Moms with allergies - how did you handle when pregnant?

[Anonymous]

I'm posting this in General because almost everyone with kids was pregnant at some point, and I really need some advice:

After the birth of my first two kids, I developed some pretty intense enviornmental allergies - testing identifies them as dust mites predominantly, mold and a few weeds along for the ride. A nightly dose of allergy meds (Zyrtec) takes care of most of it, with Benedryl as needed for the nights I have breakthrough allergy symptoms (sneezing, itchy nose, itchy ears).

So, I'm unexpectedly pregnant. And not supposed to take meds. Okay, we got allergy covers for my bed and pillow, started washing the sheets every 2 or 3 days, I shower every night before bed, and I'm able to MOSTLY get by without the Zyrtec and Benedryl. But about once a week I wake up in the middle of the night with my regular symptoms. Aside from being uncomfortable, I worry about having these inflammatory responses being bad for baby (I'm older, DH is older, we tend to make boy babies, I worry about autism a lot - http://sfari.org/news-and-opinion/news/2013/protein-marker-ties-maternal-inflammation-to-autism-risk). I'm not going crazy, but I figure it can't hurt to try to eat a low-inflammation diet and keep an extra eye on my health.

Would you: suffer with the allergies and risk the inflammatory response, or take half a benedryl to quash the symptoms? How have you handled enviornmental allergies when pregnant? FWIW, I am posted overseas without great medical care, but will obviously be talking with a doctor to get their input. I'm only 5 weeks now, so it'll be a while yet before I get seen here.

I appreciate any guidance you can share!

[Anonymous]

My doctor told me I could take Zyrtec.

[Anonymous]

Please gosh it's benAdryl!!!

[Anonymous]

You can take both Zyrtec and Benadryl while pregnant, as long as it's the "regular" version of both (without decongestant "-D"). They are both category B medications.

[Anonymous]

I took Zyrtec-D every day after 1st trimester. Doc said it was fine (though would have preferred the D-free version, but I needed to breathe).

[Anonymous]

I took Benadryl and Zyrtec (not at the same time) while pregnant per my doctor's instructions during the spring allergy season (the worst period of seasonal allergies for me). I would not have been able to breathe otherwise.

[Anonymous]

I suffered. I took some Zyrtec and Benadryl but that barely touched my symptoms. I used saline rinses a lot to try to keep my sinuses clear and the inflammation down.

But mostly I suffered and it sucked. Sorry!

[Anonymous]

+1 on the sinus rinses. If you can find this or something similar where you are located, it really makes a difference.
http://www.neilmed.com/usa/sinusrinse_isotonic.php

If you can't find that, a neti pot also
works. Use distilled water that's about body temperature, after a shower works best for me.

[Anonymous]

I've been suffering through it too and found myself with my first ever case of double pink eye and an ear infection that I think were a result of the massive allergy build-up in my head! Talk about miserable... I ended up taking some Zyrtec for a few days and weaned myself off again once my symptoms cleared up. I really wanted to stay clean (i.e. off all meds in the first trimester) but was a complete mess. I'm trusting that Zyrtec really IS safe (it's categorized that way) and betting that taking that to treat symptoms is totally fine.

[Anonymous]

My dr said I could take my zyrtec and flovent. He emphasized how important it was to breathe. He said absolutely go ahead and control your allergies. Have you seen your allergist and gone over this with him/her?

[Anonymous]

My doc cleared something for me, I think it was Claritin. My allergies aren't nearly so bad as yours sound, but over-the-counter Claritin was all I really needed and only for the worst of the late spring/early summer (which was early pregnancy for me)

[Anonymous]

Zyrtec and Benadryl were both okay-ed for me. Like other PPs, the doc emphasized that I needed to breathe!

[Anonymous]

OP here, thanks so much everyone. I appreciate the sensible advice. I will continue to treat environmentally as much as possible but will take the Benedryl when I have symptoms. I'll be back in DC in a month for R&R and will talk with an OB then. Really thankful for the help.

[Anonymous]

PS - I have a neti pot on the way from Amazon as we "speak." When I arrived at post I found my Neti box all packed up but completely empty inside. No idea how that happened! Thanks again!