Question:
I've had a dust allergy for years, particularly in winter, but all last
winter and this winter had been nearly symptom-free, without any
medications, that is, until I got pregnant. Now last night, around 2:30
am, I woke up with the most horrible, burning/itchy/tingling sensation
throughout my nose, sinuses and even felt it all the way down to my top
teeth. I didn't sneeze much, which is weird, but could not sleep at all
because of the intensity of this sensation. Finally around 4:00 I moved
into our guest room so I'd at least stop disturbing DH. After about 1/2
hour I was able to sleep, but fitfully. The sensation is still
lingering now but very faint. There was nothing different in our room
last night that I know of. Does pregnancy aggravate allergies?
Answer:
I couldn't live without my Flonase. I've been on all of them at one time
or another too, but went exclusively to Flonase when I found out I was
pregnant on my midwife's advice. She prefers a drug that is localized to
the specific area, and I've found it to be quite tolerable (if not quite
as effective as Allegra or Zyrtec). My doctor took me off of my allergy medication while pregnant. I was on
Claritin at the time and Nasacort. The only thing they would let me take is
Sudafed. However, you could probably call your doctor and see what they
recommend. Good luck. I was absolutely miserable through my pregnancies
because of my allergies. Oh, my allergist also suggesting doing a saline
wash in my nose to get the irritants out. Basically your squirting saline
solution in your nose and then letting it drain out. It helped some for a
bit, but not for long. I took Zyrtec throughout my first pregnancy, including first trimester.
I have bad respiratory allergies; I got pregnant in pollen season, and
the rented house we lived in (in Concord, MA) had some old dander in it.
(Even so, it was much better than the apartment we had first - there I
had to use Zyrtec, a nasal spray, and an albuterol inhaler. At least I
wasn't pregnant then!) Even in the new house, I started to wheeze every time I tried to go off
meds. Zyrtec seemed like a good choice - it's category B, not proven
absolutely safe but with no indications of causing any birth defects
either. No one even suggested a nasal spray, which is kind of strange,
because the more localized the better, right? I think someone mumbled
something about them having steroids, but doesn't very little of the
spray actually get into your system? Anyway, DD was fine with the Zyrtec and was born absolutely healthy. I'm
happy, though, that this time I got pregnant in the winter and live in a
dander-free house, so I won't have to take anything until May. In
general, I think pregnancy sometimes aggravates allergies, sometimes
eases them, and sometimes has no effect whatsoever.
