Someone put me out of my misery - hayfever

[chala86]

I'm 18 weeks pregnant and the hangover kicked in on Thursday. Wasn't too bad until the evening. It's just awful especially when I'm trying to sleep. I can't breathe through my nose at all, my throat itches, my nose itches. I know I can't take antihistamines without going to see the GP but can't get in to see the GP until next week. If I don't get a decent nights sleep I'm going to end up going crazy. This pregnancy, my second, already has me all ragey and overly emotional and lack of sleep is not helping. So what can I take to help? Any ideas?

Hay fever not hangover - bloody auto-correct!

My GP said no to antihistamines. At least for me it was the end of the season. I know some will allow it (I think piriton though not certirizine which is what I prefer).

There is a nasal spray that you can get over the counter!

You can buy nasal probes that inmit red light and use instead of an antihistamine.

I don't suffer from hay fever, but do have a dust allergy. This has really helped and I'm not sure why I waited so long to buy one!

www.amazon.co.uk/Kinetik-Medical-AR1-Allergy-Reliever/dp/B004MZMYPS?tag=mumsnetforum-21

my gp (and nhs advice page) said beconase fine

I'm also pregnant. My hayfever hasn't kicked in yet but I second the infra red light machine rather than anti histamines. I've used one for years.

Here's a tip: given to me from a long standing and well respected health food shop owner :

Get hold of some LOCAL honey.

As in, made within 3 miles or so of where you live. It MUST be local. Cos the bees will visit the particular trees and flowers that set your hay fever off.

Take a teaspoon of it every day.

When you come into contact with the pollen, your body 'recognises' it and can deal with it much quicker than otherwise.

He swears by this, and recommends it to all his customers.

It's worth a try, and won't harm the baby.

Thank you THirdEeye and thedragon I'll give one of those a go. Hopefully it'll work for me. If not will book an appointment to see the GP next week.

Lucky I'd heard local honey might help. I'll have to see if I can get hold of some.

www.nhs.uk/chq/pages/935.aspx?categoryid=54

I feel your pain.

I took cetirizine throughout my pregnancy - Gp and consultant both said it was fine.

Beconase is fine, as are the usual eye drops. I haven't had much success with honey, but maybe that's because I haven't found any truly LOCAL stuff (for local people?)

I've had two pregnancies through the height of summer so I feel your pain. I used Haymax, homeopathic remedies and local honey. All of which helped enormously, hope you find some relief!

Yes, Red Light Allergy device. I've used one for years and haven't had to take antihistamines since. It's just important to start early, use it regularly right through the season. Get one sooner rather than later, as they are less effective when you're nose is already severely swollen (although will bring it down with time). I still use the odd eye drops but need no other medication, as my hayfever used to make me miserable.

My fertility doctor and obstetrician both said piriton was fine. No need to faff around with honey & homeopathic stuff!

I took ceterizine. I basically camped out in a pharmacy until they sold me some. Midwife said it was fine - as she pointed out, 9 months is a very long time to be miserable.

I continued to take anti-histamines throughout all of my pregnancies. I have chronic allergic conjunctivitis - the only allergy symptom I get, but absolutely unbearable - so I wasn't going to accept some alternative strategy that was very unlikely to work.

Check with the doctor or midwife first, but you should be fine to go ahead.

I have some ceterizine hydorochloride but the leaflet says I should check with the GP or pharmacist. Is that the same thing as just ceterizine? Pharmacist already said the won't sell any antihistamines to me if I'm pregnant but must say I'm miserable and so tempted to take them

Check with the GP or midwife, but from what I recall the nhs website said it was ok. You can just buy the ones I took from the supermarket, if you get the go ahead. Ime, midwives are more relaxed about anything like this - my gp even told me to stop jogging in the first trimester, my midwife was appalled!

I would always prefer to try natural remedies first when pregnant.
If you need more instant relief right now, Vicks under the nose helps a little. When my gp referred me for an allergy test I was told to take Pirinase (flixonase). It works better for me than Beconase. Turned out I'm allergic to animal fur, pollen, mould spores and bloody dust mites.

Anti-histamines are fine. There's more evidence (because older drugs) about first generation ones. I would use Piriton as a first line if it works for you. But if cetrizine is the only one that does the trick, that should be fine too. Check with GP by all means but really these are among the safest / best researched drugs in pregnancy.

I took ceterizine throughout my pregnancy. Gp, consultants, midwife all knew and didn't mind at all!

I also just bought mine from the supermarket shelf. Much cheaper than the branded ones but he same thing.

One thing thy worked for me is trying to avoid leaving the house befire 10am... this made the whole.whole of the rest of the day easier. Easier said than done though ... I could only do this on weekend days !

I am also suffering hay fever and 19 weeks pregnant. I have found local honey and applying Vaseline around my nostrils several times a day has made it just about bearable to almost ok some days. Need to do this every day for it to work.