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  • wild_turkey
    wild_turkey

    Ophthalmologist here with a little info about allergy eye drops… Avoid anything with a redness reliever. This includes Opcon-A, Naphcon-A, anything with naphazoline in it, and generally most Visine a

  • Brisketexan
    Brisketexan

    I think I saw "Cedar Pollen-Infused Snot" play at Raoul's back in the day.  They were loud.

  • WithoutAClue
    WithoutAClue

    Allergy count for Jan. 16, 2024.

Posted Images

  • Author

Only 1,130 today, but my nose is telling me something. 

I've been taking generic Claratin and actual Flonase daily for a few weeks, and they seem to be helping, as does wearing a mask outside.

Cedar finally hit me yesterday/last night.  Tell-tale itchy eyes, lots of sneezing, and stuffy nose as I slept.  It ain't covid -- it's the same exact symptoms every year, around the same time of year.

God I hate cedar.

Ran out of my daily allergy meds a couple of days ago.  I usually don't notice a thing, but want to die right now.  Getting more tonight.

I just ride the daily Claritin D train along with daily Flonase starting mid December through the end of February every year.  Keeps it manageable, although still miserable.  The worst is the lack of sleep from the decongestants raising heart rate.  The Opcon allergy eye drops posted above are a life saver as well. 

I really just want to move away from here (at least during cedar season) but I keep losing the argument. 

wanted to scratch my eyes out yesterday. oof.

image.thumb.png.6ae66986a945b58109001fc6817eeab4.png

Edited by The Dog

9 minutes ago, The Dog said:

wanted to scratch my eyes out yesterday. oof.

image.thumb.png.6ae66986a945b58109001fc6817eeab4.png

Yep!  I think that has been the same map pattern for the last 3 weeks!

These trees have to run out of jizz soon based on how early the season started, right?  Normally after a month of continuous ejaculation, I’m pretty much running on empty.

  • Author

I hope the trees are about spent, but I still see lots of yellow in the branches.  We'll see what the front today does as it blows through. 

The total count so far this year is 179,840.  The high total count over the last 5 years is 300,540; the low was 153,220.  Average is about 230,000.  

On 12/16/2021 at 1:50 PM, High Plains Drifter said:

 

asshole upwind neighbor was cutting/clearing cedar the other day. From the road, I could see a sideways cone shaped cloud of cedar pollen going straight from his chainsaw to completely encompassing my house. 

 

If I killed the guy, y'all think a jury would let me walk?

 

yes

For those of you that live in San Antonio, is the Cedar worse over there? I took the wife and kids to Fiesta Texas last week and it felt like a truck drove over my face, I mean there was a noticeable haze in the air. Cleared right up when I left, really weird stuff. 

I couldn't even hardly open my right eye when I woke up this morning and it's in constant pain so today has been especially great.

22 minutes ago, Poe It Up said:

For those of you that live in San Antonio, is the Cedar worse over there? I took the wife and kids to Fiesta Texas last week and it felt like a truck drove over my face, I mean there was a noticeable haze in the air. Cleared right up when I left, really weird stuff. 

I don't about others here in SA, but my face feels like:

arnold schwarzenegger eyes GIF

 

Like Brisket said, same timing and symptoms every year. The wetness and mold on top of this cedar sundae can go fuck itself.

 

 

 

Track Austin's daily cedar measurements from EVERY local source, all in one place. Updated hourly. austinpollen.com/cedarseason.html

Hover or tap on the dots to see more details and exact measurements.

This is a personal project of mine. Comments and suggestions welcome.

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1 hour ago, AlbertGitchell said:

Track Austin's daily cedar measurements from EVERY local source, all in one place. Updated hourly. austinpollen.com/cedarseason.html

Hover or tap on the dots to see more details and exact measurements.

This is a personal project of mine. Comments and suggestions welcome.

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Awesome.  More information on my misery than I ever needed!

24 minutes ago, miguelito said:

Show the man what he's won!!!!

 

Image

 

cMPsvIe.gif

On 1/3/2022 at 6:29 PM, ztejas said:

Not sure what eye drops y'all use but these are the heavy duty ones that I prefer. They do burn like a motherfucker but they work. (I can always find the generic equivalent, too, just compare labels)

901519527_download(6).jpeg.e1e7c104e6babe3d7d4dc8803d8f96d2.jpeg

I finally bit the bullet.  Couldn't find those or the generics last night at the HEB I went to, found these on the shelf, grabbed them, and they made a huge difference.  With Flonase, Zyrtec, wearing a mask while out and about, and now eye drops, I'm going to make it through Juniper Hell on Earth Season.

visine-allergy-uoad.jpg

 

On 1/17/2022 at 9:33 AM, atomheartbevo said:

I finally bit the bullet.  Couldn't find those or the generics last night at the HEB I went to, found these on the shelf, grabbed them, and they made a huge difference.  With Flonase, Zyrtec, wearing a mask while out and about, and now eye drops, I'm going to make it through Juniper Hell on Earth Season.

visine-allergy-uoad.jpg

 

Yeah it looks like it's almost the exact same ingredient profile. 

If your eyes are especially dry or irritated they should make you mutter an expletive a few seconds after putting them in. 

They were of great use to me in high school for non allergy-related reasons. 

7 hours ago, ztejas said:

 

They were of great use to me in high school for non allergy-related reasons. 

Knew a dude in high school who wouldn’t be caught dead without a small visine bottle in his pocket for some strange reason. Maybe it was you?

Not sure what eye drops y'all use but these are the heavy duty ones that I prefer. They do burn like a motherfucker but they work. (I can always find the generic equivalent, too, just compare labels)


Ophthalmologist here with a little info about allergy eye drops…

Avoid anything with a redness reliever. This includes Opcon-A, Naphcon-A, anything with naphazoline in it, and generally most Visine and Clear Eyes products. The redness reliever component will help with redness short term but it can cause more long term redness, poor control of symptoms, and generally has lower tolerability. Even if you feel like it helps, there are probably better options for you.

I recommend OTC Pataday Extra Strength 0.7% once daily. It is slightly more expensive but it is a superior medicine that both treats active symptoms and helps prevent future symptoms. You can get a 2-pack on Amazon for $24.

The next best OTC option is probably Zaditor (generic = ketotifen). It works fairly well and is less expensive, but it lasts about 8 hours and requires 2-3 times daily dosing. Honestly, just pay the extra for the Pataday and save yourself the anguish.

If you’re doing Pataday and still having problems, there are other treatments. A simple home remedy is to apply cool compresses or to keep a bottle of artificial tears (Refresh, Systane) in the refrigerator and use the cold eye drops. There are also lid wipes from OCuSoft (get the green allergy ones on Amazon) that may help.

If you’re doing all of that and still suffering, it’s probably time to visit your ophthalmologist or optometrist. They can sometimes prescribe eye drops (antihistamines, steroids, or other immune mediators) that can help more than OTC treatments, although most people do just fine with a combination of the things listed above.

Hope that helps.
11 hours ago, ztejas said:

If your eyes are especially dry or irritated they should make you mutter an expletive a few seconds after putting them in. 

The Tonight Show Agree GIF by The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon

We were in NYC the week after Christmas, so we missed that week of hell, but the day after we got back I tested positive for Covid. The next day, HornOnTheBayou tested positive, and after that, both our boys. I'm the only one of us allergic to cedar and I was shocked at how similar my covid symptoms were to cedar fever. The only difference, the thing that made me test, was that I got an actual fever. Symptoms flared back up about a week later but I think that was actual cedar, not some kind of covid double jeopardy. This past weekend was rough but today was much better.

Edited by austingirl

  • Author

4 straight days of double-digit counts.  The worst is behind us.  There could be a day or 2 with flare ups, but we're out of the cedar woods (and a month away from the oak woods).

  • Author

You arrogant ass.  It's back up to 560 with those north winds coming in.

  • 2 weeks later...

UT professor doing God's work

https://www.kxan.com/weather-traffic-qas/ut-professor-creates-possible-cedar-fever-cure-in-a-martini-glass/

UT professor creates possible cedar fever cure in a martini glass. Unfortunately the juniper we have problems with makes for shitty gin.

Quote

A classic drink is actually made from the plant that causes that dreaded allergic response in Central Texas — gin.

“Gin essentially, is a process where you take a vodka and you make it more interesting,” said University of Texas Biology Professor Molly Cummings. She has an interesting side hustle. “I’m a gin entrepreneur and founder and forger for WildGins Co.,” she said.

Quote

Cummings said that gin is made by taking vodka and then adding a bag of botanicals. The main botanical used is juniper.

“If there’s no juniper in that mix of botanicals, it is not a gin,” Cummings said.

Quote

“I went around the state of Texas and collected a variety of different juniper species. We have eight which is pretty remarkable,” Cummings said.

When Cummings sent a sample of our local juniper to her master distiller, “he told me you are never allowed to send that juniper to me ever again. It makes a horrid gin.”

Quote

Her gin company makes two gins — Wild June and Wild Bark. Each is made from a different juniper tree out in West Texas. The Alligator juniper from the David Mountains and the Red Berry juniper from near Marfa.

Cummings collects juniper berries for her gin. The pollen that causes allergic reactions for many of us isn’t included. Berries can be found on female trees, while the pollen is released by male juniper trees.

It can't be proven that this cures anything - no formal studies or anything, but

Quote

Cummings, who is a biologist and studies fish brains at the University of Texas, notes she is not a botanist or medical doctor, but “when I first moved to Austin, and I’ve been in Austin, 20 years, I suffered from cedar fever horribly. Now, as a scientist, I will tell you, you know, this is not a study, but I don’t suffer from cedar fever anymore. And guess what, I’ve drunk a lot of my gin.”

 

1 hour ago, South Austin said:

An alcoholic who studies fish brains, huh?

Potential fishing buddy?

Thought we were out of the woods yet?

cedar says “nope”

 

A71142D5-F0CF-4809-AED9-C78F22D1DBA2.png

  • 3 weeks later...
  • Author

Good news: 5 days in a row of 0 cedar.

Bad news: Oak shows up today.

  • 5 weeks later...
  • Author

21 Ideas To Get Quiet Teams Talking In Sprint Retrospectives

 

 

The oak leaves are falling, and cars are turning yellow.  But so far the actual oak counts have been low.  Too low.  The first reading (in San Antonio) was March 1.  Since then we've had 1 day over 1,000.  The total so far is under 6,000; the average total for a season is about 198,000.  We're usually out of the 1,000 counts by April 15-20.  So doing some math, we have a shitload of pollen to deal with in the next 3 weeks. 

I was told for my first forty some odd years I was allergic to cedar and spruce trees, some grasses. Grew up in Memphis which might be the sinus infection Capitol of the world.

Anyway my sinuses got so bad I got grounded from air travel when I was flying 100k a year. Went to an allergist. He did hours of tests. The result: “you’re not allergic to shit”. Chronic vasiomotor rhinitis. Meaning I’m allergic to nothing but everything irritates the shit out of my sinuses. Sent me to a hotshot ENT. “I need to cut up your head!” Chopped a ton of small polyps out of my forehead. Chiseled bone out of the bridge of my nose. Cut out a bunch of my turbinates. Removed polyps the size of walnuts and apricots out of the sinuses over my teeth. Said I suspect you’ve had a single sinus infection twenty years, you just knock it down until it comes back.

Since then in 2000, I’ve had zero issues as long as I irrigate my sinuses a couple times a week. The best defense to allergies I believe is Flonase daily and daily sinus irrigation. The Navage is cool but I’ve reverted back to the squire bottle.

  • Author

Holy shit, dude.

That's good you got it figured out.  I seem to get minor sinus infections every winter.  I think some day I might need to get some work done. 

But for now, I also do the Flonase/nasal rinse/loritadine routine during cedar and oak seasons. 

10 minutes ago, miguelito said:

Holy shit, dude.

Came in to say this.  Yikes.  Glad it worked though!

Came in to say this.  Yikes.  Glad it worked though!

The pain wasn’t bad from the surgery, especially after they took out the 4 miles of gauze they packed in my head. I will say it wasn’t near as bad as the searing pain in my upper teeth with a bad flare up.

What pisses me off were the parade of ents who looked up my nose and just said it’s allergies and wrote another script. Never saw my issues or did a ct scan.

That ENT said if folks would do Flonase daily plus daily saline irrigation and occasional mucinex if needed it would prevent 80% of non allergy caused sinus infections and 50% of allergic ones. He said the constant barrage of antihistamines/decongestants/antibiotics just fucked up mucus membranes which then fucked everything up.

Houston is coated.

My backyard bar that is covered by a huge roof extension has become ridiculous.

I’m over it.

  • 2 weeks later...
  • Author

There's been yellow shit on everything for a while now, but San Antonio just recorded the first 10,000+ reading of oak today.  This is later than the last 10,000+ day in the last 7 years.  It's peaking late.

We usually get 5 to 8 10K days per season.

Our total for the year is about 43K; the running average is about 198K. 

Nothing like running yesterday in the Austin 10K and breathing in the stuff the whole time.

I've come to appreciate KN95 masks when doing yard work during heavy pollen season... I'll go out there with the leafblower to clean up all that crap and the mask is a Godsend! 

  • 3 weeks later...
  • 6 months later...
  • Author

Time to ramp up the drugs.

"I used to do drugs.  I still do, but I used to, too."

-Mitch

One thing I learned during Covidcedarpocalypse of 2020/2021 is those surgical masks are lifesavers when you are outside leafblowing leaves/pollen.

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