I love spring BUT

...I hate allergies!!! :-(. I woke up this morning with a sore throat, itchy eyes and stuffy nose :-(.  I am allergic to pollen and my allergies normally peak around early spring. Since I am pregnant, I can't take any of my allergy medicine. I normally have to take claritin, use nasal spray (flonase), and eye drops (Pathanol). Yes, the works! Needless to say, I felt miserable all day. I called my doctor's office and talked to the nurse to ask if there is anything that I can take. The nurse said I can take Claritin and Benadryl. During second tri, I can start taking Flonase. I told my sister, Dr. Elie about this but she advised me not to take Claritin and just have Benadryl instead. She said they don't prescribe Claritin to patients especially during 1st tri. She gave me a website where you can check whether a drug is safe to take or not. The site says this about Claritin: "Data not available in human pregnancy but reported possible association with some congenital defects: Cardiac defects, diaphragmatic hernia, cleft palate, microphthalmia and deafness". I do not want to take any chance so I had to pass on Claritin and researched other natural ways to relieve my allergy.

Lately, I have been hearing a lot about the Netipot. A lot of my friends swear by it so I thought I'd give it a shot. It is a nasal rinse which is suppose to relieve allergies and other sinus problems. I ordered one at Amazon.com and will get it on Wednesday.  I can't wait to try it out!

At this point, I am willing to try anything just to feel better and relieve my allergies naurally so on Saturday, I scheduled an appointment with an acupunturist! I have not tried acupuncture but have heard a lot of people get allergy relief after a few treatments. My insurance covers acupuncture treatments so I don't have anything to lose. Given how bad my allergies are, I can't last the whole spring season without getting some sort of relief.