Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Sinus madness

Well, the kind doctor sent me off today with a bag full o' goodies and prescription slips of all sorts. She says I could take Claritin-D until the cows come home, but suggested as an experiment that I try out the following:

  • Flonase (fluticasone propionate) - an intranasal corticosteroid (damn, there goes my eligibility). The manufacturer notes that "as with many medications, exactly how FLONASE works isn’t entirely understood."
  • Clarinex (desloratadine, which explains why Rite-Aid's generic OTC is called Lorata) - a prescription antihistamine brought to you by the makers of Claritin.
  • Clarinex-D (pseudoephedrine sulfate and desloratadine) - a prescription antihistamine and decongestant brought to you by, well, I think you probably know where it comes from.
Besides sack-o-pharm, she also prescribed massage therapy (hooray!) for the left-arm-and-shoulder ailments detailed here and elsewhere.

On the swimming front, I eased off a little Tuesday and swam an easy 2,400 with time to spare at the end. As a salve for my left arm, I simply went a little slower and shortened my stroke. No big deal, though I felt resistance anytime I foolishly sped up, lengthened my stroke or overlooked some other minor detail.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

My guess is that the corticosteroids weaken your immune system so that it doesn't respond as strongly to the allergens (pool chemicals). Corticosteroids are prescribed for all sorts of autoimmune conditions, by the way. I'm sure you knew that already.

Alasdair said...

Indeed. I'm afraid all these remedies except for the straight antihistamine are likely to have some kind of significant downside. The good doctor suggested my elevated blood pressure and resting pulse might be down, in part, to the use of decongestants, which are of course uppers.

All the other stats are in good shape, healthwise... and when I was an intercollegiate athlete (a thousand years ago), my BP was much lower (hell, just a few years ago it was 116/60-something) and my pulse was in the low 60s. Thus I think she might be right.

So I guess I'll rob Peter and pay Paul.

Anonymous said...

I guess I am lucky then, never having been an intercollegiate athlete, to have a BP of 100/50 and a resting heart rate of 60. I also have WHR of .70 :=) actually, I think it is more like .68 but who cares as long as you look and feel 'fit.' I am very proud of you for achieving what you have in the last year.