just having goo in my tiny little sinuses is enough to turn me into a raging bitch or a whimpering puddle on the couch.

Hope you feel better though.

Have you tried nasal irrigation? (I know, such a personal question.. *LOL*)  It REALLY works for me.  I been doing it for almost 2 - 3 years now and I literally take about 1/3 of the allergy meds I used to have to take just to make it through every day.  I still have some bad days, but I had more of them just taking the prescriptions.

basically, nasal irrigation refers to using saline solution (hopefully isotonic with the body) to gently wash out debris from your sinus cavities.  If you've ever been underwater and wound up having water pour out of your nose, this is that kind of feeling.  Somewhat gross the first few times you do it; you get to see all the goo that was causing you so much pain inside your head.  It really helps me out when the humidity drops to nothing around here.  You'll need a sink and some saline solution, and probably some Kleenex to blow your nose afterwards.

You can go to almost any pharmacy / grocery store and find various saline sprays.  There are name brands as well as store brands.  Most of them have preservatives in them to extend shelf life, and the preservatives REALLY bother my sinuses, so I tend to either make my own or buy the stuff with no additives.  There is one national brand called Simply Saline.  A 3 ounce can costs about 13 bucks I believe (haven't bought one in awhile).  It's completely sterile (tissue culture grade sterile) and preservative free.

I have also made my own; Simply Saline has only been on the market in my area for the past year or so.  If you're interested in making your own I can dig up the recipe I used.  There is another brand that I highly recommend if you're considering giving this a real try.  It's produced by a doctor (Dr. Grossan) who basically created his own sinus irrigation machine (which I bought last year and LOVE).  It's called Breathe Ease and is isotonic to body fluids; the recipe I made prior contains water, salt, and baking soda and is not isotonic.  (It's the difference between snorting tap water instead of salt water; fresh water burns like a MF'r; the saline versions are MUCH more gentle to your tissues.)  I've only been able to find it via Amazon.com; but I buy it in bulk, so it's not that expensive and lasts forever.

I had never even thought about this until a new-agey friend of mine told me that her grandfather used to do this everyday most of his life and never had to use allergy meds.  I did some research online; and found out that there's not a whole lot involved in this process.  I tried it using the spray / squirt bottles the storebought stuff comes in until I finally decided to bust out the big guns and buy Grossan's machine (looks like a Waterpik with a special nasal attachment).  I haven't looked back since.

I've had really bad problems with sinus infections and nasal congestion since I was a teenager.  When I lived in TX, I was on Allegra-D almost year round.  Up here in Oregon, I get congested in the Spring and Fall; with some problems in the late summer & late winter because of lack of humidity.  I do the nasal irrigation 1 -2 times a day (if necessary) in the Spring & Fall, and do not have any problems that require meds year round.  It's not addictive like meds are, and you could basically do it all day long if you had to.

I first started doing it when I was doing field work for Fish & Wildlife (2004) ; I was basically inhaling entire plants and small bugs and was having crippling sinus pain.  That's when I seriously decided to try it (just to get all the gunk out of my head from surveying).  I still get my prescription filled for Allegra-D once a year (instead of monthly) , but I haven't finished out a Rx for that in 2 years.  I've only had to take it a few times when I thought I was flirting with a sinus infection that requires antibiotics to get rid of it.

You can do some searching of your own if you want.  Try seaching nasal irrigation, Neti-pot, etc.

If you have any other questions, don't hesitate to ask.  I wish I had known about this sooner personally.