Bonnie
Super Member
I suffer from all year round allergies to a couple of soil-borne fungi, which are endemic to Georgia where I live. I have had problems since 2013. I started out on Benadryl, which controls it, but I have to take it so much, since it only lasts 4-6 hours, tops. Anyway, a pharmacist put me on to 12 hour clemastine fumerate and it worked wonderfully well. Then the OTC dosage was discontinued and I could not find it for a couple of years, so switched to Xyzal, which worked fairly well (Allegra doesn't work and gives me headaches. Zyrtec doesn't work well and after 6 days, I can't smell or taste anything).
But then I discovered that a 2.68 mg. dosage of clemastine is available by Rx, so my doctor orders that for me,, from my pharmacist. All was well for quite some time. But then, we moved into a basement apartment of our daughter and son-in-law's house, so we can all be together and not have to drive so much to visit. The back quarter of our apartment is underground but the rest of the apartment is aboveground. We have windows and a French door, and a regular door with a window in it.
Anyway, in retrospect, living in a partially underground apartment probably wasn't the smartest thing to do, with my allergies to soil fungi....but the clemastine didn't seem to work well anymore. Taking a decongestant helped some, but I was still miserable. I went to urgent care where the nurse told me to switch antihistamines every 2 weeks because the body gets used to one, and it won't work so well anymore. So, I went back to using Xyzal which worked for 2 days--then quit. I was miserable and could hardly sleep at night, with my coughing.
Now, comes the HEPA air cleaners...our daughter had given us a small one for our bedroom which we used most of the time, but it didn't really do any good. My husband got a bigger one and put it in the living room. Well, when the Xyzal quit working, I was so miserable that I just went into the living room to watch TV, read, and play games on my tablet. I was too tired to do anything else. I had not used the air filter in there very much, and thought "Well, we spent all that money on it--might as well use it." So, I put it on medium, around 12:30 PM, then just stayed in the living room, coughing off and on....but after a few hours, it dawned on me that my cough had stopped and I was losing the nasal twang to my voice when I talked. All I had done differently was use the air purifier. I stated at it in awe. IT WORKED.
I could hardly believe it. My husband quickly ordered two more for our house--another one for our bedroom like the one in the living room, and a bigger, tall floor model for the dining room/kitchen which is one long room, divided by a countertop. I put the original small one from our bedroom into the dining room.
I have stopped coughing almost completely. I can sleep through the night now, and hardly ever cough. I do take Benadryl before bedtime, since laying down seems to make me cough a little sometimes, but it wears off long before I get up. We will need to get new filters from time to time, but we don't care. My husband is just glad that something finally works for me. He will do anything to help me be comfortable. He is also going to order some merk 12 3M filters for the furnace, but the temperature in this apartment is pretty stable so it may not turn on that much, even when it gets really cold.
If I am going to be away from home for awhile, I then take the clemastine 2.68 mg. 12 hour tablet and then switch to Benadryl at night. I tell you, it feels SO GOOD not to be constantly on medicine! I can give my system a break.
Anyway I just wanted to spread the word about air purifiers and that they really work! The two tabletop units we have are by Levoit. They also have timers on them for 2 4, and 6 hours and then will turn off, if you wish. The floor model is by Germguardian, I think it is. They are fairly quiet on low or medium speed, though the Levoit one is a bit louder than the floor model on medium. But it is white noise, and doesn't bother us.
But then I discovered that a 2.68 mg. dosage of clemastine is available by Rx, so my doctor orders that for me,, from my pharmacist. All was well for quite some time. But then, we moved into a basement apartment of our daughter and son-in-law's house, so we can all be together and not have to drive so much to visit. The back quarter of our apartment is underground but the rest of the apartment is aboveground. We have windows and a French door, and a regular door with a window in it.
Anyway, in retrospect, living in a partially underground apartment probably wasn't the smartest thing to do, with my allergies to soil fungi....but the clemastine didn't seem to work well anymore. Taking a decongestant helped some, but I was still miserable. I went to urgent care where the nurse told me to switch antihistamines every 2 weeks because the body gets used to one, and it won't work so well anymore. So, I went back to using Xyzal which worked for 2 days--then quit. I was miserable and could hardly sleep at night, with my coughing.
Now, comes the HEPA air cleaners...our daughter had given us a small one for our bedroom which we used most of the time, but it didn't really do any good. My husband got a bigger one and put it in the living room. Well, when the Xyzal quit working, I was so miserable that I just went into the living room to watch TV, read, and play games on my tablet. I was too tired to do anything else. I had not used the air filter in there very much, and thought "Well, we spent all that money on it--might as well use it." So, I put it on medium, around 12:30 PM, then just stayed in the living room, coughing off and on....but after a few hours, it dawned on me that my cough had stopped and I was losing the nasal twang to my voice when I talked. All I had done differently was use the air purifier. I stated at it in awe. IT WORKED.
I could hardly believe it. My husband quickly ordered two more for our house--another one for our bedroom like the one in the living room, and a bigger, tall floor model for the dining room/kitchen which is one long room, divided by a countertop. I put the original small one from our bedroom into the dining room.
I have stopped coughing almost completely. I can sleep through the night now, and hardly ever cough. I do take Benadryl before bedtime, since laying down seems to make me cough a little sometimes, but it wears off long before I get up. We will need to get new filters from time to time, but we don't care. My husband is just glad that something finally works for me. He will do anything to help me be comfortable. He is also going to order some merk 12 3M filters for the furnace, but the temperature in this apartment is pretty stable so it may not turn on that much, even when it gets really cold.
If I am going to be away from home for awhile, I then take the clemastine 2.68 mg. 12 hour tablet and then switch to Benadryl at night. I tell you, it feels SO GOOD not to be constantly on medicine! I can give my system a break.
Anyway I just wanted to spread the word about air purifiers and that they really work! The two tabletop units we have are by Levoit. They also have timers on them for 2 4, and 6 hours and then will turn off, if you wish. The floor model is by Germguardian, I think it is. They are fairly quiet on low or medium speed, though the Levoit one is a bit louder than the floor model on medium. But it is white noise, and doesn't bother us.