Sunday, February 12, 2012

...AND allergy complications likely....

Taking stock some MORE....

I needed to use my neti-pot again this morning.

By the time i finished that week-and-a-half visit to TX, i was suffering from the familiar old allergies.  Predictable:  when i lived on the gulf coast, i developed a sensitivity to oak pollen (and always DID have a sensitivity to mold), and Houston in the winter is mild and damp.  I also suspected off-gassing by the new mattress in the guest room.  Driving home, i had the familiar itchy nose which loratadine completely fails to counteract (diphenhydramine is better, but makes me sleepier).  I expected that proper wintertime weather in the midwest would make it better, and it is -- some -- but not good enough.

The tricky bit with allergies is that they're cumulative.  A touch of Bradford-pear-tree pollen in the air won't set me off, but the pollen plus a handful of cashews, plus a lot of time spent in the basement, and i'm running for the Benedryl.  There are endless combinations of irritants.

Allergic symptoms can be extremely diverse, as i learned when i read Dr. Atkins' book so many years ago, AND they interfere with weight-loss.  The fatigue i'm feeling today could definitely be connected with atmospheric and food allergies.  I had macadamias and quite a bit of tomato yesterday, and eggs, a little almond flour, grapefruit and lime today -- all strong suspects in the world of food intolerance (and i'm going to be having shellfish for dinner...).

Yeah -- histamine load.  I should have spotted it before.  I'll start concentrating on eating more fresh meats and vegetables, and fewer histadine-containing things.  :-D  Just writing things down, here, clarifies so much for me!

3 comments:

  1. Ah, yes! I have to watch this with my son, too - he gets hay fever and has food issues and one makes the other worse. Sorry you struggle with this, too!

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    1. typo! :-) i had to copy the whole thing, delete, and now i'm re-posting....

      i think a lot of people have food sensitivities and atmospheric allergen issues but they're unaware of them. if they don't have acute problems, they're inclined to write off associated discomforts as "aging" or "ADD" or "rheumatism" or something.... it's when one first looks at the historical big picture of foodways and disease, then has the blessing of the internet and all the intelligent people who write on it, to make research easy, that all the little clues come together.

      our modern world is poisoning us slowly, and we are so mentally overloaded we take for granted that much is "safe" because some authority is telling us it is. we don't want to add to our stress-load (and financial burdens) by avoiding foods and manufactured goods which are inexpensive and ubiquitous, and which the world perceives as harmless. humans ARE pack animals, and part of our daily reward structure includes societal activities that include conforming.

      it's true that bromides and fluoride, "bad plastics" and xenoestrogens and unnatural proteins won't kill us overnight. they do, however, erode our health in the long run. our quality of life is disturbed from early childhood. do you recall how FEW children had learning problems and severe illnesses when we were young? how much less dementia there was among the old? at this point, our society can't back off from it all abruptly -- just imagine the litigation! it has to be quietly put into the background and inched-away-from a little at a time.

      it's the manufacturers and megafarmers and petrochemical and pharmaceutical companies who think they can still swill at the big trough, for whom there's a special place in hell -- they KNOW they're doing harm, and won't discontinue their practices....

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