Chicken Flu

I guarantee what you have is not the flu. I am sure it’s more likely bad congestion, or a secondary infection, from the rhinitis itself. You need to go to the doctor and discuss other options to treat your allergies. The flu is a virus, you don’t catch it from having allergies.

If you are still not getting full relief from your current medications, especially if they are prescription, speak with your doctor and see if he can change your therapy. If you are taking an over the counter nasal spray, stop immediately. Those products should not be used more than 3 days at a time because they can actually make congestion worse if taken for longer periods of time.

Different prescription nasal sprays have different effectiveness, and if you have severe seasonal or perennial rhinitis, you would probably respond best to a steroid nasal spray (don’t worry, the effects are mostly localized to the nose, and very little gets absorbed into your bloodstream). Which one to use would depend on your particular symptoms. If this is your current therapy, there are other alternatives. The next step would probably be allergy shots. A good friend of mine has severe allergies and is in agony if she misses out on her shots.

In any case, your doctor needs to be informed and your therapy adjusted.