Potential allergy sufferer looking for advice

[teresagreen]

Hi I’m new to this site and I’m after a bit of advice. I’m 44years old and I’ve had mild asthma since I was about 12. I’ve never had problems with allergies, only a bout of rhinitis about 20years ago that got better after using a steroid nose spray. Over the past year though I’ve been suffering from what feels like sinus pain and numerous headaches (with NO mucus or post nasal drip) which aren’t helped by over the counter medicines. I’ve seen an ENT specialist and had a clear CT scan and then more recently I’ve started to experience occasional wheezing. It’s not like my normal asthma wheeze it’s very squeaky and sometimes comes on for no apparent reason. Exercise does bring it on for definite and sometimes just taking the dog for a walk around the block. The doc gave me montelukast which didn’t help and the nurse said my peak flow was good so it was a mystery and just to carry on and take my reliever as and when I need it. I’m not happy about taking my reliever so often though and recently I’ve been taking antihistamines every day. I can’t say that it’s improved my wheeze much but for the first week my sinus pain more or less disappeared. I noticed a huge change especially when I woke up in the mornings and I felt fresh and awake rather than how I would usually feel, which was groggy, headachy, tired and unable to concentrate. People at work even noticed that I was in a much better mood! Anyway I’ve continued with the antihistamines and some days are good, some not so good. I’m eager to hear if anyone else has similar symptoms. At the moment I’m keeping track of my symptoms in a diary and I’m wondering whether to go for allergy testing. I did mention this to the doc but his response was not positive so I was thinking of having it done privately. So if anyone has any tips, experience or any recommendations about any products that might help I’d be very appreciative.

[talkhealth]

Hi teresagreen

Thank you for your recent post. You are definitely doing the right thing by keeping a symptom diary to go back to your GP with. Do persevere if you want to be tested for allergies.

Do have a look at our free support programme, mywellbeing [urlhttps://www.talkhealthpartnership.com/psp/wellbeing.php][/url] which also covers allergies, there may be something there that you will find helpful.

Do let us know how you get on.

Kind regards
talkhealth