Crashed. Could hayfever have done this?

I'm crashed. Don't think it's PEM. I'm wondering if sudden hayfever could have caused this nasty episode. I haven't had hayfever for a decade because of living abroad. Then got hit with a horrible attack a couple of weeks ago.

I'm using a steroid nasal spray and Benadryl to control it, but my eyes are still a bit itchy and I'm a bit sneezy still.

I was doing SO well at the time. Out and about, sleeping better, brain functioning more. But now I've been weak as a kitten for a week, can't absorb information at all, and it's getting worse.

Life giveth, and life taketh away.

But I'm wondering if the allergic reaction thing has set off a cascade effect?

 

Yes definitely possible

 

Yes definitely possible, I'm pulled down every year with it, it can really clobber you on top of ME. For me, I've found using something like Haymax to put up your nostrils really helps or you can use vaseline. I now make up my own mixture from the same ingredients as Haymax and it saves a load of money. Best to keep windows shut in the early evening when pollen is especially high and dry your clothes inside. I also find taking some MSM powder and extra vitamin C and quercetin helps, just my experience. Hope you feel some better soon x

 

I think so too. I'm reasonably lucky in 'only' having tree pollen allergy, so the season runs from March to the end of May; after that the symptoms tail off. The onset does always knock me for six, though, and feel very like a crash or a nasty virus.

 

Thanks @Sarah94 and @Daisymay I really appreciate you responding.

Hadn't heard of Haymax, @Daisymay, thanks for the advice on that. I'll load up on vitamin C as I have it, and try and read about the other 2 things. I always NEED to try to help myself.

This just feels utterly bizarre. I was taking the dog for half hour walks - with a 1 hour rest after, but thoroughly enjoying the walk. And then fully restored after the rest. Now typing this on my phone is too much. Fingers aching! Brain, eyes, knees, feet, ankles, shoulders... My heels hurt! What?

From hayfever? WTF?

 

@Kitty Thanks so much for this, it's reassuring, but I'm sorry you get hit with it every year. I hope the initial crash ends quickly for you, and doesn't last that whole March to end of May period.

That's when I used to get hayfever too. Tree blossom time. But I didn't this year, my first spring in England in years.

This episode of hayfever kicked off a couple of weeks ago when there was insane pollen in England, and the pharmacist told me she was getting people who'd never had hayfever before coming with symptoms.

There's probably some histamine-ME connection sciencey stuff I could read, if my brain could cope. But need another nap.

 

@Squeezy It could possibly be the steroid nasal spray that you are using. I feel like hell after about a week when I use those. I can't use them anymore.

 

@TigerLilea has spotted something I didn't: the steroid spray. These make me crash very badly within 24 hours of starting them, and have been the cause of all the periods of severe ME that I've experienced.

To begin with, I didn't connect the crashes with the spray. I wasn't always in great shape when I started using it, so I assumed it was just a flare-up getting worse; eventually, though, the link became clear. My GP told me that they can stop the adrenal glands from working properly, and that's very likely what was happening. It might be worth stopping it for a while, and seeing how your symptoms respond.

 

@TigerLilea oh my! I'll stop using it! Definitely worth trying that. Thanks.

 

Sorry Squeezy I forgot to say, with the MSM, though I find it helps with hayfever, you need to increase the level slowly as you can feel a bit rough and depressed if you increase the dose too quick.

 

I don't know were you are but it has been hot here in England and high temperatures always makes me much worse with added lethargy to boot .

 

Crikey. I thought that because it was sold over the counter it would be fine. I was suffering horribly and didn't read up on it. I was just, "Gimme! Make it all stop!"

The pharmacist said one type of spray can only be used for a week at a time, but this one, Fluticasone Propionate, aka Flonase, can be used the whole summer.

This is from rxlist.com:

"Hypercorticism And Adrenal Suppression
When intranasal corticosteroids are used at higher than recommended dosages or in susceptible individuals at recommended dosages, systemic corticosteroid effects such as hypercorticism and adrenal suppression may appear."

That might be what happened to me after 2 weeks using it. Dammit.

Just what I need. I finally got on top of my hypothyroidism, and now I might have screwed up my TPA axis again.

Back to basics then. I'll try doing adrenal support with various nutrition things. Thanks so much for the info.

 

@alktipping I'm in Manchester Not feeling the heat.

I did manage brilliantly in 30 C plus heat abroad for 5 weeks recently, though, on days when it was dry heat. I was terrible on days when it was humid. I'm very sensitive to barometric pressure. But it doesn't do this to me - it gives me migraines.

Not had one, yet, while in this horrible bed bound ME crash state.

 

Flonase was the one that made me feel really bad. Beconase was almost as bad.

 

Sorry you have crashed, @Squeezy - and so mysteriously. I too thought of the things you're taking for you hayfever as potential causes of the crash, and not just the nasal spray, or the hayfever.

I'm drug and chemically sensitive; treatments can make me feel worse. For me, steroid nasal spray causes nose bleeds.

Hope you can sort out your crash and feel better soon.

 

Hayfever is bad for me. I can’t use steroid spray for long, it wrecks my nose.

I’m using Sterimar spray (soothing salt water) and Haymax barrier on nostrils.

I am badly affected by a compost facility that’s nearby, it causes nausea, headache and wheezing. Awful.

 

Hugs to you, @dangermouse Totally awful. I wish you could move away from that place. I'm sure you would if you could.

Sterimar. Must get. Thanks for that. Haymax too.

Thanks so much @DokaGirl I've taken antihistamines before for insect bites, and been fine, but I've not taken them day after day like this since before I got ME. Maybe it's them. But living with the horrible hayfever would be unbearable. Even with them, I've still got itchy eyes which I can't treat with drops because I've got chronically dry eyes.

It's so frustrating! The nasal spray helped a lot, but if it's made me crash, possibly by causing Adrenal Suppression, then that's definitely not worth it.

Yes, @Trish that's what I thought - that I'd overdone it, cumulatively. But it was so sudden. Usually if I've done that, it happens gradually, not like a switch has been flipped. I just don't know. Well, the recovery is the same - rest, good nutrition, self-care, deflection of unnecessary stress!

The last one is the toughest, naturally

 

@Trish, your comments reminded me about causes of crashes.

Sometimes it does seem like something innocuous pushes us over the top - but we might have had lots going on, and thought we were doing not badly. We may just attribute the crash to the seemingly insignificant thing that pushed us into PEM, and discount the accumulation of other things.

 

Sorry to hear you’re not good at the moment @Squeezy It could be hayfever, or the meds, combined with life situations catching up with you at the mo causing you to be more run down than usual.

Maybe its all been building and you’ve been too busy dealing with things to allow the crash to happen. Now you have a moment, the ME debt truck has paid a visit to collect what’s owed and is backing over you a few times for good measure because the truck driver is a prize a-hole.

Be kind to yourself it takes a while for those tyre marks to fade.