Treating your allergies

If you feel like your allergies are getting worse, or never had them before, you're not alone.  The climate has been changing and the allergy season is getting longer and longer.  Remember when "Spring" started in April or May, and not in January or February?  Remember when there was often skiing on Mothers' Day weekend? (Remember when there was skiing?)  This area has always had a lot of irritants in the air from wind-pollinated trees and grasses and also smog from down the hill; but the weather warming so much earlier sure isn't helping!

All the once-a-day anti-histamines for allergy are over-the-counter. As a rule of thumb, the better a pill works for allergies, the more potential there is for the pill to make you feel drowsy.  Zyrtec is the strongest, and Allegra is the weakest.  Claritin is a good "work-horse" anti-histamine; strong enough to work for most people, but usually doesn't cause drowsiness.  These can be used every day, or just as needed.

Flonase went over-the-counter about 4-5 weeks ago, and this is great news.  It is easy to use, doesn't irritate your nose when you use it and the amount of medication getting into your circulation is so low it doesn't cause long-term side-effects.  Most people with allergies find that it works better than pills, though you can use both if this works better for you.  Flonase is not "addictive", does not elevate blood pressure and should not be confused with decongestant sprays like Afrin or Neo-Synephrine.

The only difference between Flonase and anti-histamine pills is that Flonase has to be taken every day during the allergy season to work.  However, if this makes the allergy season manageable for you this is not a problem!

Allergies: what are they FOR?

I have wondered what on earth allergies are for: can there be some underlying benefit?

This essay in Mosaic Science proposes a new theory (it's your bodies way of getting rid of toxic or noxious substances) in comparison to the prevailing theory (it originates in the way your body fights off infectious parasites such as ticks and worms).

I'm not sure I totally agree with the new theory, though I think it raises some good ideas.  Frankly, I was never wholly convinced by the prevailing theory anyway...