Chronic Condition

[Flanz]

Hello All,

Still planning on going fulltime next year, but DW has a chronic condition that needs to be monitored. She has allergies and we hope that when we go fulltime and move in and out of different areas it will help with this condition. Hopefully the allergies will go away.

Does anyone else out there have allergies and did you notice changes, good or bad, while moving to different areas of the country? Would like to hear your experiences.

-paul

[Scottiemom]

Keep in mind that allergy shots are formulated to reduce your risk for the allergens you react to where you are living. So if you move around the country, a shot for ragweed is not going to help in an area where that is not present. Our son is allergic and asthmatic. He took allergy shots for YEARS and finally said, enough is enough. He quit cold turkey, didn't really notice much difference. He moved to Florida after college and got off most his meds. REcently he's had to start up again. His doctor there says that when you change atmospheres, your body takes quite some time to adjust. . . so you may have a "reprieve" of sorts until it starts noticing the contaminants in the air around you. Once your body adjusts to the new atmosphere, you can be bothered again, but after 11 years, he is still better in Florida than he was in Indiana. And when he returns to cold weather occasionally, he is again affected greatly by his asthma.

A lot of allergy meds can be found now OTC. I have allergies, but not as badly as before we went full time. So when I need something, I do the OTC. So far with 9 years of fulltiming under our belt, that works for us.

DAle

[cannesdo]

I nearly died from mercury poisoning. It created hundreds of allergies. Western docs will tell you there is no cure. There is. It's called NAET and you can do much of it yourself with a pair of $20 Bongers (blue balls on sticks). You hold the allergen (directly or in glass) and press pressure points which retrain your body to think of it as safe. I've been telling my buyers who mention allergies about this and one told me she can now eat eggs without having to go to the hospital. I paid $2000 for treatments @ $45 each until I realized I could do it myself. You just have to be able to be completely clear of the allergen for 24 hrs after the treatment. So you have to treat pollen allergies in the off-season (scrape up some pollen and keep it in a jar) or have them treated by a practitioner. It works. I'm allergy free -- and I was even allergic to the minerals in spring water. Not even allergic to cats anymore (but getting the hair off the cat is the hard part).

Also, important to know, a deficiency of magnesium is what turns us into allergy factories in the first place. Low maagnesium causes elevated histamine. So many docs are prescribing calcium and ignoring the magnesium. That's what's responsible for most of the cases of insomnia -- and that same deficiency can put you in allergy mode as well. If you wake up from light in the room when you're sleeping that's another sign you're low in mag. Get a good chelated form...take to bowel tolerance. Mag oxide (most cheap formulas) will mess up the gut -- stick to mag citrate or (the cadillac of mags, but very expensive) mag orotate.

Another great supplement for allergies is a Chinese formula called xiao yao wan. It's a tonic for the liver which is the home of allergies in Chinese medicine. I was taking it for the mercury condition and couldn't figure out why one spring I'd have allergies then the next I wouldn't. I realized I didn't have them at all the years I was taking the Xiao Yao Wan. Best price is through an import company in SanFran, by the case. "goacupuncture.com". Take anywhere from 8 to 20 of the tea-pills 3x a day, reduce to 8 after the symptoms are gone. Really good stuff. No side-effects. Their Xiao Yao Wan is mercury/metal free. I've taken them for 20 years. A case ($25-30) will last you about 3 months.

It makes me crazy when people say there's no cure for allergies. I can post the instructions for self-treatment with NAET if anyone is interested. It's very very simple.

[bobm253]

Born and raised in Buffalo NY and had no allergies of any kind. Moved to Phoenix, AZ around age 30 and had the very worst allergies in the spring/summer months. Swollen and itchy eyes, runny nose, sneezing, hacking cough, dry eyes and stuffed nasals at night. Pure misery. Lived with it for 14 years and then moved back to Buffalo and the allergies disappeared totally. Just shows that there are different plants/pollen in different parts of the country. So happy to be home.

[tatest]

I am allergic to most grass, tree and weed pollens, and mold spores. My allergies are bad enough on the Great Plains (changing with seasons) but get much worse when I return to the Great Lakes region where I lived the first 22 years of my life and became sensitized to all the stuff growing between Spring and the return of killing frosts.

Moving to Florida didn't help much. I didn't encounter some of my worst seasonal allergies, but what I had, I had year-round. Visiting Arizona (Phoenix area) did not help much, seems everybody retiring there brought their Eastern and Midwestern lawns and gardens with them.

But moving back to the Great Lakes from Florida was a disaster. Very soon after getting back, I had to step up from antihistamines to desensitization shots, which still did not help all that much. What fixed that problem was moving away again, to the plains, where I had three to five years relief while becoming sensitized to the new (mostly grass) pollens.

It does help to go to places with completely different flora. Two years in China troubled my plant allergies very little, and the always dirty air in the big cities did not bother me near as much. I get relief also in urban and coastal areas in southern and eastern Europe, but feel the difference almost immediately moving into agricultural areas where they are growing some of the same things we grow on the plains or in the corn belt.

Going to southern England in the summer was a disaster. It seems most of what we grow in midwestern suburbs are the ornamental plants brought to this country by English colonists.

[Flanz]

Pinikki36 wrote:
OP: I think this is a great question. It's one that we had also before we started full-timing. Our 9-year-old son is basically allergic to life.

His allergens are:
Trees, Grass, Weeds, Mold, Dust, Cats, Dogs, Peanuts, and Tree Nuts

He has allergy-induced asthma. Carries epi-pens at all times.
He takes 2 tsp of Allegra in the morning and 2 tsp of Zrytec at night.

Our sticks and bricks home is in Ohio, and the winter-time was the only time he could go off his meds due to the freezing weather. We have his mattress and pillow encased in special covers. He takes a shower every day to get rid of pollens. I try and not clean with him in the same room. We don't have pets. We don't smoke.

Traveling and living in an RV worried me mostly because of constantly having to relearn which foods are safe for him. Going to a new grocery store takes more time anyway, but then having to read the ingredient list on each and every food is time consuming (BUT not negotiable). Dining out at restaurants requires phone calls to the managers in advance, checking restaurant website, speaking in person to managers, etc. There's no such thing as spontaneity.

BUT...we do it all. We don't want him to allow his allergies to stop him from doing what he wants to do. We just makes things as safe as we possibly can for him.

Roadhouse 4 Us

Thank you for the reply - Sounds like you put a lot of time into his condition, but I think it's great!! This allows him to maintain as normal of a life as possible. We DO the same and do not allow her condition to stop us from enjoying the lifestyle.......Within reason.

We are working on the situation and are hoping that we can either eliminate or lessen the effects of her allergies. At this point, nasal polyps appear to be the issue. Finding what causes the polyps to grow is very difficult, but we think we have a solution which will be tried over the next few months. Her doctor thinks it MAY be related to her being allergic to aspirin. She is going to under go "Aspirin Desensitization" hoping that it will clear up her allergies as well as her asthma. Based on what we read and we're told it sounds very promising.

-paul

[Pinikki36]

OP: I think this is a great question. It's one that we had also before we started full-timing. Our 9-year-old son is basically allergic to life.

His allergens are:
Trees, Grass, Weeds, Mold, Dust, Cats, Dogs, Peanuts, and Tree Nuts

He has allergy-induced asthma. Carries epi-pens at all times.
He takes 2 tsp of Allegra in the morning and 2 tsp of Zrytec at night.

Our sticks and bricks home is in Ohio, and the winter-time was the only time he could go off his meds due to the freezing weather. We have his mattress and pillow encased in special covers. He takes a shower every day to get rid of pollens. I try and not clean with him in the same room. We don't have pets. We don't smoke.

Traveling and living in an RV worried me mostly because of constantly having to relearn which foods are safe for him. Going to a new grocery store takes more time anyway, but then having to read the ingredient list on each and every food is time consuming (BUT not negotiable). Dining out at restaurants requires phone calls to the managers in advance, checking restaurant website, speaking in person to managers, etc. There's no such thing as spontaneity.

BUT...we do it all. We don't want him to allow his allergies to stop him from doing what he wants to do. We just makes things as safe as we possibly can for him.

Roadhouse 4 Us

[kakampers]

Our son , who has suffered his entire life with allergies...started using OTC Nasacort. Within less than a week it has eliminated ALL of his symptoms, which were often quite severe. His wife had to cut grass because he couldn't take it.

It blocks the allergens from entering the system through the nasal passage, which is how most people suffer from allergies.

DH and I both suffer from seasonal/regional allergies...usually start with them once we get into TX...amazingly it has done the same for us. Have been in TX a month now and not one symptom.

[wannavolunteerF]

One of the things that helps mine the most... is always carry my pillow!!! whether I am RVing or staying in a classy hotel. The other is being sure I wash my hair at night after I come in, if there is anything in the air.. which means most all spring and fall. once I learned that pollens stick to your hair better than anything, so wash it off before bed, so it doesn't get on your pillow and then ground into your nose overnight..

oh yeah, regular doses of zyrtec and using the neti bottle (I prefer bottle over pot) in a hot shower every morning also help manage my symptoms.

I just go in the RV and live with my allergies just like I do at home. After at least 50 years of living with allergic rhinitis and resulting sinusitis, I refuse to let my allergies run my life.

[Flanz]

Thanks to all that have provide some insight to their allergy issues as well as the many suggestions. I/we really appreciate it.

Yesterday DW had an appointment with her allergy doctor. I guess he's the head of department at Tufts University. Since she's having issues with smell and taste it was noticed that the polyps in her sinus cavity had started to grow again causing the smell and taste issue. After looking over her records it was noted that she has asthma and allergic to aspirin. Her doctor mentioned a program that has been highly successful called Aspirin Desensitization. It has been highly recommended and extremely successful treating people with the same conditions as hers. So there's hope yet that she may be a good candidate for this and could help with her allergies....I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

-paul

[Aridon]

Patenese and Azelastine might help her allergies, check with her doctor.

TBH, when we travel to other areas our allergies tend to act up some since we aren't really used to the allergens in that particular area.

I really hope it all works out for you and your wife.

[RoadXYZ]

We noticed that we are both highly allergic to Scotch Bloom this year when we stayed along the Central Oregon Coast in April/May ... other months we love Bandon, Oregon .. seems to have more open spaces and less forest areas.

There is such a diversity of greenery, and humidity around these fabulous United States that it is hard to pin down anything for sure .. but given my choices I would spend summer in Vermont, Christmas & January in Texas, and the rest of the year either in Oregon or Washington, but since that is not doable, we are looking at Idaho, Washington, and Oregon.

My daughter & I have allergies when we go to a certain park nearby, she thinks it is a specific tree (like Cottonwoods) which has a tendency to exude their seed in a packet which is like feathers .. this will stop me for sure. So we avoid that park altogether.

We love Zyrtec allergy pills for Spring & Summer in SE Washington State and Flonase nasal spray also. BUT we take 1/2 Zyrtec twice daily, and that works for us rather than one whole pill once a day. Trial and error works eventually.

[2gypsies1]

You will probably find that as you move around the country she will acquire different allergies. Every state has different plants. Good luck!

[camperpaul]

Allergies are the result of an overactive immune system that responds to normally harmless substances.

Anything that boosts the immune system just makes matters worse.

See: Allergies and the immune system.

[Flanz]

soos wrote:
hubby has allergies to spring and since we follow the weather, his allergies have gotten worse.

Ouch....Since my wife's allergies are fall related (rag weed)we're hoping that they get better as we move. We'll stay away from areas that have a high concentration of rag weed as we travel.

Thanks all for the suggestions, and please keep them coming. I've got a running list of all the suggestions and will start experimenting on her soon......:D

-paul