be a coincidence).

The best solution for me is cetirizine (10 or 20mg a day) and piriton as well when needed. The trouble is, I can't get piriton, or its equivalent, over here, so I usually end up taking cetirizine 10mg and loratadine 10mg and keeping the piriton tablets that friends send me for real emergencies when the hayfever sets my asthma off.

Bar Shaker

I am not normally affected but this year the pollen levels feel like they are off he scale.

Boots own Loratadine works for me and they are two for one at the moment.

stfc1

MattC59 wrote:

Phil_D wrote:

Shame that Triludan is no longer available, it was fantastic. I believe that some docs will still prescribe it in extreme cases, but the active ingredient, terfenadine, caused a number of deaths when taken with other drugs. I took it for years and am still alive though

Aye, that stuff was boss. Is there a black market?

rdt

stfc1 wrote:

Ollieda wrote:

Cetirizine Hydrochloride 10mg a day - ask your pharamcist!

+1

And for the stuffy nose, Beconase.

\As others have said, different stuff works for different people.

I suffered quite badly since teenage years. Various things limited the symptoms (sprays, tablets, stuff round the nose, etc), but I still suffered if I spent much time outdoors or the count was high.

Started using solely Beconase last year, just before the hayfever season began (as it takes a few days->week to build to full effectiveness), and used it every day morning and night, without fail (regardless of any symptoms), until mid July. Had not a single symptom.

Done the same this year - used every day without fail. Again, not a single symptom. Transformed my life in spring / early summer.

Billy Dunlop

A mate of mine used to break up 10 Benadryl tablets, mix them in Whiskey, then go out for a night on the town.

And he still used to turn up for the club run the next morning tearing our legs off.

Phil_D

Billy Dunlop wrote:

A mate of mine used to break up 10 Benadryl tablets, mix them in Whiskey, then go out for a night on the town.

And he still used to turn up for the club run the next morning tearing our legs off.

did it make him think you were daddy long legs?

Cleat Eastwood

A couple of weeks back there was a big article on hayfever and cycling in cycling weekly. One guy changed his diet and all but cured it.

It was called the paleo diet.

I've still got the mag, if you want pm your address and i'll post it up to you.

JohnBoyUK

My hey fever tends to only be active between May - July every summer, go I start taking 1 Zirtec a day on 1st April, 1 month before. Not had a single sneeze this year out in the lanes.

carbon337

+1 Ceterizine Hydrochloride in Zirtec form this morning but its made me very tired today. Maybe the 18mile commute but im not looking forward to tonights 35M commute.

secretsam

DON'T buy the branded stuff - the generic equivalent (unbranded) can be bought at any pharmacy or supermarket - eg recently bought some from Sainsbury's for around £1 for 14.

Just tell the pharmacist (not the assistant - get the one with the certificate that hangs on the wall) to tell you what the "Generic Alternative" is to Brand X.

Source: 20 years working in and around the healthcare market - and used to have a pharmacologist as a colleague who would write it all down for me :P .

secretsam

SecretSam wrote:

DON'T buy the branded stuff - the generic equivalent (unbranded) can be bought at any pharmacy or supermarket - eg recently bought some from Sainsbury's for around £1 for 14.

Just tell the pharmacist (not the assistant - get the one with the certificate that hangs on the wall) to tell you what the "Generic Alternative" is to Brand X.

Source: 20 years working in and around the healthcare market - and used to have a pharmacologist as a colleague who would write it all down for me :P .

PS the same advice applies to any other over-the-counter or off-the-shelf pharmacy products - painkillers, in particular, are a shocking rip off - generic Ibuprofen (ie the stuff they put in Nurofen) costs pennies, ditto Paracetemol.

Mind you, some of the drug company's profits are invested back into finding new drugs, eg cure for cancer, so they aren't all evil!!!!

Scrumple

Moneysavingexpert website has a link to hayfever tablets

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/family ... r-remedies


It gives you the current cheapest for each generic type - and names them all.


Some are more likely to make you sleepy, and some may work better. I have just ordered a load for my dog - about £2 for loads of them.

Never buy the branded names - they are no different to the no branded as the patents on the drugs have long since run out!

bearfraser

"Boots" do a good own brand "Beconase" and not too expensive

Scrumple

Beconase is not boots own brand.

vorsprung

Since I started riding the bike a lot my hayfever is much improved
Might just be a coincidence I suppose

rdt

bearfraser wrote:

"Boots" do a good own brand "Beconase" and not too expensive

I'd not realised there were generic versions.

A quick search for "beclomethasone nasal spray" chucks up a whole bunch. I'll see if I can find any in local stores (eg Boots) to avoid postage costs.

Scrumple

Drug companies get limited patents... much shorter than consumables.

They get a few years to make a mint from their new drug, then for the good of health their invention becomes a free for all.

Annadin = Asprin
Neurofen = ibuprofen
Solpedine = cocodamol


etc.

Always look at the active ingredient in something that works, and ask at the counter for the generic alternative. Apart from the packaging it is identical. Same drug in the same dose and you are laughing! It has been said above but a few seem to keep missing it.

Or buy it off ebay - from China - and get ground dust in a tab!

Peddle Up!

Phil_D wrote:

I use Ceterizine Hydrochloride as well and it works for me. Don't buy it from the chemist though, it's a rip off if it comes in branded packaging. Buy it online. I use ChemistDirect and it is about £1 for the generic stuff rather than £5 for branded.

It's worth checking Lidl. I bought several packs for 50p a shot last year. Even that didn't help me when I hit the road next to a field of rape in full blossom with a wind blowing my way.

T-Rekster

shane r wrote:

I was hoping to avoid tablets but may have to succumb.

or not, I have had one of these for the last two years if used on a regular basis 2-3 times a day I have been able to handle my hay fever almost completely drug free bar the odd few extremely strong days

http://www.lloydspharmacy.com/en/allerg ... ndle-15715

the ioniser is great at night when the pollen count is high and the "light box" really does help, I was sceptical at first but after a week I was convinced....



.

Stone Glider

This year has been harsh to me as far as hay fever is concerned. I am affected by tree pollen from (mainly) chestnut. Usually controlled by beconaze and eye drops - no one has mentioned eye drops - they help me a lot. This year I needed the Boot's equivalent of Zirtek. My favourite cure, never known to fail, is a trip to a Greek island Crete was very green this year and we had a twenty hour thunderstorm! Must be Global Warming.

jimbob_1978

I prefer nasal spray (beclometasone dipropionate) as i find it stops eye irratation as well as a runny nose. Numarks own is only a fiver and you get 200 sprays, 1 or 2 for each nostril morning and night.