Great Information for Allergy Sufferers!

As someone who has struggled with seasonal allergies almost my entire life, I'm always wary of simply popping an over-the-counter pill as a cure-all. I keep a box of Zyrtec on hand, but I often wonder about the long-term effects of taking the medication.

Having said that, I'm sort of funny about trying something new. I know that Zyrtec works and I'd rather not start experimenting. There's nothing worse than being out and about, and have a sneezing fit in the middle of a store, knowing the allergy medicine you're trying isn't working. I also have a terrible problem with itchy, watery eyes which makes for a bad combination when I'm wearing eye make-up.

Anyway, being unemployed these past few months has made me realize that now would be a perfect time to put more effort into testing a more natural approach to managing my allergies. Being home, I have the benefit of not worrying so much about being gone all day and trying to survive without my allergy medication.

Funny enough, I started to do a little research and it turns out there's a podcast on the Whole Foods web site this month covering Natural Approaches to Allergies. I've listened to the podcast a few times and have learned the following:

- Vitamin C taken 3-4 times daily helps with allergy management.
- Quercetin is a natural histamine blocker.
- Bromelain is a food enzyme that somehow works well when taken with Quercetin {not quite sure I understand this, but thought I'd share nonetheless}

Basically the podcast talks about how to combine these to create the right "cocktail" for your allergies...one might work better for you than another. It's all about finding the right combination. I'm planning to try Quercetin alone and see how that works. I'll keep you all posted!