Turn, turn, turn

[icepixie]

Well, after two weeks on the previous bottles of allergen serum, I'm back to the concentration that gave me such problems before. Yesterday was a "test dose," which is even smaller than the typical first dose, but I still had to double up on antihistamines in preparation for it, and it left me feeling pretty spacey all day. I don't think it was

Comments

[rowdycamels]

Hey, what's been your experience as far as cost/insurance coverage of allergy shots? My eye doctor told me I couldn't be on the super-cheap Claritin anymore, and put me on $100-a-bottle eye drops instead. I'm wondering if allergy shots would be cheaper in the long run... Guide me, oh allergy expert!

[icepixie]

You CAN'T take Claritin? Yikes.

My insurance covers the allergy shots 100%, so I've never had to pay a dime. I'm pretty sure that's unusual, though. If yours makes you pay, it might be worth trying to go through a big allergy center rather than a GP as there may be an economy of scale involved.

In the meantime, I've found Zyrtec and Allegra work better than Claritin. Maybe you could try one of them instead of the crazy eye drops? The allergy shots don't really start working for ~18 months anyway, so you'd be stuck with the eye drops for at least that long.

[rowdycamels]

Well, she said the Claritin has a full-body drying-out effect, so the Claritin is contributing to my severe dry eye problem. Also, it's unnecessarily harsh on my liver and kidneys. I'll ask if Zyrtec or Allegra would have the same effects, but... I kinda suspect they have the same generalized action? That was the point of eye drops - the medicine only goes to my eyes and nose, so the effect is more targeted.

If I could gradually turn my allergies off with the power of SCIENCE, that might be preferable. I'll add it to the list of things to ask her about when I next go in.

(I'd meant to finally get myself to a GP this summer, but I've spent so much money on the eye doctor these past weeks that I've gotta put off the GP for a while.)

[icepixie]

I'll ask if Zyrtec or Allegra would have the same effects, but... I kinda suspect they have the same generalized action?

Probably anything that has "dry mouth" as one of the side effects is going to do that, yep.

I would like to get myself a GP, but all the Vandy ones only start taking appointments nine months out, so I gave that up a while ago. I saw a resident a couple years ago for a physical and I think the records officially list her as my primary care physician, but I don't imagine she's there anymore. That one only had a two-month waiting period!