Scent allergies

[cimorene]

The first time I became aware of being allergic to anything except metal (infection after ear piercing at age 7), I was in college and I accidentally got a smear of Bath'n'Bodyworks juniper-scented hand sanitizer on my face. Half a day later, my throat had swollen so nearly closed that I felt it rubbing against itself on the inside whenever I swallowed. It lasted almost a week, I think.

The next time that happened was years later, but it's become more frequent with time. Today's reaction is at least 2nd since the start of 2013, for example, but I'm pretty sure it hasn't even happened a total of 10 times in the last 12 years. The severity varies, presumably depending on how much of the allergen is involved. It's never been worse than the first time or caused any trouble breathing, but it is about equally painful to the sore throat portion of a cold, sometimes worse. It's constant for a few days and varies from slightly less irritating than a typical PMS headache to "AUGH I HATE EVERYTHING".

The only time it's happened that didn't involve a scented product actually in contact with my face, it was from drinking a lavender herbal infusion. Even though using lavender-scented soaps have never irritated me to my knowledge, lavender oil is my prime suspect for that reason. I'm aware that it is often used as an ingredient in other scented products, without necessarily being represented on the label, and it was also the second ingredient in the second-to-last product that caused an outbreak (a tea tree oil mask from the Body Shop in June).

I've also noticed my nose becoming way more sensitive to odors as I get older: not that they smell stronger, but that they're physically irritating, with like a kinda burning sensation or instant sneezing; and then I panic, fearing another one of these throat-swelling reactions. This is usually due to somebody near me, or in the elevator before me, wearing too much perfume.

Among other things, this has engendered a burning hatred of the way products everywhere are scented, both from second-hand contact and because I now prefer to buy unscented things JUST IN CASE, even though the vast majority of scented toiletries don't cause any problems, but finding unscented toiletries varies from impossible to difficult. And also it has led to me probably glaring at strangers in public who have obviously been bathing in perfume.

I know people take stuff like Claritin daily if they're allergic to dust or pollen or w/e and I know people take some other something if they're, say, allergic to cats and coming to our place for a party. But is there an OTC medication you can take *after* your allergic reaction? Because I can't see taking preventive measures for such an unpredicatable and infrequent occurrence.

Comments

[retrofit]

There are some other old-skool antihistamines that are very effective very quickly, like Benadryl (diphenhydramine hydrochloride, b/c brand names sometimes not so helpful internationally), but that cause less sleepiness, for some people.

Like some of the others here, I take Claritin (loratidine) daily for pollen allergies. It doesn't work well as quick-relief for me - many of the newer allergy meds are metabolized a little more slowly. The other problem is that it's a take-one-every-24-hours med, but it's only effective for about 13 hours, for me.

Benadryl works as a supplement, but knocks me out, and that effect lasts for a good 6-10 hours. So lately I've gone back to an antihistamine that was popular in the 1970s & 80s - chlorpheniramine maleate (Chlor-Trimeton is US brand name). Only good for 4 hours, but -damned- effective for me, very good quick-relief, and much less sleepy than Benadryl.

[cimorene]

Are these prescriptions or OTCs? I mean I definitely am planning to see a doctor now anyway, but I gather there is a lot of OTC allergy medication out there. I still am not exactly sure if they have Benadryl in Finland, but there's bound to be something similar at least.

[retrofit]

These are all OTCs in the US.

The chemical formulation marketed as Benadryl (diphenhydramine hydrochloride) is one of the most effective, most old-skool antihistamines, with very few side-effects beyond the sleepiness, but man is that a whammy. So much so that a lot of OTC sleep aids include it, and doctors sometimes recommend it (in -small- quantities) as a temporary sleep aid for kids. I can't imagine it wouldn't be available in Finland.

I don't know if chlorpheniramine maleate would be available in Finland, it's not all that popular here, though most drug stores stock it. It's also pretty old school, though the chemical family is pretty different from benadryl. For me, one of the bonuses is that it has some mild documented anti-anxiety effects - it's chemically related to SSRIs, but has years of data on safety because of its use as an antihistamine, and seems to have pretty much standard-for-antihistamines minor side effects. It's not marketed for the SSRI effects, though, because since it's already out of patent, the research needed to get it approved for that use in the US wouldn't be profitable for a drug company.

Sorry, I kind of nerd out about this stuff. My allergies are bad enough that I have to take stuff often enough that I want to know as much about my options as possible. And also I am an intellectual property wonk.

It may be there are some other options available OTC in Finland - I know there's sometimes really effective drugs that never get marketed in the US because approval is so weird. (And vice versa, apparently.)

[morningfine]

They sort of do--the Benadryl they sell here is acrivastine which has the benefit of not knocking you out but may or may not be as effective otherwise. I've had good luck with ebastine, but I'm at worst mildly allergic to some animals so no idea how well it does for more severe reactions.

[cimorene]

Oh, that might be too bad, from some of the things other people have said about the drowsy kind being effective with minimal side-effects aside from sleep. (Plus when I do have cold-related congestion, the problem is usually biggest at nighttime when I can't take pseudoephedrine anyway.)