Ok, I have no recommendations for you but can totally confirm that there's something nasty in the air because i was miserable all day yesterday. I took the Claritin on Sunday morning and found that it did no good.

However, I'm scared to take anything in addition as the box says not to take more than one dose per 24 hours.

So if you decide to double-up on the meds, let me know how that goes for you. You will be my allergy lab rat.

I use a neti pot in the morning and in the evening, and that helps a lot.

Ever since I cut refined sugar, refined grains, dairy and peanuts out of my diet, my seasonal allergies have been much, much better in general, though. I know nobody likes to hear that, nor wants to eat like cave man, but I figured I'd throw that in.

@ Sonia: As far as I can tell, doubling up on Claritins seems to have no major ill effects: I wasn't taking two at once to begin with, but I did start taking a second pill maybe 10 or 20 hours after taking the first one, and I'm not dead or foaming at the mouth or convulsing or anything, or at least not yet, so there's that, I guess. There also appears to be no huge problem if you stack Benadryl on top of that, and/or knock-off Zyrtec: Despite my better judgment (or because of a total lack thereof), I was, at different points over the weekend, playing mix-n-match with those three different things. On the upside, I haven't died; on the downside, none of it has seemed to make any difference with my allergies.

@ jamse: Thanks for the advice on the nettle tea. I think there's something about eating locally produced honey, too, that's supposed to immunize you to whatever's in the air? So I might end up going the hippie route and just guzzling a bunch of tea and honey and seeing if that does anything.

Nope, the honey and bee pollen thing is a farce. I used to eat pb and honey with bee pollen saminches while in Eugene.

Claritin stopped working for me as well. Benadryl works, but makes me loopy. I'm onto a generic Kroger brand right now and it has given a few good 24 hour days of "relief." It's the "24 hour allergy relief 10mg loratadine tablets." I bought the big bottle of 90 and I hope it lasts until the end of August or so.

I'm allergic to select grass, trees, and weeds.

I've yet to try it, but the pharmacist at Kaiser sold me on this neti pot/nostril wash system. Apparently it works just as well as prescription meds with out all the wonky side effects, plus it's way cheaper. Because truly, if I took all the medications you just did I'd be in a coma. Anyways, I've been claritin'd up all weekend, but I'm going to try the nostril pot today and I'll let you know how it goes.

I made up a magical elixir for curing allergies. Read all about it here - http://svelte.blueskiesabove.us
But it only comes in comic form.

For now I take Walitin (the Wal-Greens Claritin).

Benadryl stopped working for me this year so I switched to Claritin for the first time this past weekend.

Claritin is working a little bit, but I can tell when I'm in the vicinity of something I really don't get along with. Unfortunately, my back yard is one of those places.

I think I'll try the nostril wash thingy others have been talking about, because I can't be in my own house without constant nose/eye irritation for the last week.

Non-Drowsy Sudafed works wonders.

I had the same problem. Get in your car, drive to Vancouver buy real Claritin D at any pharmacy, no prescription just present ID, limit 30 day supply. The non prescription Claritin [and generics] they are allowed to sell here just doesn't work the same. Blame the frickin tweakers for your current pain and misery.

The honey/bee pollen thing is NOT a
farce. You cannot use any old Trader
Joe's or Organic bee pollen, you MUST
use locally-produced bee pollen.

Doctors will never tell you this
because they don't make any
$ off the sales, plus if everyone
knew this natural secret..

Go to Sauvie Island and stop at the
nearest sign for locally made bee
pollen and honey. The bees must
be from our area, so that you can
gain immunity from the local
pollen.

And eat the WHOLE thing. Don't
dabble here and there in your tea.
Eat the whole damn thing pretend
it is candy and that you love candy.

And yeah, my boyfriend is freaking
out that none of the 3 things you
listed don't work for him this
year either, pollen worked last
year we try again.

Get yourself some Sinol nasal spray. It's an all natural nasal spray that contains capsaicin. Capsaicin is the stuffy in hot peppers. When you shoot it up your nose it stings for a few seconds then subsides. Then begin to breathe easy again. Been using it for the last few weeks. It cleared out my sinus infection. woohoo!

I was doing Bendaryl but switched to a generic claritin about a week ago. You should look at the active ingredients in all of the allergy medicines and find something you haven't tried yet. The reason I switched to Claritin was Benadryl wasn't doing anything for me one day so I took 4 within a 2-3 hour period. I just fell asleep.

I read in a DYI book you can fill a clean dish soap bottle with warm water and use it like a neti pot.

Now that I'm sitting at home with my window open I can say my whole problem is not having a decongestant.

The Claritin is taking care of all the eye irritation and sinus pain, but my nose is Niagara Falls and it sucks. I totally need the Claritin-D.

Yay for Nanny State laws.

Claritin gives me panic attacks, Allegra doesn't have any appreciable effect, and Benadryl works okay if I want to sleep or drink a lot of coffee.

I tried some ragweed-based remedy from New Seasons that worked wonders last year, but hasn't really helped this year.

I was helping my parents move down in Sherwood over the weekend (where it seems even worse) and my mom gave me an acetaminophen. I was skeptical but ready to try anything, and it actually worked fairly well. But the Benadryl wooziness does make the workday go by quicker.

OK, I tried the nostril wash thing, which is similar to the remedy outlined above, and I have to say I was less than impressed. It works moderately well to turn horrible allergies into barely tolerable ones, and wears off after about 4 hours. It also does nothing to remedy that horrible gummy feeling inside my mouth and throat that seems to accompany pollen allergies. However, if performed regularly it may become more effective over time. As a bonus this is probably the only remedy that will still be available post-apocalypse.

As for the local honey thing, it works but only if you eat it on a regular basis. I used to eat it every day, but this past year I got way into maple syrup, and now my allergies are way worse. I think I'll go back to the bee barf.

Dude, get worms. Seriously.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/01/health/research/01prof.html?th=&adxnnl=1&emc=th&adxnnlx=1214930618-D3gLjyOlL/A/1aU+sGIX9Q

So my seasonal allergies kicked up fiercely yesterday. My face felt like a waterfall. Claritin stopped working for me too (a shame, cause it used to work so well with no side effects), so after reading this thread I got some nettle in capsule form.

I took two this morning, and the tickly, itchy feeling in my sinuses went away in 20 minutes. And I haven't sniffled all day!

No joke!