Forums >Health and Nutrition>Running with allergies
Is anyone else sidelined from running due to allergies? I try to obey the old adage don't run if your sickness is below the neck. Two weeks ago I went to the doctor with body aches (I thought I had a fever but my temperature was normal) and a sore throat and she sent me home and told me to take an antihistimine for allergies and come back if I actually got sick. It will be two weeks tomorrow since that visit, and while the body aches went away within 24 hours, various other things like sore throat, ear ache, dry cough, sinus headache, and this tight tickly feeling in my chest that wont let me get a good breath of air has stuck with me in various mixtures each day ever since.
I have been to the doctor twice during two previous allergy seasons thinking I had asthma symptoms and both doctors told me they didn't hear anything restricted about ny breathing and to go home and take an antihistimine. It's a little disappointing hearing so many doctors all seem to agree that there is just nothing I can do for it because it really takes a lot to get me to go see a doctor.
Anyway, I really feel I cant run with these symptoms, but I am really anxious to get back to running, and the antihistimine a day plan (plus nasal spray, sometimes an expectorant, and I tried a dayquil once too) isn't giving me confidence that I will see an end to this revolving door of symptoms any time soon.
Are there other runners out there with allergy problems? How long did it take you to get back to running? Can you just run through it? I have also thought about maybe trying to wear one of those medical masks outside while running, would that filter the pollen? It is so beautiful outside day after day and I am desperate!
Edit: added some paragraph breaks for readability
Not currently but I have been in the past. I know it's brutal. There have been years when I was junk for most of the month of May. I've usually tried to run through it and just suffered. in my bad years there were a couole of weeks of May that I could barely funtion. by June my symptoms would become manageable. I take zyrtek equivalent all spring and the last few years I haven't had any major allergy attacks (knock on wood). I'm hoping I've mostly outgrown it. I haven't really told you anything helpful, unfortunately. Good luck with it.
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Claritin D + neti-pot + rinsing off whenever I come in from outside makes life manageable. Just stay on top of it. Wash all of your bedding and dust/vacuum/mop everything that you can - that will also help. I try to keep my home as allergen free as possible. I do suffer when I go outside but at least the baseline suffering when I am in my own house is a little better.
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I too suffer from seasonal allergies. I take my claritin religiously and for whatever reason (lower pollen count? higher amount of claritin in my system?) I find it easier to run in the evening.
Good luck, it can be pretty terrible.
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Just do it.
Some days are better, some are worse. Quit taking allergies meds years ago. (problem with them was building a tolerance where they were no longer effective)
Think it actually helps my allergies to suck in all of that pollen daily.
Get off my porch
Thanks, I will try some of these tactics! In the last I have tried claritin but never claritin-D or zyrtec. The generic loratidine I am taking may not be strong enough. I have also heard about neti pots and almost bought one, I think the majority of my breathing problems are caused by post-nasal drip. I am glad to know I am not alone in this... I think I am just beginning to get over it at last. Back to running soon!
rectumdamnnearkilledem
After having a weird reaction to a bee sting 2 years ago (urgent care doc suspected cellulitis and put me on antibiotics. I still have a pretty large discolored area on that shin where there had been a massive, red, bumpy area), I decided to heed my mom's advice and finally get around to allergy testing. So at nearly 41 years of age I did what should have been done when I was a teenager and first entered into allergy hell. Turns out I'm allergic to a few things I suspected (cats, dust mites, crustaceans, trees, weeds, grass) and several things I never suspected (dogs, horses, cockroaches, feathers). But not bees.
I take Zyrtec and Flonase year-round, as well as Symbicort for asthma. After a year+ on shots I really think my usual Spring symptoms are not nearly as bad as they were in the past -- though the worst of our pollen season is still ramping-up. I'm hoping that after another 4 years of monthly injections that perhaps I can be done with the daily meds for good.
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This is not allergies. This is asthma until proven otherwise.
Go back to your doc, or to a doc who will actually take you seriously.
tight tickly feeling in my chest that wont let me get a good breath
I'm running somewhere tomorrow. It's going to be beautiful. I can't wait.
Poor baby
Generic and brand name here should be the same, and they are the same strength.
The generic loratidine I am taking may not be strong enough.
I run through allergies. Granted my allergy problems are not very bad (I know what very bad is ... in my 20's and 30's I was like mikeymike - unable to even function in April-May timeframe). Whatever allergy symptoms I have nowadys are actually alleviated while I am running. The harder the better. A 24hr Claritin once in a while is all it takes to keep my life completely unaffected by allergy issues.
For 3 or 4 years (my 20's and 30's) I did the allergy shot thing which for me was twice a week 4 shots of whatever they deemed you allergic to in each arm. I don't know if that was what eventually cleared up my allergies for good but it sure worked wonders while I was doing it, and I was able to run back then as well.
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This is not allergies. This is asthma until proven otherwise. Go back to your doc, or to a doc who will actually take you seriously.
#truth
get to an allergist or pulmonologist. and a virus can make asthma symptoms worse. there are treatments that can help. the more info you can give your doc about what symptoms you have (had) and when, the better.
Yep. I run with allergy induced asthma. It's not fun. But yes, you can run through it. At least I do. It took me 2 years though before I could run over 3 miles. Now I can run up to 6 miles, but still get asthma attacks. Especially in the fall and early spring. I use an inhaler and take allergy medication. this probably didn't help you at all. Never give up!
I have heard that the Hammer Nutrition product for allergies is pretty good. I've never tried it myself since that's ONE problem I don't have.
But, it might be worth a shot.
The tight feeling in my chest and sense that I just can't get enough air, even though I'm breathing through my nose fairly normally, is new to me. Can you develop asthma in mid-life? I've had bad allergy seasons before, but never this bad. It feels like I'm living at 10,000': I keep having to gasp to catch my breath. I have continued to run and just deal with the fact that it feels really difficult. The doctor gave me a prescription for Flonase but it doesn't really help. Generic Claritin did nothing.