Seasonal allergies and running outside

ophiure
ophiure Posts: 18 Member
edited November 2024 in Fitness and Exercise
How do you deal with seasonal allergies and running?

When I was in high school (5 years ago), I lived in the country and had allergies. I took some over-the-counter medication everyday during the spring, and it seemed to work. Then I moved to a city for five years and didn't have a single symptom. Now that I'm back in the country, it seems as though my allergies are back with a vengeance, causing me to have a massive headache, a runny nose and a perpetual need to sneeze. I really want to get back into running, and after three days of going outside, I'm so ridiculously foggy. I just got some antihistamines today, but I was just wondering what other people do to alleviate it and if there's anything more I can do/try.

Replies

  • Katiebear_81
    Katiebear_81 Posts: 719 Member
    Using a neti pot type thing can help get things moving if you're congested (vs. just being inflamed... can you move the mucus around? If yes, use a neti pot). I've also used the nasal spray once a day for the first couple of days to get give the antihistamine time to really start working.

    Running always seems like an incredible chore to me when I'm congested, so I tend to avoid it. I usually rest a couple of days, and then get back to it once the medication is working better.
  • ophiure
    ophiure Posts: 18 Member
    Katiebear_81 wrote: »
    Using a neti pot type thing can help get things moving if you're congested (vs. just being inflamed... can you move the mucus around? If yes, use a neti pot). I've also used the nasal spray once a day for the first couple of days to get give the antihistamine time to really start working.

    Running always seems like an incredible chore to me when I'm congested, so I tend to avoid it. I usually rest a couple of days, and then get back to it once the medication is working better.

    Thanks for the suggestion! If it turns into congestion I'll definitely consider this.

    Part of me wants to just keep running through it because I'm afraid that if I stop for a couple of days I'll just end up giving up entirely. It's nice to have some outside validation that waiting for the medication to work is okay. I am only trying to run three times a week (nothing too intense!), so I won't be going out again until Monday next week. That'll give me a few days to wait for the medication to kick in.
  • tdatsenko
    tdatsenko Posts: 155 Member
    I don't run, but I bike so this still might apply to you since I have really bad allergies too.

    This is gonna sound gross, but I found that after the first 10-20 min of cardio my nose will open up and start running even more, this is the point where you'll want to stop, but if I just push through it and ignore the snot running down my face(I pretend its sweat) I find that after 30-40 minutes it clears up and stays clear for at least a couple of hours if not the rest of the day.
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