Allergies
Will New Epinephrine Shot Be More Affordable?
A few years ago, there was quite a fuss about high prices and shortages affecting EpiPen emergency allergy injections. This epinephrine shot is used to avert anaphylactic shock that can be life threat…
Why Sterile Water Is Best to Flush Sinuses
Have you ever heard of a neti pot? This tool from the Ayurvedic medical tradition looks a lot like Aladdin's lamp. But you don't rub it to make a genie appear. Instead, you fill it with tepid saline s…
Show 1166: How Can You Manage the Misery of Seas…
Do you sniffle through spring or feel crummy in the fall? Many people suffer with seasonal allergies, and trying to figure out which medicines make sense is no easy task. To start with, how do you kno…
Can You Ease Sinus Woes by Avoiding Dairy?
Hay fever and other seasonal allergies can cause a lot of discomfort. The congestion such allergic reactions cause can lead to sinus woes that seem to last a long time. But what if the problem is not&…
Will Tick Bites Make You Allergic to Red Meat?
Most people are aware that tick bites can transmit infections such as Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever and Lyme disease. There is another condition caused by tick bites, however. It’s called alpha-gal a…
Nighttime Nasal Congestion | Is There a Non-Addi…
Do you breathe through your mouth when you sleep? A lot of people do. That’s because they experience nighttime nasal congestion. It’s not pleasant. Your mouth gets terribly dry and scuzzy. Nightti…
What’s Your Personal Invisible Cloud Made …
Many people have heard of the microbiota in our digestive tracts. This collection of bacteria, viruses and fungi live together inside us and impact our health. It is sometimes referred to as the "micr…
Is It Safe to Use NasalCrom for Years?
If you suffer from hay fever or other fall allergies, you may already be miserable. On the other hand, you might be dreading the weeks ahead. Will you be sneezing, sniffling and suffering itchy eyes a…
Can You Overcome an Afrin Addiction?
Have you ever become addicted to your nasal spray? Millions of people do. Decongestant nasal sprays can be used safely for only a few days before they start to produce rebound congestion that can be q…
Allergy Symptoms? | NasalCrom to the Rescue!
Ask most people what works best to calm allergy symptoms and you are likely to hear about antihistamines or corticosteroid nasal sprays. That’s hardly surprising. If you’ve watched any TV at all t…
A Walk Down the Aisle of Allergy Meds
“Decisions, decisions,” said the gentleman standing in the aisle of allergy meds, pondering his purchase. “I never know which one to get.” As a pharmacist, I see this very often – the allerg…
Are You Highly Allergic? What To Do About EpiPen…
With warm weather, bees, wasps and other stinging creatures are on the move. That means people who are highly allergic to stings need to keep epinephrine available at all times. This injectable medica…
You Don’t Have to Be a Farmer to Benefit f…
Epidemiologists have observed that children who grow up on farms are less susceptible to allergies than their urban counterparts. (Our previous report on this interesting phenomenon is below.) Now a D…
How to Treat Seasonal Allergies: Drugs or Natura…
Allergy season is here. Even if you did not realize that, the warring drug commercials on television should have alerted you. On the same program you can see ads for Xyzal, Allegra and Nasacort. There…
How Can You Allergy-Proof Your Bedroom to Contro…
Is your home your castle? Many people feel that their home is a refuge from the outside world. But a study of 7,000 bedrooms found that a large majority are contaminated with allergens (Journal of All…
Should You Take NasalCrom to Overcome Your Aller…
You may think of allergies as seasonal, spring and fall. But some people sniffle and sneeze all year long. Stroking a pet or cleaning a dusty room may make the symptoms worse, but what can you take to…
A Dog in the Home: Less Asthma and Eczema for Ki…
Parents may be able to reduce the chance of their children developing asthma with a simple approach: get a dog. Two studies presented at the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology showed t…
Allergy Sprays and Cataracts?
Not that long ago, corticosteroid nasal sprays were available only by prescription. Doctors had to monitor a patient's progress and make sure there were no complications from cortisone-like medication…
What Are the Downsides to Your Nasal Spray?
Allergy season makes millions miserable. They react to pollen and other allergens with nasal congestion, itchy watery eyes, sneezing and sniffling. No wonder so many people reach for a nasal spray. Na…
Is There a Sugar from Mammals Hiding in Your Med…
When someone has an allergic reaction to a medication, doctors often assume that the person is reacting to the active ingredient itself. Increasingly, though, people are allergic to another ingredien…
Can You Overcome Dry Mouth with Sugar-Free Sweet…
A dry mouth creates its own special kind of misery. You may feel as though you've been walking through the desert. For some reason, your mouth is stuffed full of the kind of cotton logs the dentist us…
Should You Worry About Scary Corticosteroid Side…
Cortisone, dexamethasone, hydrocortisone, methylprednisolone, prednisolone and prednisone are called corticosteroids or glucocorticoids. These drugs dampen an overactive immune reaction. They can soot…
How to Soothe Allergy Symptoms Without Serious S…
Allergy season takes a terrible toll on people who are susceptible to pollen. This is the time of year when invisible particles in the air trigger sneezing, sniffling, itching and congestion. Allergy …
Stopping Xyzal Triggers Horrible Itching
Allergy season has already begun in some parts of the country. Sufferers are reaching for antihistamines to reduce the runny nose and calm the itchy eyes and other pollen reactions. There is a new opt…
How Probiotics Could Ease Your Seasonal Allergie…
When people start sniffling and sneezing because of seasonal allergies, they usually rely on antihistamines and nasal sprays. A new study suggests that they might also want to consider modifying the …
Can You Prevent Allergies and Eczema?
No one knows why allergies like hay fever and eczema have become more common in many industrialized countries. But some researchers may have an idea. Their research seems to support the "Hygiene Hypot…
EpiPen Price Increase Outrages Americans
People who are allergic to bee or wasp stings, peanuts, shrimp or other foods rely on an auto-injector containing epinephrine (adrenaline) to open their airways and keep them breathing until emergency…
Are Kids Who Sucked Their Thumbs Less Prone to A…
An epidemiological study of around 1,000 children born between 1972 and 1973 in New Zealand suggests that those who bit their nails or sucked their thumbs when they were little were less likely to dev…
How to Ease Nasal Congestion with Saline
Allergies can be maddening. Sneezing, congestion and a feeling of spaciness can make each day a trial. To make matters worse, decongestant nose sprays are only supposed to be used a few days at a time…
How to Relieve Allergies with Saline Spray
People with allergies are really caught in a tough spot. The nasal congestion and eye irritation that so frequently accompany allergies are debilitating. But the medications that are used to counterac…
Are There Any Allergy Remedies That Won’t …
People who are sniffling, sneezing and suffering because of summer allergies are caught in a terrible bind. Some popular antihistamines have the ability to affect the brain in an unpleasant way. In ad…
Can Popular Antihistamine (Benadryl) Cause Brain…
Q. Over the past 30 years I have taken Benadryl twice. Both times it caused me memory loss as a side effect. I had to look up phone numbers that I dialed daily. I wasn't even sure what year it was. Th…
Could Nasacort Hurt the Senses of Smell and Tast…
If you suffer from hay fever or similar allergies, you know how miserable they can make you feel. Your eyes may itch, your nose may drip, you sneeze all the time, and forget about your senses of smell…
Feeling Better on a Gluten-Free Diet
Gluten (and gluten-free) are words you just can't avoid these days, though just ten years ago they were not part of most people's vocabularies. Gluten is a protein found in wheat, barley and rye. From…
How Old Is Your Pillow? If You Can’t Remem…
Many of us become attached to our pillows. We become convinced that we won't get as good a night's sleep with something new. After all, we spend up to eight hours each day snuggled up to our pillow. B…
Melon Reaction Could Signal Deadly Latex Allergy
Paying attention to your body and how it reacts to foods is an important step to figuring out what you should be eating and what you should avoid. Even foods that are full of nutrients are not necessa…
Kiddy Meals of Fish Reduce Risk of Rhinitis Late…
Runny noses are among the most common health complaints of childhood. Swedish researchers conducted an eight-year long study to find out if diet has an impact on the risk of rhinitis. The Study: There…
Watch Out for Nasty Neosporin Reaction
Does a bad reaction hurt more when you applied the offending substance deliberately to help with healing? It may not, but certainly the knowledge that the problem might have been avoided can be gratin…
Calming Allergic Reactions with Natural Approach…
Allergies are usually more acute at certain times of the year (often spring or fall) when the specific allergen reach high concentrations in the air. But many people suffer from allergies for months a…
Reducing the Risk of Peanut Allergy
Parents are often cautious about feeding their infants peanut butter for fear of triggering peanut protein allergy. Life-threatening allergic reactions have become much more common over the last two d…