Allergies and flying...

What if your medication seemed to work until you
were alone in the plane at 3,000 ft, and
then your eyes suddenly swelled shut again?

A couple of comments:

1. Okay, so I may have exaggerated a bit. My eyes were extremely swollen,
and I looked like the Devil incarnate -- but I could still see out of them.

2. In my experience, my allergies completely go away above pattern altitude.
Not much pollen up there, I guess.

Thanks for the suggestions.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

In article v6Jsc.114175$xw3.6706572@attbi_s04,
"Jay Honeck" wrote:


1. Okay, so I may have exaggerated a bit. My eyes were extremely swollen,
and I looked like the Devil incarnate -- but I could still see out of them.


Give Loratadine a shot (brand name is Claritin, but it's available
cheaper as a generic). I was on Allegra for years, switch to Loratadine
when it went OTC. It seems to work a bit better for me.

2. In my experience, my allergies completely go away above pattern altitude.
Not much pollen up there, I guess.

My experience is the same as yours. When my allergies are really bad I
go flying.

Pixel Dent wrote:

In article v6Jsc.114175$xw3.6706572@attbi_s04,
"Jay Honeck" wrote:


1. Okay, so I may have exaggerated a bit. My eyes were extremely swollen,
and I looked like the Devil incarnate -- but I could still see out of them.


Give Loratadine a shot (brand name is Claritin, but it's available
cheaper as a generic). I was on Allegra for years, switch to Loratadine
when it went OTC. It seems to work a bit better for me.

2. In my experience, my allergies completely go away above pattern altitude.
Not much pollen up there, I guess.

My experience is the same as yours. When my allergies are really bad I
go flying.

I'll second that advice. I was using Zyrtec (sp?), until my last 3rd
class medical, when I was told that it's not approved. So I started the
loratadine (the OTC I use is called Alavert) and it actually works
better than the Zyrtec.

DanH