how do you handle sinus problems?

K

kpieczyn

New Member
HI,

I have two more birth control pill packs before I go off them and try to get pregnant. I talked to my doctor about my sinus medicine recently & he said to go off it completely while trying to get pregnant.

I may be an extreme case, but I take sinus medicine every day. I'm allergic to dust mites & grass, so I have symptoms all year. I've tried experimenting for the last couple weeks by tapering off the number of times I take my medicine.

I guess I tapered off a little too much, since I'm now suffering from extreme nasal congestion. I'm back taking my medicine every day, but I'm wondering if anyone else suffers with sinus problems and what did they do while they were pregnant?
 
kpieczyn,

Well, I don't have good advice on this -really. I have ten children and my last three I had severe sinus problems the whole 9 months. When I turned 40 I had my first sinus infection, and it hasn't lightened up yet.

Not to discourage you at all, but pregnancy did make my sinus problem worse. I could only take Tylenol and the headaches were really bad.

You might want to read up on what you can do for it.

cmoroney
 
Yes - I've been and am there with you!

Hi, my name is Jeni and I had a similar experience. I live in Chicago and have SEVERE allergies that are only exacerbated by our extreme changes in weather and temperature. I am allergic to "EVERYTHING" - and I previously took 4 medications a day PLUS an allergy shot every two weeks. My allergist just said that she would prescribe the drugs that had been around long enough to know the potential side effects. NOT what i wanted to hear. So...I looked into alternatives and had a friend who introduced me to the Shaklee products. In a nutshell, I became a member and began take their products for general nutrition as well as some supplements that had been shown to be effective for allergy/sinus relief (their products are all food derived so are perfectly safe for fetus'). I also was pleased to find out that they don't use any artificial colors, flavors, preservatives, pesticides, herbicides or fungicides. I was told they could provide me with research into their products so I e-mailed them and they sent me a TON of stuff that I promptly turned over to my allergist. While she admitted she didn't know a lot about supplementation (as most medical professionals don't), she said that their research was impressive and she would support me in my transition to Shaklee (knowing that our 10 year doctor-patient relationship could end!!!)

Well, I decided that I would try the products for one year and if my allergies were manageable (as they are on medication) I could feel o.k. about getting pregnant. Well, that was in the fall of 2000 and I have taken NO medication since (except for my c-section!!). I had to "rotate" between products because, like I had to do on medication, I get used to stuff and get a little desensitized so I have to switch.

I can not stress enough the HUGE difference in my life. My husband said i had more energy (probably because many allergy/sinus medications have some sort of drug in them that can make you drowsy). I was so thrilled because I found out that some of the potential side effects of allergy/sinus medications (oral and nasal) on a fetus are: fetal morbidity, brain deformation, cleft palate and a few others. While this may not have been an issue for me with medication, I decided that it wasn't worth the risk. The supplements are equally effective in managing my problems as the drugs.

I must say that it really is a life changing step to take. I'd be happy to give you more information if you would like. You can also e-mail me at: [email protected]. Sorry for such a long response but I'm just so passionate about the success this was for me.

Talk to you soon!!!! jeni
 
I don't have personal experience...

But my best friend has severe nasal issues (she plans on having surgery at some point) and when she was pregnant, her doctor said she could continue taking Claritin throughout her pregnancy and she now has a beautiful one year old little girl. I don't know enough on the subject to even know if this is at all related to your issue, but I thought I'd share anyway.'

Lucy K
 
RE: Yes - I've been and am there with you!

Hi Jeni. Glad to hear your Shaklee plan is doing you so much good!

Just wanted to note, however, that so many foods, herbs and all other manner of perfectly natural things are quite unsafe during pregnancy, even though it's fine at other times. I've read about a whole plethora of herbs that ordinarily hold benefits for women but happen to have an abortive effect on fetuses, or some other sort of danger. There was one article I found once that listed lots of herbs you shouldn't take while you're pregnant or trying to get pregnant but I can't find it now, if I do I'll be sure to post it. In the mean time, here are a couple of articles about how one should modify their diets (foods and herbs) to keep their pregnancy safe.

For instance, I had to skip the traditional cream cheese and artichoke dip my friend & I usually share at our favourite pub the other night because they happen to use unpasteurized cheese! Yeah, hold the listeriosis please. I'd have never known if I hadn't thought to ask. You just can't assume something is safe for your baby just because it's natural.

Herbal Teas During Pregnancy
http://www.babycenter.com/refcap/pregnancy/pregnancynutrition/3537.html

Diet for a Healthy Pregnancy
http://www.babycenter.com/refcap/pregnancy/pregnancynutrition/3561.html#1

As for everybody's sinuses, it does typically get worse during pregnancy (sorry) but occasionally it actually clears up while you're gestating. Just a matter of different people's body chemistries being effected in different ways. Mine has gotten worse and I've had a good bit of bloody snot as a result but it's also not nearly so severe as a lot of people have. Sorry I'm not much help there. Hope everybody feels better and has allergy free babies :D!
 
Whoops -didn't take herbs

Hey FoloofaTook (I love your name;). Herbs like enchinacea, ST. John's wort, gingseng, etc. are NOT what I took. Actually, even though Shaklee is a great company, I stopped using these products while pregnant. What I DID take was FOOD supplements such as garlic and alfalfa. They are LITERALLY food in a tablet form (I could not begin to consume the amount of the actual food that i would need for allergies!). I also TRIED to take something call Forumula I for the immune system which is simply 9 essential nutrients (vitamins and minerals) but the baby was NOT having it (would always throw up :(

My allergist also suggested I take Claritin because "it has been around longer and we know more of what the potential side effects are". This is over new drugs (at the time I was taking Allegra which is newer than Claritin). As a consumer, one has to decide that "if the benefit of a drug outweighs the risks". I decided that IF Shaklee worked then it was a no-brainer for me = NO DRUGS. However, I would like to note that, like your friend, I would have taken drugs if there was no other alternative. Please remember that my allergies were so severe that I required FOUR daily medications with potential side effects. Just one would NOT work for me (oral meds., nasal spray, inhaler and a shot). So, to me, that is a TON of drugs to risk with pregnancy.

Saying all that, I am thrilled just to be drug free for the sake of being drug free (after 15 years on medication). I still have allergies - no cure for that yet!

But, as always, I appreciate your willingess to hear what I have to say and not take offense. This is why I love this site...

jeni
 
RE: Whoops -didn't take herbs

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON Nov-22-02 AT 12:49PM (Est)[/font][p]Oh, I see. Obviously, I'm not too familiar with Shaklee. Didn't realize it was strictly food in a capsule sort of thing you'd gone to while you were pregnant. I guess I'm just sensitive to hearing people say things like "if it's natural, it must be okay" but now I see that that's not necessarily what you were saying :).

Have you tried just plain prenatal vitamins instead of something like Formula I? Is Formula I a bit overloaded with iron maybe? I took the prenatal vitamins with a bit less iron to begin with to try to insure no nausea and I've hardly had any. I know it's really fortunate for me to have forgone morning sickness but I figured that if I did end up being nauseated, I at least didn't want it to be exasperated by too much iron.

By the way, before I got pregnant, I used to take local honey (not a difficult prescription to enjoy :)) everyday for my allergies. Since my allergies are just obnoxious rather than debilitating it worked pretty well for me. I was disappointed when I found out that pregnant women shouldn't be eating very much honey at all because some say it'll cause the kid to be more prone to allergies. I don't know if that's just a load of rubbish or not but I figured, better safe than sorry. I've also heard that babies and very young children shouldn't eat honey for the same reason but I'd sure like to find out more about that (basically whether or not it's true) before I go and deny my kid a peanut butter & honey sandwich at two or three years old. Hmmm, a pbh sounds pretty yummy right about now.
 
RE: Whoops -didn't take herbs

I use Formula I for allergies and some illnesses but used Shaklee's multivitamin for my prenatal. I'd heard and read a lot of stuff about prenatal vitamins that was not good. For instance, most of the iron in prenatal vitamins (of which most are synthetic) is like the iron in a nail not the iron from a plant. As a result, many women feel constipated.

Anyway, the honey is something my aunt just told me about too. LaLeche and other's say that honey is unsafe but I'm not sure the reason why. It is my understanding, per my aunt, that "way back when" mother's would put honey on the nipple of a bottle or pacifier to "entice" the baby to latch on to it.

More importantly, bless you for having no nauseay! I am too envious. When I was pregnant the first 12 weeks brought me to my knees - literally!
 
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