As far as I know, I have 2 main allergies: pollen and metals (some metals, not sure which exactly).

Pollen

• It feels like my nose is a leaky faucet. It will run and run and I’ll have sneezing fits for hours. If I blow my nose, it makes the inside feel super-dry and itchy, which just kicks off more running and sneezing. So it basically feels pointless to blow my nose at all, and I usually settle for sniffling instead. But if I do that too much, I start getting mini-sinus headaches.
• Flare-ups. Sometimes I’ll see the plants that trigger it and I’ll start sneezing within 10-20 minutes. Other times I’ll go outside and it’ll start out of nowhere. It’ll last for hours.
• Meds do not seem to help at all. Maybe they shorten what would be a 6-hour episode into a 3-hour episode but who tf knows. I have yet to find anything that kicks in faster than a couple hours after use.

Metals

• I break out in a highly localized rash. It’s red, bumpy, and itches like mosquito bites.
• Flare-ups after prolonged contact (several hours) with a metal. It’ll last anywhere from a couple hours to a couple days.
• No meds. It’s pretty easy to ignore when it flares up, and it’s easy enough to avoid exposure.

Im lucky in that what allergies I have dont stick around.

When spring hits and theres a ton of pollen in the air I feel like I have a cold for about a month. Runny sneezy nose. And a scratchy throat.

When I’m not around dogs or cats for a while my eyes get irritated and I get itchy. Once Im around them for a couple days it goes away.

I will also get random skin irritation (red and itchy) when eating random junk food I havent had in a while.

Most of the time its candy that triggers it as I dont eat it alot, but it will happen with popcorn too.

I suddenly picked up “allergies*” in my late 30s - couldn’t work out what they were, other than antihistamines (cetirizine or loratidine) made them “not as bad”, and I also needed to avoid certain things in particular (breathing in dust, aerosols, perfumes, other chemical fumes, car fumes, cigarette fumes, wood dust and drinking alcohol).

Turned out to be Nasal Polyps. I was due for surgery to remove them in 2020, but then Covid happened and I’ve been on a waiting list since. Surgery may completely remove the problem, or at least lessen it - but they could grow back within five years.

Basically every day is like I’ve got cold or sometimes flu. Sometimes I feel like I’m drowning in phlegm. If I take antihistamines, it’s pretty mild or controllable, as long as I can reasonably avoid those triggers. Sometimes I have to drink lemsip in the morning (powdered hot drink of paracetamol, lemon flavour & decongestant). It’s there every day, permanently, but how severe it is varies between “slightly inconvenient” and “too unwell to work”.

Antihistamines are essential for me to function at all, and make a huge difference - though I feel they’ve become less effective in the last year or so. Thankfully they’re very cheap over the counter (~£1.30 for 30 days’ worth). I also use a saltwater nasal spray sometimes, and I sometimes eat a lot of menthol sweets. I have to be careful with decongestants to avoid “rebound congestion” where your nose adjusts to life with decongestants, then becomes twice as blocked up if you stop.

If I drink alcohol or breathe perfume etc, my sinuses block up within half an hour, I can get an asthmatic response, and I get crippling arthritic pain in my hands and joints. Sometimes perfume and other sprays can cause severe, possibly dangerous breathing problems. I have an asthma inhaler for these emergencies, and always have to carry it with me, in case someone sprays perfume in an enclosed space (which might cause me to die).

If I keep reasonable control over these things, I can live pretty “normally”. If I actually get a cold, it’s like I’ve got a “double cold”, and it can make me too ill to go to work.

When it’s bad, it’s a pretty miserable existence to be honest, but in the larger scale of things it’s not a serious or life-threatening illness, so you feel guilty for complaining.

When it’s not so bad, I can normally ignore it for most of the day - and I have a pretty active job and am otherwise fairly healthy. It’s worst in the morning/night when I’m horizontal.

Your case outlined in the original post sounds particularly upsetting and you have my sympathies. You’re not being a baby.

*technically it’s an intolerance or hypersensitivity, and not truly an allergy, though it behaves in much the same way, and symptoms can be controlled in much the same way.

My regular seasonal allergies just make me feel like I have a cold without the fever. Itchy eyes, runny nose, sore throat, aching muscles and joints with a general feeling of malaise.

But I’ve also had an allergic reaction to amoxicillin I was taking for strep a couple years ago and it started off just making me itch all over. Then I got a rash. Then I got hives. Then the next day when I walked into the bathroom first thing in the morning, I couldn’t even recognize my own face because it was so red and swollen; and that’s when I decided to go to a doctor.

Pretty much have allergies all year round now so I’m on basic Claritin daily. During spring or fall I have to ramp up to Claritin, allergra, Zyrtec and Asterpro nasal spray. The meds barely make a dent but it’s better than nothing. So yeah it’s misery, stuffy nose and sneezing bouts. I’m a true mouth breather lol

I would like to try the shots but just haven’t gotten around to it.

Welcome to the club!

I’ve had the feeling of needing to cough my entire life and when it’s bad the inside of head itches. Tried shots, prescription strength drugs. Generally what works best for me is getting distracted and a double dose of extra strength Kirkland brand claratin. Some flonase if my nose and throat are irritated

I realized that I had allergies during the height of the pandemic… so the short answer is it gave me way too much unnecessary stress because I was constantly worried whether I got COVID-19.

• Depends… I felt most times it was just “did I finally catch covid or is this just allergy?”, there was once or twice when it got really bad though.
• There was once when I had such a bad allergy that my eyes both flared up and I could barely see… It was bad enough that I reached out to the allergy department of my provider as soon as I was functional & got me into immunotherapy.
• Not meds, but I did 3+ years of immunotherapy: 1+ year of getting allergen injections every week (thankfully still had a car back then), and then once per month of maintenance after I reached the highest dose. Had to stop because of relocation/insurance nonsense… but I think the treatment worked.
• No you’re not being a big baby, please take your health seriously and stay safe & healthy.