Allergies/Pollen

The entire city of Rome is sneezing right now and we have been for weeks. Pollen is terrible this year. If you tend to do more than sneeze, bring your favorite anti-histamine!

I'm not allergic to anything in California but I sneeze constantly when I travel to Florence in May. Not sure which plant bothers me, I didn't have that problem in youth when I lived in Florence but I guess I have developed an allergy to some plant(s) in Tuscany later in life.

I don't suffer from environmental allergies, but about 30 years ago I spent the night in Zadar (now Croatia, then Yugoslavia). Within 10 minutes of getting off the bus I started to sniffle and sneeze. I continued to do so until I left town the next morning. I have never experienced anything like that in my (not short) life. Still don't know whether it was a plant or some sort of industrial thing in the air (though I didn't smell anything unusual).

So absolutely take any medication you use at home.

I'm sure you're already planning on bringing all your meds...I travel with a pharmacy for my allergies. Zyrtec is available there if you need it, the Flonase nasal inhaler was last time I checked. But what I couldn't find ANYWHERE was Benadryl - name brand or generic. It's nowhere to be found somehow. A pharmacist in Venice told me it's not available in Italy.

It's terrible right now in Milan. Be sure to bring your medicines. You see the pollen fly and it gets in your eyes, nose, mouth. Hopefully it will get better soon, but for now, it's bad.

We used to go to Italy or Paris in May each year and I well remember arriving in Rome and spending the afternoon of jet lag at Villa Adriana near Tivoli. I don't know what it was in the air but very quickly my eyes swelled up and my sinuses went nuts. I have seasonal allergies but on the moderate side; usually with flonase and claritin I am sort of under control more or less; not that day in May in Italy. There is something out in May that is pretty vicious.

I would recommend having the strongest antihistimine that works for you, definitely using a steroid nasal spray like flonase starting a few days before the trip and having some sort of eye drops. Alrex really works for me but my insurance no longer covers it and I can't afford it without coverage. It is the one thing that really works for me with serious eye allergies. Now I carry OTC antihistimine eye drops as well as artificial tears and cope with that.

Returned a few weeks ago from Italy (mid-April.)
I suffer from seasonal allergies. Bring your allergy meds. If May is anything like mid-April, you will need them. Better to be on the safe side!

Once again this travel forum has proven to be invaluable! I'm leaving in 3 weeks for Italy and had planned to leave my allergy medication at home in California.....just added it to my packing list! Thanks!

Echoing Valerie here. You cannot buy Benadryl or its OTC equivalent anywhere in Italy, even with a prescription. Flat out not possible. So if you rely on Benadryl, be sure to take PLENTY with you. I have hay fever and May in Italy can just be horrible without the right meds. (Also, take along extra Nasacort. It's great.)

Thank you all so much for your replies! Your comments are a massive help so I am now well stocked for my trip!

Hi lcmelros
I'm in Italy now and allergies are bad here. Bring your meds. We brought Zyrtec and it didn't work for us.
We went to the local Farmica and they gave us Cetirizina Sandoz 10mg. it worked great!

If you have a netty pot bring it. It will help too.

Judi

cetirizine is the active ingredient in Zyrtec