Here's my allergy story.

I found out that after 7 years of supposed allergies I only have chronic sinusitis. The only time I have a stuffy nose now is during a sinus infection. I got a steroid shot in my turbinates for the first time in December. It's still working so if I can hold out 6 months between shots I won't get surgery to reduce the size of my turbinates and fix my septum.

I still get sinus infections about once a month, so to fight the sinus infections on days I'm congested I drink hot tea with lemon and hot apple cider (has a ton of vitamin C added). Surprisingly this really dries out my sinuses. I then flush my nostrils with saline (there's Ocean brand and knockoffs - I wouldn't go the homemade route here. Amoebas eating your brain isn't cool.) After that I use Flonase once a day and a few hours later I perform the first of my twice a day Patanase sprays, again after saline if my nose isn't clear. With this method of handling my sinuses I don't take sudafed at all (causes hypertension.) I rarely take chlortrimeton (will raise BP -only when I get a histamine release - I can tell). I don't use inhalers at all. And I take Afrin(will raise BP) only when I wake up in horrible shape and I just use it to give my nasal sprays a chance to work. I never take it more than once a day or more than once a month on this new regimen.

I'd suggest you get with a good allergist or ENT doc if you can. I've gone through a bunch of allergists and my ENT doc was actually much better at figuring out what was going on and keeping me well informed. I showed positive for almost every allergen they skin tested me with but right now in Spring if I am not having a sinus infection I have absolutely zero problems. I was having sinus infections for months at a time. They were so bad I'd get dizzy from the inner ear pressure changes. It's really freaky hearing and feeling the pressure shift in your sinuses throughout your head. I was taking a lot of antiinflammatory herbs (Quercetin and Stinging Nettle Leaf) and meds whih helped the sinus infection persist. Now that I go hard on vitamin C when an infection occurs it doesn't last more than a few days. There a few things that may be the source of my sinusitis, including a deviated septum and there is no guaranteed way to make it go away.

**I also thought I was having heart problems off and on for 6 years but my cardiac stress tests and EKGs were always clean. Turns out sudafed gives me heart palpitations. It was one of the only meds I could take reliably to stop my symptoms and it doesn't always present the heart issues so it wasn't apparent until I stopped taking it altogether. —-I only take Afrin rarely so as to not build up a dependence on it.

I've spent thousands of dollars on allergy stuff like prescription meds, herbal remedies, mattress covers, steam cleaners, high powered vacs, air purifiers, ac filters, laundry detergents, cleaning supplies and even a sanitizing washer and dryer set. Turns out all I need now are 2 scripts that cost me $10 a month, if that since I don't use them daily. I wouldn't give up my Dyson DC28, GE washer/dryer with steam/sanitizing or steam cleaner but damn I wish it didn't take so long to find out it was chronic sinusitis.

Hope some of this can help somebody else.