Prednisone vs my nose, 2:2

[pne]

Friday and Saturday evening, I used the prednisone spray my ENT doctor had prescribed for the first time. At first, I noticed no difference, but after about five minutes, my nose cleared up. However, the next morning it was stuffy again. Still, I hadn't expected it to last all night and into the beginning of the next day.

Last night, I tried it without the spray. Even though we had thrown out two pillows which had real feathers in them as well as all of our stuffed animals (Martin -- he of the userpic -- was most indignant) in an attempt to reduce allergens, my nose felt the same as always: mostly stuffed, occasionally clearing, usually only in one nostril. Have to see whether the health insurance will pay for two mattress covers (against mite droppings) and if so, what difference that'll make.

Oh, and the loratidine (known to some of you as Claritin) didn't seem to help all that much yesterday; my nose was still stuffy during the day. (Maybe it's good against irritated eyes or something, I don't know, but my most common hay-fever symptom is a blocked nose.) I'll have to talk to my ENT doctor about it when I see her again on Tuesday.

Comments

[pne.livejournal.com]

OK, I asked my ENT doctor about it and she agreed that I should use my loratidin regularly, at least during the time of year when pollen are flying and during the winter season when mites start multiplying. But she hoped that when I get the mattress covers I won't need the pills any more.

And I asked about the steroids and she said that the "don't stop suddenly" was for when you take it into your body. She says that with the nose spray, only minute amounts are actually absorbed by the body so it shouldn't be a problem; I should just take the spray as often or as seldom as I need it (well, not more than four times a day, but that should easily be enough).

Thanks for suggesting some questions to ask.

Now I need to call my health insurance and see whether they'll pay for two mattress covers so we don't have to buy the second one ourselves (one mattress cover nearly always gets approved, so my own shouldn't be a problem).

[haela.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you called your doctor. :) I have taken steroids for allergies before but sometimes I was on pills and sometimes on a nasal inhaler so I always just assumed the rules for my pills stood for my inhaler too. I've taken "just one pill" in situations where I knew I was going to be introducing an allergen into my system, namely food, but my food allergies aren't really as severe as my nasal allergies. When I eat something I'm allergic to, my neck and jaw swell up and become painful so that I can't swallow or talk. It usually passes in a couple of hours on its own, but if I took Claritin a few hours beforehand it passes more quickly. This is not usual for most people though. Unfortunately with my seasonal nasal allergies I have to take the claritin every single day in order for it to work, and it takes about a week or two for it to really start working.