The People's Perspective on MedicineArticles categorized as Allergies
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The People's Perspective on Medicine© 2026 The People's Pharmacy
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The People's Perspective on MedicineLoading articles..
The People's Perspective on Medicine© 2026 The People's Pharmacy
All Rights Reserved
Antihistamines can calm allergic reactions. But when some people stop cetirizine or levocetirizine, they may experience unbearable itching!
One reader found that dropping dairy products eliminated sinus woes. You might try a SONU headband for sound instead of steroids.
A simple saline solution can rinse out nasal passages and ease nasal congestion from allergies or sinusitis. Oregano oil or xylitol may help.
Are you sneezing, sniffling and congested? Are allergies making you miserable? What About nighttime stuffiness? NasalCrom is an option.
Your pillow, much as you love it, could be harboring dust mites that can cause allergy and asthma. Do you need to replace it?
The flavonoids quercetin and luteolin can dampen mast cell response to allergic triggers and ease symptoms from spring allergies.
Seasonal allergies are bad enough, but year-round allergies can make life miserable. Do you wake up with a stuffy nose? We've got solutions!
Genuine preventive care demands deep personal engagement. It's much easier to focus on biochemistry and pharmacology.
How did green chile salsa open sinuses to overcome an Afrin addiction. Others use steroid nasal sprays or saline to beat the dependency.
When you cannot breathe through your nose it can be hard to sleep well. Nighttime nasal congestion is tricky to treat. What helps?
Plants make some compounds to defend themselves that can be helpful for people, too. Should you be taking the flavonol quercetin for your allergies?
Corticosteroids are prescribed to millions of people. Many may not be informed about side effects or strategies for prednisone withdrawal.
Be careful what you choose to treat cuts and scrapes if you wish to avoid suffering a Neosporin reaction. Petroleum jelly might be better.
SONU uses personalized acoustic resonance (sound) to clear congestion from nasal passages and sinuses. No drugs!
Singulair is sold an allergy and asthma drug under the name montelukast. The FDA issued a montelukast warning about serious side effects.
Mosquito bites that last much longer than usual are caused by a allergic reaction to the bite. This condition is dubbed skeeter syndrome.
Most people think corticosteroid side effects occur only after long-term treatment. Short-term therapy can also pose a problem for some.
An easy-to-use headband offers customized sound therapy that can help an insomniac sleep easier with no side effects!
Should you use antihistamines, steroid sprays or more natural approaches for spring allergy symptoms?
Thanks to readers of The People's Pharmacy, FDA will require a warning re: Xyzal and Zyrtec antihistamine withdrawal itching. What's missing?
FDA acknowledges that antihistamines like cetirizine (Zyrtec) and levocetirizine (Xyzal) can cause withdrawal itching when stopped.
Will the FDA really require food and drug manufacturers to remove Red Dye No. 3 from their products? Is it a real Red Alert or a false alarm?
If you report drug side effects to the FDA will there be anyone there to hear you? Is the FDA's watchdog role being undermined by staff cuts?
Is your medicines delivered? Many insurance companies require people to get their drugs through the mail. What about cold weather shipping?
Promise or peril? The unpredictability of medications makes some folks extremely ill while others never experience any problems. Why is that?
Two experts discuss conventional and complementary approaches to alleviating the suffering due to year-round allergies.
Air filters and saline nasal washes can help reduce allergy symptoms. So can vitamin D, quercetin or plant-derived cromolyn.
in our discussion, Dr. Alan Greene offers parents advice on protecting children from minute plastic particles.
Decongestant nose sprays can be used for only a few days before you risk dependence. Using NasalCrom for your allergies is an alternative.
Even doctors report that getting off of Zyrtec (Cetirizine) poses a real itching challenge. Is there such a thing as Zyrtec withdrawal?
Some generic meds have different "inactive" ingredients. Can you safely save BIG money using Canadian online pharmacies to buy brand names?
An anaphylactic reaction could be life threatening. Effective treatment may include an extra epinephrine dose by injection or nasal spray.
Abruptly stopping the antihistamine cetirizine (Zyrtec) led to unbelievable itching. The doctor who reported this had not seen it in the medical literature.
If you are sneezing and sniffling you want an effective allergy treatment WITHOUT serious side effects. Cromolyn might be worth considering.
Why did it take FDA SO LONG to realize the decongestant phenylephrine is ineffective? Have Americans wasted billions on worthless products?
Phenylephrine is in cold, cough and allergy pills. The FDA says it doesn't work! How about the phenylephrine decongestant in nose sprays?
In this live radio show, get answers to your questions about the safety and effectiveness of OTC drugs. Can you trust them?
People take stinging nettles to ease allergy symptoms such as sneezing and stuffiness. The root extract is reputed to ease prostate problems.
When you order laboratory tests online, make sure you know what the company does with your data as well as how reliable it is.
Some readers found it best to take NasalCrom nose spray for allergies year-round, including house dust mites and cat dander.
Many countries permit pharmacists to prescribe behind the counter drugs such as antivirals, antibiotics, and asthma meds. Why not in the US?
Despite the buzz over bee-derived propolis, some people have allergic reactions to products containing this ingredient.
Xlear nasal spray can help clear pollen from nasal passage to ease allergy symptoms. Saline solution may also be useful against allergies.
Pediatrician Dr. Edwin Kim is ready to answer your questions about preventing dangerous food allergies for children and adults.
Prednisone is a valuable medication for many serious conditions, but prednisone side effects can be serious, including sepsis and psychological reactions.
The FDA finally responded to our questions about itching after stoping Xyzal or Zyrtec. Why aren't people warned about this on OTC labels?
When people take cetirizine for allergy symptoms they do not think about side effects when they stop the drug. But reports of withdrawal itching continue!
With a lot of work and some luck, a reader identified nutmeg as the mystery allergen that had been causing misery. Pea protein is another.
If you have pollen allergies, eating certain fruits with related proteins might also make your throat itch.
Steroid nasal sprays may reduce or damage the sense of smell or taste; in some cases, they do not recover.
One reader found that following an allergen-free diet without dairy, eggs or gluten eliminated joint pain. Will it work for you?
Strict avoidance is one way to manage food allergies, but it can be very difficult. Oral immunotherapy now offers an alternative approach.
Some anti-inflammatory nasal sprays have been linked to the loss of the sense of smell. One lucky reader celebrated its mysterious return.
How are parents and grandparents keeping kids healthy when they can't go to school or the playground? Dr. Alan Greene has suggestions for families, 4/18/20.
Babies exposed to the fumes from common household cleaners during their first few months are more likely to develop asthma as youngsters.
One reader found a way to greatly improve hay fever symptoms: cutting out dairy. Would this work against your sniffles and sneezes?
You can use a saline solution made with salt and sterile water to wash out your nasal passages and clear your sinuses during allergy season.
Seasonal allergies can make you miserable, but a combination of medication and common-sense measures can help you manage the symptoms.
Each of us is surrounded by an exposome–an invisible cloud of bacteria, viruses, fungi and volatile compounds that can have an effect on our health.
Some people control their allergies with the preventative nasal spray NasalCrom for years. No red flags have been raised about long-term safety.
What do you take for your allergy symptoms? Antihistamines? Steroid nasal sprays? Decongestants? Have you ever heard of NasalCrom (cromolyn sodium)? It might be a good choice.
There are a lot of different allergy meds available without prescription. Here's help in choosing the right one for you.
The FDA has just warned about an EpiPen shortage. What took the agency so long? Read a tale of woe and intrigue about a life-saving drug.
A Dutch study shows that you don't have to be a farmer to have immune system benefits from exposure to animals and their microbes. People who live near farms have fewer allergies.
Are you sniffling and sneezing. Congestion? Pollen is in the air even if you can't see it. If you are starting to suffer there are many ways to treat seasonal allergies.
Health professionals often prescribe drugs to control allergy symptoms. What if you could allergy-proof your home to eliminate the source of the problem.
If you are often troubled with sneezes and congestion due to dust, pollen or dander, consider using NasalCrom to overcome your allergies.
Allergy sprays seem so simple. How could a medicine you spray in your nose be absorbed into the body and cause cataracts? An eye doctor shares his story.
A steroid nasal spray like Flonase can combat congestion and other allergy symptoms, but it may also lead to cataracts or changes in the sense of smell.
An alpha-gal allergic reaction to a sugar from mammals could make certain medicines risky. How can you learn which to avoid?
Certain products containing xylitol may help you overcome dry mouth. Treating allergies to get rid of nighttime congestion could also help.
Many readers have found that stopping Xyzal leads to horrible itching. It may take several weeks for this withdrawal symptom to subside.
A placebo-controlled study suggests that taking a particular probiotic could make seasonal allergies easier to tolerate.
When youngsters get multiple antibiotic prescriptions as babies, their risk of developing allergies such as eczema or hay fever increases.
The EpiPen price increase has triggered a media firestorm. The CEO defends the $600 price because the system is broken and a $300 coupon solves the problem.
People who sucked their thumbs as little children were somewhat less likely to have allergies once they grew up. The hygiene hypothesis at work?
Should you try saline spray to relive nasal congestion due to allergies? Many people find it helpful.
If you are experiencing allergic symptoms you may be caught in a double bind. The most effective allergy remedies may scramble the brain and cause harm.
Diphenhydramine (DPH) is found in lots of OTC medications. Many people are unaware they are taking a powerful anticholinergic drug that can cause brain fog.
Nasal steroid sprays for allergies alleviate symptoms, but they may harm the senses of smell and taste. This can interfere with sensing a gas leak.
Why do some people feel much better when they avoid eating foods containing gluten, even though they don't have celiac disease?
People rarely considerthat their pillow could be a breeding ground for fungi, dust mites & other allergens. Could your pillow be affecting your breathing?
A bothersome reaction to eating melons could presage a potentially lethal latex allergy that might develop with little or no warning.
Youngsters who ate herring, mackerel and salmon at age 8 had half the risk of rhinitis in their teens as kids who rarely ate fish.
A number of natural products can be very helpful in calming allergic reactions and reducing sniffling and sneezing.
Families that washed dishes by hand had a lower incidence of eczema, asthma and other allergies.
Many asthma patients don't know how to use a metered dose inhaler for optimum effect.
Despite an exciting range of health benefits, turmeric can cause bad reactions for some people.
Allergy medicines that trigger allergic reactions can make symptoms worse and be difficult to detect.
In switching Nasacort from prescription to over-the-counter status, the manufacturers and FDA did not change the dose.
Taking fexofenadine (Allegra) with apple juice could interfere with its effectiveness. Other drugs are also affected by apple and orange juice.
Linden blossom tea is a traditional folk remedy for cold season. The tasty beverage has immune-modulating properties.
The immune system protects you from pathogens, but immune system overdrive may make you miserable with reactions to allergens.
