26th August 2004
Acid reflux is when you have a build up of acid in your stomach and it comes back up your esophegus. (I know, I spelled that incorrectly.) Post nasal drip from allergies can cause this to happen. The acid can tear apart your esoph. so it is important to take one of the better meds to treat reflux.
Medrol is an anti-inflammatory. One normally takes these in short tapers - meaning 6-7 days in decreasing doses. That is because that, since they are oral steroids, you need to taper the dose to give your adrenal glands the opportunity to keep producing cortisol. I don't have time to explain that further except to say that tapering is important in order to avoid a lot of side effects. Flonase is also a steroidal anti-inflammatory but since it is inhaled it is very safe and can be taken over the long term. Allergies cause inflammation of the sinus passages, so anti-inflammatory drugs are very important.
Allegra-D has sudafed in it. A lot of folks find that sudafed keeps them up at night, so a lot of docs prescribe a 12 hour dose in the am with the -D, and a 12 hour dose at night without the decongestent.
It sounds like you have mild to moderate allergy symptoms. The medicines should help you a lot. If they don't, then you need to consider testing for allergy shots. It might be a good idea to get the tests anyway, in order to help identify specific allergens in order to avoid them as much as possible.
That said, there are a lot of allergic folks who take 5 or more meds daily in addition to allergy shots just to stay out of the hospital, much less feel better. It sounds like you are getting appropriate care from what you have described. I hope it works well for you.
Medrol is an anti-inflammatory. One normally takes these in short tapers - meaning 6-7 days in decreasing doses. That is because that, since they are oral steroids, you need to taper the dose to give your adrenal glands the opportunity to keep producing cortisol. I don't have time to explain that further except to say that tapering is important in order to avoid a lot of side effects. Flonase is also a steroidal anti-inflammatory but since it is inhaled it is very safe and can be taken over the long term. Allergies cause inflammation of the sinus passages, so anti-inflammatory drugs are very important.
Allegra-D has sudafed in it. A lot of folks find that sudafed keeps them up at night, so a lot of docs prescribe a 12 hour dose in the am with the -D, and a 12 hour dose at night without the decongestent.
It sounds like you have mild to moderate allergy symptoms. The medicines should help you a lot. If they don't, then you need to consider testing for allergy shots. It might be a good idea to get the tests anyway, in order to help identify specific allergens in order to avoid them as much as possible.
That said, there are a lot of allergic folks who take 5 or more meds daily in addition to allergy shots just to stay out of the hospital, much less feel better. It sounds like you are getting appropriate care from what you have described. I hope it works well for you.