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Ask HN: How did you get rid of your allergies?

9 points by curioushuman ↗ HN
I‘ve had a mold allergy and a pollen allergy since I was a little kid. And i suffer from it very often.

It is often sad that this can be psychosomatic. Some people say that a repatriation therapy should help. But others have gotten rid of their allergies through food changes or other things.

What experience do you have in this field or can anyone scientifically explain why the above things cannot work?

16 comments

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MrTonyD
I had daily headaches and lived in a mental fog - until I had sinus surgery. My "turbinates" were made smaller, and my impression is that now when allergies make them swell there is still room to breathe. Made all the difference. My life is different since the surgery.
riansanderson
Allergy shots: https://www.aaaai.org/conditions-and-treatments/library/alle...

For years I suffered with what I thought were mold allergies (they got worse after rain...) I finally went to see an allergist, got tested, then committed to the 3-5 year course of treatment.

I never thought there was anything I could do besides Zyrtec/Sudafed/Kleenex. Turns out I was allergic to dust mites, and there were some concrete changes I could make in my environment (wood floors, cleaning regularly, ...) That made a huge difference while I retrained my immune system.

I'm two years into shots (monthly now, not weekly), my symtoms are significantly better, and my only regret is that I didn't do this 20 years ago.

thrower123
Interesting to hear that shots were effective for you. I put up with that four or five years, same thing, dust and mold, and it was absolute hell. I'd get a shot, feel like flaming hot garbage for four days, just get back to OK, and then it'd be time for another weekly shot. Eventually after college, my immune system seems to have just reset itself, and all the things that used to bother me don't anymore.
hatsubai
Very much this. My wife is going through this very thing right now. It's been a few years, and her symptoms have improved dramatically. She went from being bed ridden if allergies hit her hard to high pollen warnings barely affecting her. Her allergy specialist set her up with multiple nasal sprays (one steroid, one antihistamine) and a regimen to follow everyday. She went from multiple shots a week to once every couple weeks, and she's receiving the full dose instead of a diluted one which she was originally given. The improvement has been worth its weight in gold.
Down_n_Out
I've got a family member having success with having a simple air purification system in the house (with HEPA filter). It made a huge difference, sleeping better, more alert. It doesn't help with the day to day when outside, still uses medication for that. But at least inside, life is a lot easier.
mrdependable
The only thing that helped me was moving to a new city 8 hours away. I had been suffering my whole life up until moving for college, and had done all the typical treatments an allergist will suggest, but the treatments never helped. Where I live now, I can't say exactly what it is about the area that helps, but it's like I don't have allergies at all.
EADGBE
Same experience for me, I did move back though, and it has a marked improvement from existing conditions.
ackidacki
I had an allergy to certain types of grasses. I changed my diet a bit to try and alter my gut flora alongside not avoiding the grasses. The allergy is significantly less/not noticable & far more tolerable. I even stopped antihistamines.
silentfish
I had great success by doing intermittent fasting (I don't do it anymore). I had pollen, grass allergies, various food intolerance. I couldn't eat plums, grapes, figs, cherries, even bananas. My throat would get sore and lips swell.

After changing my diet and doing intermittent fasting for about a year I completely cured myself. I haven't grass allergy in more than 5 years. I can eat any fruit without any signs of discomfort.

croo
Could you describe your diet? What kind of food did you stop and start eating?
silentfish
No meat, reduced on sweet stuff, pastries.
itamarst
I'm told by friend that drinking nettle tea helped him a lot with these sort of allergies. Basically he drinks it every day. So trying it myself, will see how it goes in the spring.
EADGBE
This is probably impractical, but move to another region.

Suffered from "hay fever" since I was a kid. Summertime was the worst time when I didn't take my [allergy medication flavor-of-the-month].

I went to another region in the US for college, was there about 10 years before moving back and it really improved my allergies in my home state.

That's a drastic suggestion; but one none-the-less.

DoreenMichele
If there are other health issues, work on them. My general understanding is that you react allergically in part because your system is generally overloaded. This proved to be a useful metric for me. Getting generally healthier cut back on how many things made me itch and break out in hives and so forth and also cut back on the severity of my reactions for those things that do still cause me issues.

Look up the standard medical advice on keeping your house clean and mold free and etc. It does exist and it is well established, respectable, etc, but doctors tend to gloss over it in favor of writing you a prescription. Go do all that stuff in spades first before trying anything "crazier." That alone may give you substantial relief.

This means also look into things like Sick Building Syndrome. Maybe it's the place you are living or working. That actually happens.

From discussions I have had with people who researched (read up on heavily) this stuff, it's possible that having an undiagnosed parasitic infection promotes allergies. I have no idea what step two is with such info. Just tossing it out there.

I used to spend time on a chelation list (it's how you treat metal poisoning). Metal poisoning may be a factor in allergies and is something most medical doctors won't test for or treat (or, if they do treat it, from what I gather, they often mistreat it -- according to a guy with a PhD in chemistry and published author I used to know who was trying to promote proper chelation).

If you explore that, you will likely find yourself in the land of woo and conspiracy theorists and anti-vaxxers and they will hate on you just as much as the general public hates on their ilk if you don't drink the koolaid and parrot the same things. So if you want to look into the possibility of metal poisoning and don't want to join in the mantra that all doctors are evil and the government is a conspiracy and so forth, gird your loins and expect to be given hell from all sides and be in the wrong in the eyes of everyone.

Or maybe you will get lucky and find sources of support that successfully take the middle way on such things. It's been a few years since I hung out in chelation spaces online. Maybe there is better stuff these days.

SirLJ
I have some pollen type allergy in the fall, one drop of sesame oil in each nostril in the morning, before going fishing, does wonders during the day...
elvecinodeabajo
I take some Ebastine when an allergic strike hits (Pollen and dust). Tried other anitihistamines but ebastine doesn't make me drowzy.