Er, yes. Allegra. 
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Zyrtec has the least drowsiness side effect as far as I know but works about the same as Allegra.
Basically any antihistamine works much much better if you take it a few hours before your highest exposure to the allergen, or take it consistently (daily) so that it’s circulating in your bloodstream when you’re exposed. A lot of people think Benadryl is “faster” but it’s more that the effect is broader (hence the increased drowsiness).
Taking Allegra on top of Benadryl can exacerbate drowsiness but shouldn’t be dangerous as far as I know.
Xyzal (I’m not sure that’s the right spelling) is a newer antihistamine that does get into the bloodstream a little faster than Allegra/Claritin/Zyrtec so that might be one to try if you really only want to take it after you’ve already been exposed/have an allergic response going - it’s a little more spendy but I keep some on hand for my son’s GF because she’s allergic to Cat and always forgets to take something before they get here. It works well for her without drowsiness.
I totally still keep Benadryl on hand for when I break out in hives though - even though I take multiple other antihistamines daily. For me it just works for some allergy reactions where others don’t work as well!
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Thank you thank you!
(I’m taking Allegra daily now (uh, when I don’t forget) and I think it has helped overall, it’s just that today seems particularly bad. Maybe also because I am kicking up dust and I am also allergic to mold spores and dust mites and stuff, so it’s probably a combination of things.)
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Let’s also take a moment to thank steroid nasal sprays too. I cant use them this year, but they are unparalleled for snot
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OH yeah!! I use those too haha - seconded!
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This looks very good, thank you!
I have broken both my wrists and gotten surgery, and have plates in both wrists. Oldest break is 8 years ago, youngest is 1 year.
I have done all the standard PT for range of motion and have gotten back to baseline but I would like to be able to bear body weight in a push up or handstand position eventually. However, PT progressions don’t really cover this and most yoga inversion or push-up series assume your issue is shoulder/arm/core strength not an ability to lean on ones wrists. I am plenty strong in all other departments (I can do 50+ push-ups on my knuckles with a straight wrist, my hands give up before my arms do.)
How the fuck do I find a PT person or a series that supports this? My insurance assigned me to someone I saw once who did not do anything beyond the usual ROM exercises. Should I find a sports therapist?
Other confounding factor: I do have RA that affects my wrists but it is less of a factor (I think.) but it might be nice to find someone who knows wtf they are talking about.
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I have damaged wrists (carpal tunnel) and have honestly just given up on that type of exercise especially given my size. I recently started trying to add planks in to my core exercise routine, but I do them on my elbows/forearms, no way I could do on my hands without severe pain.
Maybe a hand surgery center might have a recommendation, or sports medicine.
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Calling in @Ckni27 and @Bracken_Joy and @mountainmustache29 and @AllHat
I’ve only ever done basic PT as a person with boring average issues, so I have zero advice. Would totally love to learn about exercises, though, because I also have not-great hand and wrist joints (for different, overly-stretchy-hand-ligament reasons). I went to a hand therapist once, which is how I know about the overly stretchy ligaments, but the second appointment was with someone else who treated me like I have carpal tunnel (which I don’t).
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@anomalily IME a sports medicine person, especially one who works with pro athletes, will be the best bet for this type of “optional” (that’s the word I’ve heard them use) functionality.
That said…gah I’m nervous writing anything about any of this here…I feel that through no fault of their own but due only to where medical science is now that PT is quite limited in general and mostly trial and error. I’ve seen so many PTs in different specialties and I have to say I do get repeat exercises from most of them, and the exercises tend to be very very basic, and they tend to not really know how to adapt stuff…I usually have to do it myself. It’s rare at this point for me to be recommended anything I’ve never heard of.
So, long story short, I’d find a sports medicine person to give it a try but go in with low expectations. If you can, find other people with the surgeries you’ve had, IME that’s where the real usable advice is because they’re actually living in a body like yours.
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- your expectations may not be reasonable, step one is finding someone who can tell you what’s reasonable
- OTs do more detailed wrist and hand work than your typical PT
- there is a designation of hand therapist that an OT I know uses/earned
- that dude lives far from you, voted for trump and thinks I’m super left wing, so I’d love to see him in a room with you
- in Canada, athletic therapists aren’t specialized enough. And sports PTs aren’t specific to your needs. You really need someone who does a lot of work with people using their hands and wrists - maybe working with racket sports, gymnasts or visual artists
- these people won’t magically be close to you or take your insurance…and at the heart of the issue is that you need some nerd with the time and interest to work from existing information about location of the breaks and plates and then figuring out where there is soft tissue I jury, to figure out how to get you closest to goals, and which dreams to crush
The kind of person who can do that for free is a student
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OMG for a little while (Before ACA passed and I had health insurance) I was 90% sure I had RA (since my mom and her mom both had it) but a free clinic doctor said it was carpal tunnel and I was given carpal tunnel braces to sleep in - and I woke up in the most excruciating wrist pain of my life because carpal tunnel needs immobilization and RA needs movement (also RA is worst in the morning usually).
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And Elle makes a good point about OTs, I use “PT” to describe anyone in that whole sphere but it’s not really accurate.
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I knew this is the place to ask! I’ve gotten a lot of ideas to go from.
This is all coming from me wanting to do this move again eventually:
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Random comment - watching all theses older movies I find it hilarious the little tiny personal pocket phone books people used - whipping them out to call their person for whatever.
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My mom still has a little pocket address book.
I agree with most of what @AllHat said re: PT (and OT) being pretty limited and trial and error. Out of 10 PTs that I have seen in the past 2 years, 1 or 2 have made a significant difference (but not a permanent, lasting difference) in my pain levels. Many have given me exercises/manual therapy that has led to more pain/flare ups. I have not found permanent solutions from any exercises or PT manual work, etc. If I had a dollar for every time a PT or sports med specialist asked me if I stretched my hamstrings… well…then I could pay off my medical bills from seeing them 
I have found the most useful advice/recommendations to come from other athletes that I know who have dealt with similar issues. Like I found out about a guy here in Tucson who doesn’t have a website so there is no way I would have found his info on my own…I had to ask around the cycling community. Also generally the really best people (IME) do not take insurance, and this is so they can work without the 15-30 min appointment time restraints, and try a variety of modalities, etc. There is someone I want to see here who I really feel like could offer some useful help for my issues (based on recommendations I’ve gotten), but he is $120 an hour and I am going to hold off on that until I am 100% I will have a job for a while.
ETA: I should also note that every single PT I have seen I have done extensive research on (after verifying that my insurance will cover their visits) and I have never just gone to whatever PT that my insurance assigns me. And I still have not had much success, even after hand picking them, having free phone consultations first, etc. When your PT needs are unique it can be super difficult to find that one person who understands fully and has the right tools to make a difference.
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+1
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@anomalily I am NOT at all at all at all a person to give appropriate advice for someone else’s body but just had a random thought -
What about training planks/pushups on your fists? Keep the wrist straight?
I have to do this currently because of my bicep tendon injury - bending the wrist is just enough stretch compared to keeping it straight I then can’t actually bend my elbow or the whole arm just fails.
You could probably even train that lift with your wrists straight depending on how willing your partner would be to adjust their hand position as well.
This is totally just talking out my booty so disregard if it doesn’t make sense!
ETA anyone who’s heard me babble about my injury knows that my best rehab results have been instruction from a 20-something former professional dancer who likes anatomy, not any of the physicians or movement therapists 
Sometimes it’s random, finding the one person that can see how YOUR body works best 
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I went through over a month in the hospital with debilitating pain, fevers and joint swelling without a diagnosis because I don’t have the stupid RH factor in my blood so my doctor refused to believe it was RA.
Best advice I ever got for PT like stuff was a yoga teacher at the once a week free class my job used to have. She was awesome at helping me find modifications.
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