Hi Barbara,
Do you sleep with a soft cervical collar? I experimented with Dr. Diana’s suggestion to sleep with a soft cervical collar and it helps me a lot. I wake up much less groggy when I am consistently using it during sleep. I think it helps keep my neck in an optimal position for the best drainage and blood flow. Try sleeping with one for a week and without for a week to see if it makes a difference for you too.
I didn’t get sleepy or headaches from Zyrtec. It helped me a little but I’ve found Atarax (hydroxyzine) works much better for me than Zyrtec. My son hasn’t tried Atarax yet but he prefers Claritin over Zyrtec. I was taking Zyrtec AND Claritin before trying the Atarax. I had a lot of neurological/ear symptoms which have improved greatly on Atarax. Research Dr. Theoharides’ work on mast cells. He recommends hydroxyzine over Zyrtec because it crosses the BBB to stabilize mast cells in the brain. My doctor agreed to let me experiment with dosages of it. I found it made me extremely sleepy and in the beginning I could only take 1/2 a pill at night. I’ve worked up to taking 1 (25mg) pill at night and 1/2 pill in the morning but in the beginning I was only taking small pieces of a pill. Wow! It feels like someone went in and cleaned and organized my brain. My memory, attention, and cognitive functioning is VASTLY improved on the Atarax. It works better for me than either concerta or adderall ever did and I’ve been able to quit taking any ADHD meds. I am stunned at the difference in my cognitive functioning. I also use NasalCrom every morning and evening. It helps me breathe better through my nose so I think it helps me get more oxygen when I’m sleeping. It has cut down on the number of sinus infections/ pnuemonias I was getting. If I feel like my nose is running or stuffy like I might be getting sick, I up my dosing to 4 times a day and it really seems to help keep me dried out so infections don’t have that warm mucus environment which helps them breed. So those are my top two drugs… Atarax and NasalCrom. Others swear by Gastrocrom, beta blockers, midodrine…. gosh, we are all so different! I’m glad it sounds like your GP is listening. Keep trying things (with your docs permission of course) until you find what works best for you!
My best, SweetFeather