Hayfever, Remedies & Cycling

meanredspider

Since living next to Vondel Park (perhaps I'm allergic to cannabis) I've been getting proper hayfever in the summers. This year in particular I've realised that the meds or the hayfever or both make me feel really sluggish and heavy-limbed. I did the Rapha Prestige Limburg a few weeks back and I was really frustrated about how I felt. I can still do the distances but my legs feel like they have no power.

Anybody any recommendations because it's messing up my summer cycling? I've just tried my sons' nasal spray and that does seem to be better (after a day and a half only)

tgotb

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19666126#p19666126]meanredspider[/url] wrote:

Anybody any recommendations because it's messing up my summer cycling? I've just tried my sons' nasal spray and that does seem to be better (after a day and a half only)

You've probably tried it already, but Loratadine works very well for me, with no noticeable side effects. It's also permitted for use in competition, if that affects you.

tangled_metal

Loratidine is a third generation anti-hystamine so it should not be making you drowsy but it still can affect you. Cetirizine is a 2nd or 3rd gen I can't quite remember but it does have more of a drowsy effect than the loratidine.

My advice is to also look at a nasal barrier such as haymax or even simply vaseline. Apply it to the inside of your nostrils before going out and after each wipe of the nose. a pain but IME it is working to help with my bad hayfever. This year seems to be really bad round here too. It is not just because of the buddleia neither, but something else. BTW I believe in all buddleias being wiped out!! one of my worse causes of hayfever.

One more thing, after exposure try to change clothes and wash your face/hair to remove pollen. Then keep the windows and doors closed. Reduce exposure and simply changing clothes when back home and washing the face can really help a lot.

Nasal sprays can result in damage to the nose blood vessels. If you have any infection too they can bleed sometimes badly. i can not use the likes of becconase sprays which are actually very good if the nose and eyes are the worse affected parts. Also, use eye drops to help the eyes out. Your pharmacist could recomend eye drops that actually contain something to combat hayfever allergies. Better than optrex as it helps not just washes the pollen away. Stings badly until absorbed though.

Also honey made near where you live can help. Something to do with the bees visiting the same flowers that affect you.

rick_chasey

loratidine ftw.

Not instant but if you're consistent with it every day it does work.

meanredspider

Thanks all - I'm a bit of a novice to this. The worst part is that I get proper "fever" symptoms in that I feel rough without medication - it took me a week or two last year to realise I didn't have a summer cold/bug but that it was hayfever. The nasal spray my kids are using is some sort of steroid my wife says. Certainly cetirizine makes me yawn a lot. Not sure I've tried loratidine - just dropped into Dutch pharmacies and asked for a non-drowsy remedy. It seems to sort the worst symptoms but it's this underlying lack of energy that getting to me. Maybe I need one of the ones that's banned in competition (I don't compete on two wheels)

coopster_the_1st

I take tablets containing Cetirizine to combat hay fever. The side effects are that I feel sluggish during the period (Apr-July) I am taking them but they are the first tablets that have worked properly. And this is much better than having the reactions to hay fever.

We're into the last few days of the season now so I'll stop taking them soon

turbotommy

I've found a combination of nasal spray and eye drops work better for me than any other combo I've tried.

pastryboy

Stinging nettle extract is a natural anti-histamine. I've had success with that in the past, holland and barrett do it.

Also, local honey as mentioned above - works on the same principle as a vaccine.

meanredspider

Dunno if there's Vondel Park honey - I think all the bees ate it because the all-night garage was shut

I've got some great leads though so thanks. I've heard that if you get hayfever when you're young you might grow out of it but, if you get it when you're older, you're stuffed.

daniel_b

I take Loratadine every day during the summer months, use Beconase most days (It takes a couple of weeks to build up iirc) and only have to resort to Otrivine eye drops if it's a really bad one.

There is a few weeks in April\May which is the worst, usually around 4 weeks, and it used to end up with me being up for half the night, every night coughing and unable to sleep.
I experimented this year with the more expensive Benadryl, and this did seem to help to some degree.

A long time ago I tried Ceterizine, but was alarmed about how lethargic it made me - this became apparent when I played a friend at squash who I used to beat regularly 6-2 or 7-1, and he trounced me 7-1, and I remember how much hard work it was to win that one game, my hand/eye co-ordination was screwed.

turbotommy

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19666458#p19666458]meanredspider[/url] wrote:

I've heard that if you get hayfever when you're young you might grow out of it but, if you get it when you're older, you're stuffed.

I've heard this but hoped it was an old wives tale. My father had very bad hayfever up until around 10 years ago when it totally disappeared. At which point I started to get it myself. He assures me however there were no witch doctors involved in this turn of fate...

@daniel b. Have you ever considered the option of getting the injection? Your hayfever sounds dreadful and quite debilitating.

tangled_metal

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19666178#p19666178]Rick Chasey[/url] wrote:

loratidine ftw.

Not instant but if you're consistent with it every day it does work.

I always thought it was loratadine but could be wrong.

http://www.nhs.uk/medicine-guides/pages/MedicineOverview.aspx?condition=Rhinitis&medicine=Loratadine&preparation=Loratadine%2010mg%20tablets

Whatever I find you need to take it before your worst period. I used to take it early April so late April/May I've built up in my system so it works better. Not sure if that's right but it made it feel like the drugs worked. Back then I could stop taking it or reduce to every other day in either June or July. Now I'm worse in July. I also used to get two bad periods as different plants were releasing pollen. I guess everyone's different as family with hayfever get it at different times to me.

BTW anyone really bad now? I've been getting really bad heaviness to my breathing. I've been waking in the night struggling to breathe. I have to get up to recover. Think that's the added stress to my body from dust allergies (dust mite faeces allergy).

Do they give allergy vaccinations in the uk? I know the UK was a world leader in these vaccinations but after a series of deaths they backed off. Apparently they gave it to you then you left hospital or the gp. In a very.rare number of people they got a reaction which killed them. If they'd.just monitored the patients for half hour they'd spot those with a reaction. It meant UK stopped vaccinations hence my question about whether they still gave these vaccinations in the UK. Heard Germany does but not heard about it as an option here.

meanredspider

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19666467#p19666467]Daniel B[/url] wrote:

A long time ago I tried Ceterizine, but was alarmed about how lethargic it made me - this became apparent when I played a friend at squash who I used to beat regularly 6-2 or 7-1, and he trounced me 7-1, and I remember how much hard work it was to win that one game, my hand/eye co-ordination was screwed.

That's interesting because I've been unimpressed with my car racing but put it down to being rusty having not raced last year (though not quite believed it because, when I did a coaching session pre-season, my coach was very happy with me). My lap-to-lap consistency has suffered.

I'm hoping that the hayfever season for me has passed though I'm not convinced.

tangled_metal

Has anyone been for testing to find out what they are actually reacting to? Is that easy to do under the NHS? Do they even do anything with this information if you get it like vaccination pre-season?

The old antihistamines I seem to recall had a similar phrasing concerning causing drowsiness as the Ceterizine although that is a lot better than earlier ones. IIRC older generations of this class of meds even got very little about drowsiness at one time, kind of played down a bit compared to these days when any risk like this is emphasized,probably to protect them against litigation.

This year is bad for pollen I think compared to last year. I have been trying to reduce my reliance on meds to control hayfever, indeed I'm trying to cope with it but this year it has been worse than I remember. The past few years I've got by with only taking the Loratadine for at most a month and even then taking one 10mg tablet every other day. That managed the symptoms enough to cope but this year I am taking them every day and even being tempted to take them at night. I find that taking one tablet at 7am it kind of stops working 12 hours later and by 9pm I am struggling to breath due to it.

My partner says my symptoms this year are like asthma but I have never had that before. Anyone else get asthma type symptoms with hayfever? I know it is related since it goes with an antihistamine. I guess I need to see the GP (better book my 2 week wait for an appointment but that is another matter).

meanredspider

I've decided to stop taking anything to see how I feel. Eyes and nose still a little irritated but I feel sooooo much better and stronger. The only downside is that I'm not sleeping quite so soundly but that tells you that the non-drowsy claims are pretty weak.

secretsam

Cetirizine for me, and none of your braded drugs: look at the labels, you'll find that Tesco/Boots/etc all do own-brand tablets which are HUGELY cheaper than the fancy brand ones ("Generic drugs" for those in the know :roll: )

Am pretty sure that the honey thing is total cobblers, BTW

captainwheezy

I used to suffer from it really badly and got the injection at the GP's yearly, however for quite a few years now I've used a combination of Flixonase nasal spray (prescribed by my GP) and off the shelf eye drops and been ok despite long rides out in the countryside. The nasal spray certainly helps, if I stop taking it or run out it's not long before I start with the symptoms again. I tend to use the eye drops when getting in as I don't seem so suffer whilst I'm actually outdoors, it's always half an hour or so after getting back.

Sirius631

Elagen Sport, from Eladon Ltd.

I suffered terrible hayfever as a child. The max versions of antihistamines were the only things that worked for me, but I couldn't use them when I started racing, due to the anti-drowsy component being dodgy.

Then I began using Elagen Sport, a herbal adaptogen which boosts the immune system in general. I stopped using any antihistamines, but I had no more hayfever symptoms and I could handle my sister's two Labradors without risking an asthma attack.

I have no connection to Eladon Ltd, other being a customer. I don't believe there is a comparable product sold by anyone else.

meanredspider

Boosting the immune system is all very well but I thought hay fever was an immune response (your body becoming sensitised the pollen and reacting as if you had an infection). I thought the whole point of antihistamines is that they suppress that response? Boosting it seems very counterproductive though I don't doubt you've had a good experience.

DKay

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19670647#p19670647]meanredspider[/url] wrote:

Boosting the immune system is all very well but I thought hay fever was an immune response (your body becoming sensitised the pollen and reacting as if you had an infection). I thought the whole point of antihistamines is that they suppress that response? Boosting it seems very counterproductive though I don't doubt you've had a good experience.

I agree. 'Boosting' the immune system doesn't make any sense in terms of reducing the severity of allergic reactions.