Allergies Archives - Healthy Happy Life Secrets

Pollen Count Today Near Me and Spring Allergies Hope

Pollen count today near me is a report you want to take a look at if you are spring or year-round allergy prone these days. And I share tips in this article on how to manage allergies better with our constantly changing earth and where we have hope.

healthy pasture-raised organic eggs and the pollen count are related on our planet. — Pasture-raised, organic eggs are one of the healthy foods.

Because our beloved planet needs a restore, Amen!

If you’re like many of us, you’re feeling the effects. It’s not just seasonal allergies anymore… it’s year round allergy effects. And if you’re wondering if your new strange, non-serious, unexplainable body symptoms are related, they probably are. 🌎

They are for me too… I never had allergies before and then started feeling the effects in spring and fall from the pollen count today near me. And that gradually became winter and summer also.

DC had its highest pollen count today near me report in February that’s before the spring fever time. And why the Tidal Basin Cherry Blossoms that I grew up around bloomed earlier this year from previous years. 🌸 I remember one year where there were few blooms and I saw one tree near me.

We keep topping new records.

And this affects quality of life. You learn this quickly by observing the patterns. Like I noticed when it reaches over 70 degrees, my skin became thirsty and needs moisturizing self-care love.

By being aware, I can do something preventative.

And you can do the same with your symptoms.

There’s hope.

At one point, the rumor was that allergy effects last for 7 years.

…And in belief and hope in relief, I can attest in my case, that’s about right.

From 2015 to 2023 I felt the effects bad where I would go from my normal feeling self (no pollen allergy effects)… to whoosh my thinking mind was congested and felt like it was hit with a wind storm.

Which btw, gusty wind is not a Vata’s friend as it can knock us out of balance (especially as we already carry wind sameness properties).

Those seasons affected me in my daily activites where I couldn’t just sit outside that I used to love to do (and most of us do).

Because if I did, the next day I would pay the price, feeling out of it in a brain fog way. And I didn’t want to take a blocking histamine pill every day. I felt the blockage as… I couldn’t sneeze at all.

And as bodies adapt, these days I sneeze a lot and have a new appreciation for the self-cleansing interruption.

Likely, you or someone in your household feels the allergy effects in some way. Sometimes it’s our four-legged family members. 🐾

Below are a few survival tips to make the ride a little better until your body adjusts or you find a new way.

…And as we wait for our world to discover new ways to restore our natural world, and change how we handle our modern world like: food agriculture, transportation, and manufacturing.

These are major areas that affect the climate crisis connected to allergies. And places that used to be disconnected from these effects, like California, are now feeling the dust.

Even though there are more trees (that primarily contribute to the green spring pollen dust), being near the mountain air feels better.

And better than in a busy city or beach that this body can attest to… or densely populated with mass transportation pollution.

Observingly, places with less people like Norway and the Adirondacks had less pollen effects.

You’d have to test out on your body… just in case you are considering relocating, those are some life-giving things to consider.

One thing you can do in the States is research what the pollen levels are and which ones bother your systems.

Tip #1: Look at the pollen count today near me reports.

So many people I’ve talked to don’t even know that this snapshot report exists.

How I use the report is: I put in my zip code and I see which days are lowest pollen count in the week that is available on the pollen phone app. The daily report can also be found on the site.

Then looking at the week, I immediately know low count days are predicted rainy days. So it’s not accurate as weather prediction is never 100% accurate (and sometimes off).

So, what you can glean from this information is that each pollen season impacted has roughly the same type, quality, and quantity of pollen every day until the pollen season shifts.

If the count is over, say 10 that’s high on any given day, then you know what to do preventatively for that season (or use the tips below to help you).

And you can take a look at what the culprits are such as elm, juniper, and maple trees these days in certain areas and what I see on my report.

Tip #2: Invest in and turn the air purifier on high. This helps significantly for spaces you spend a lot of time in like your bedroom or where you sleep, and in an office space where you work.

If you work around others, you’ll be the envy of your office mates as they get to feel the clean air effects too around you. 💨

Be sure to use HEPA filters that catch small particles like the green ones circulating around (and mold that’s more prevalent in the autumn).

I’ve had an air purifier beside me since around 2000 when it was discovered that an office I worked in had mold behind the walls. The air purifier invested in was a life saver, and I’ve never lived without one since. You appreciate close-up your healthy breathing daily in those instances.

Changing the filters and vacuuming often on schedule make a difference too in the quality of filtering you’re getting.

Tip #3: Do a weeky nasal cleanse with a neti pot, warm water, and sea salt mixture. If you battle with sinus infections often or seasonally, this is a preventative game changer.

Remember, you can’t change the air in this bubble life we live in, but you can change your effects.

That’s one thing we all knew early on in life: air quality affects quality of life.

New Generation Hope for Our Health

And we also picked up: what we knew in the past isn’t going to take us to our future. Or today’s mantra,“What got us here, won’t get us there.”

And while we’re cleaning out our sinuses, we can breathe in some good, hopeful vibes for our planet future with the kids of today, Gen Z.

Born with an innate earthly duty and social media, they may want to have a life mission to impact a fragile world that needs environmental repair. And that’s something we can be optimistically hopeful for. 🎉

…Maybe that’s your kiddos or you that’s saying “school me, please!” so something can be done about the environmental world chaos. In the meanwhile, we can bring back “act local, think global.” And that includes the foods we eat. Like eggs. Not these lawn Easter eggs. But edible eggs.

Because healthy eggs we eat are low histamine (anti-allergy) super foods loaded with vitamins that many of us can rally around, whether school or adult-age. You can make 2-minute easy poached eggs daily or celebrate eggs on occasion.

And if you get tired of eggs, maybe you can make your inspired waffles with this recipe that has a healthy twist (plus an egg 😉).

Print Recipe

easy waffles with healthier ingredients in minutes.

Easy Waffles In Minutes (Healthy Tips)

Course Breakfast

Cuisine American

Ingredients

1/2 cup milk per waffle
1 egg per waffle
1/2 cup combined flour (use more almond flour and some AP flour for healthier waffle batter)
1 tsp oil (can reduce oil of choice and use light EVOO for healthier version)
Greek yogurt
Berries (optional)

Instructions

Add milk of choice to bowl or Pyrex measuring glass for easy measurement and one-”bowl” mixing.
Add egg, flour of choice (combine almond flour and ap flour for healthy), oil.
Pour in waffle iron maker and cook until golden-medium brown and is easy to remove in one piece with a fork.
Let cool and dollop with Greek yogurt and fresh berrries.

Dyshidrotic Eczema + Thanksgiving Gratitude

In the summer of 2021, I ended up in the hospital emergency room for dyshidrotic eczema. I had a heat blister that turned into a foot infection a week later.

During my visit, the doctor confirmed my dyshidrotic eczema symptoms… and what I already knew and had researched on my own in 2020 when I first experienced the condition.

With sensitive and thirsty summer skin that many of us have felt, the fiery summer effects of global warming are intensifying.

Today in fall, it’s cooler and gratefully we did see an in-between this year with some colorful fiery leaves 🍁.

Dyshidrotic Eczema

But, anything at any time like air could make the dyshidrotic eczema situation worse. And being smart, not eating too much sugar and eating some organic foods, help offset some causes and effects.

In my world, I’m known to consistently eat diverse from the rainbow 🌈, so I ruled out any one food or even diet as a likely cause. In case you didn’t already know, I have an Ayurvedic balanced food approach coupled with sustainable anti-inflammatory, gluten, and non-gluten foods. Whole wheat is good in my book.

But I’m also sensitive to other people’s food allergies having worked closely in catering foods and party planning management for a decade or so.

It’s individual. And in my case, if it were a gut issue, it wouldn’t be just hot weather and summers. But for some people, it is about the gut.

And like those sensitivities, I’m also careful not to tip the scales and exacerbate inflammation with foods high in refined sugar or overdo on excessive gluten flour.

Funny that I love baking, right? 👩‍🍳

I like to also fold in gluten-free flours like oat or millet flours (it’s not just to feed birds) as it makes me feel better.

…plus, s spice is everything nice and honey is the best jam. That would make good song lyrics 🎶

Those types of foods restore the balance of my Pitta (and please my Vata).

It’s good to check in to your imbalances once in a while and see what they are as the body gives so many outward hints and signs. You can also take the Body Balance Quiz to learn more and gain insight.

And when you operate in balance year-round, then you really notice when something is “off,” even if it’s just ever-so-slightly.

You can tell when your spice or candle preferences change. It’s actually not that odd, and those are a couple of fun Ayurvedic ways we can all test our bodies with.

We need more fun these days as our bodies can be tested in not-so-fun ways. And, to help offset this, leaning more into a whole, plant-based diet that’s Ayurvedic and anti-inflammatory gives us all an edge, as we do good for our body AND for the planet.

Our bodies rely on this livable earth where 10 degrees hotter is still doable compared to the 800-degree temps on Mercury. 🌎

And besides heat, dyshidrotic eczema flareups (like I had seen) have been linked to hypersensitivity to cobalt and nickel that are found all over the earth and in some of the healthiest plant-based foods such as cocoa, nuts, and even leafy greens.

Hmmm, what’s up with the healthy causing flare-ups?

Especially when some are your food faves like they are mine (..and actually, most foods are as I’m a foodie!)… but giving up those would be a challenge… for me anyway, and not a good idea for anyone in general…

They contain other anti-inflammatory pro-health benefits that offset their cons. Those foods are good sources of essential vitamins and minerals our bodies can use and need.

So, one adaptation would be to potentially reduce and eliminate consuming those foods as spot-on skin treatments when needed. And then leaning on the other great foods. And that’s why a diverse diet is sustainable. And Mother Earth is the Queen behind it all. 👑

I take health seriously (and you probably do too!). So I breathe the mantra that if you don’t have your health, then nothing else really matters.

So something as annoying but not life-threatening serious, like irritated dry skin, shouldn’t be brushed aside. Dyshidrotic eczema that I’ve learned to partner with is still a sign of inflammation. And while acute, it’s not that cute ☺️.

But it can’t always be rainbows and sunshine. And that helps us appreciate what we do have. And so we adapt.

Then you know better, and you do better. Thank you, Maya Angelou, for those encouraging word reminders.

And as part of doing better…

Coming up with a year-round prevention plan is a good idea if you or others you know are affected by outdoor allergens and changing nature patterns.

And especially during these climate-changing times when we need to evolve as a planet, so we have a better balanced, livable earth that you and I grew up in and want to keep thriving in.

(And these are some ways to better adapt with natural allergy solutions in case you have hypersensitivity to allergens.)

It’s also good to stay thankful for our bodies, and this week especially as we embrace Thanksgiving in America. We can think of all the things we DO have working for us that we can easily take for granted.

Our modern brain machinery like to focus on what we don’t have. But we can outsmart ourselves and be grateful we have a mind of our own 😉

And so we can stay in alignment with the person we want to be, that’s a better version than last year. Amen. That’s something else to be thankful for.

So I’ll leave you on that note. And, Happy Thanksgiving if you’re celebrating… and keep on keepin’ on! 🎉

10 Home Seasonal Allergies Natural Tips

tree pollen cause spring seasonal allergies Have seasonal allergies got you? If so, you’re in good company and I have a list of natural above-the-neck soothing tips below.

False spring in global warming times like these seem to be against us, but we can use better, natural ways to combat our daily allergy feelings.

The tips I share and use started from feeling the seasonal allergy effects in 2015. Before that, I never felt outdoor seasonal allergies living on the east coast. Now, they linger around year-round and I’ve learned to manage them.

First of all, tree pollen (e.g maple, juniper, elm) found in most U.S. areas is the main culprit for spring seasonal allergies that started as early as February this year (and have been exceptionally high).

With wacky global climate changes and extreme fluctuating weather going from 70 degrees one-day to 40 degrees the next (and snow in some areas and summer temps in other regions), seasonal allergies are only growing. Adults who never had allergies before feel the effects today.

Your best bet is to enjoy inside, eating indoors on severe days, and testing different ways that work best for you (if you haven’t already).

Allergies didn’t cross into my Easter brunch with hot cross buns. 🐰

You may have even thought about getting an allergy test as I did. So that’s what I did and here’s what I found…

I’m not allergic to anything or any tree pollens as the test showed.

I was actually kinda disappointed because that’s why I got the test in the first place. But the test did end up giving me peace of mind. And an allergy test could for you too if you’re wondering whether allergy shots are a good idea.

I found that my common symptoms like nasal passage congestion and other irritations are just part of the climate allergy changes. And for anyone, it’s a good idea to be aware and manage symptoms daily. Because you don’t want them to escalate to chronic and recurring inflammations. Inflammation is the body’s way of naturally protecting and healing itself.

In my case, this started back in 2015. That’s also when I heard seasonal pollen-related allergies only last for 7 years, so that would make this year a bye-bye bang🤞

And if you’re thinking about moving for better global climate reasons and seasonal allergies, it may not help anymore. Associated allergies are not just on the east coast but all over in pollen reports that recently hover around the “10” rating. I had never noticed before this year that there was an “11” or higher pollen rating.

You may think there’s less pollen near the beach and ocean 🌊, but that’s not necessarily the case. I tested this on myself when I was in Ocean City, MD and Miami, FL. So it’s not just more trees and grass that can affect your allergy sneezing.

With the pollen reports, you can get alerted on the days ahead, so you can plan and prepare better.

It’s a good reminder of how much we rely on the air around us to keep us healthy and enjoy daily life. And, that you’re alive too!

Allergies are your body’s annoying, but healthy response to your immune system working. 🌱

You can make the most of those heavy pollen days by feeling gratitude for the things you can do. Like with breathing in 100 yoga and breathing in life poses.

But still, changing your allergy perspective can test you. Because seasonal allergies are no fun and can affect the way you think, remember, and even see things on any given day.

So here are some practical tips to stay ahead and attack your symptoms:

These days, changing up your daily self-care routine helps.

Today you may be feeling exceptionally dry like you’ve never experienced before. And especially if you’re a natural Vata who usually has drier skin anyway.

I changed my moisturizing skin routine from once a day to a few times per day for certain skin patches that get dry.

It gets easier once you recognize the patterns and you develop new self-care routines to stay ahead.

For head and nasal congestion, well… that’s another story. Headaches, brain fog, and breathing more shallow awake or asleep, are all common spring allergy symptoms.

You can feel like you’ve been hit by a windstorm on some days. And the wind is not a Vata’s friend. That’s like change on top of change.

Sneezing is actually a good way to rid of allergens in the body, but some days that doesn’t work. I keep a black pepper tin nearby.

You can get through seasonal allergies naturally with occasional OTC allergy relief, e.g. if you’re gonna be outdoors. But you don’t want to rely on sinus decongestants or use them every day if you can avoid them. Because your body gets used to them and they don’t work as well when you may really need ’em.

This is where a blend of eastern and western ways meet best. And we all have different bodies, and you know your body best (and better than anyone else) so you can do and take what works for you.

And if you choose to handle allergies au-naturel, here are some smart moves that will help.

You have a choice to stay indoors for high allergy days which is really the most effective way to dodge seasonal allergies. Try to do your outdoor walks earlier in the day. I know that’s still a bummer. So another idea is you can jump or stay in the pool. You may be able to pull it off like this unicorn making the most of it! 🦄

Seasonal allergies are not affecting this unicorn in the pool And when you’re indoors, stay away from the open window if you’re super sensitive. You can always break out your filtered mask that will shield some allergens.

10 Tips For Seasonal Allergies

✅ Back indoors, change your clothing and take a shower as soon as you can or remember to. The steam will help you feel better faster. A night shower will help especially if your seasonal allergies feel worse in the afternoon or evening.

Sometimes you get a delayed effect on symptoms, feeling the effects the next day.

✅ Weekly, use a neti-pot to clean out nasal passages. This helps you get some relief naturally and prevents nasty sinus infections and your taking unnecessary antibiotics. That’s probably the best tip I can give you!

✅ Also, use a natural saline nasal spray to clear your nose as needed e.g. 2-3x per day for relief. Look for grapefruit seed extract with microbial properties that help prevent bacterial, viral, and fungal infections.

A reminder (or new) tip: antibiotics can work on bacterial infections but not effectively on viral ones (like a cold) and they hurt your gut. The confusion comes into play when you don’t know if it’s a cold, flu, allergies, or Covid. Prevention and reserving antibiotics for when you actually need them is key.

✅ Use a free-standing daily air filter machine with a HEPA filter for pollen (not just dust). Pollen kicks up in the afternoon and evening so it’s good to have the machine cranked up while you’re sleeping.

Change your house air filters every few months or sooner.

Use a desk humidifier or have one set in each room. Like plants, they require some daily care, but the reciprocal Kapha self-care wheel love and support they provide is worth the effort.

✅ Keep eucalyptus or mint oil essential oil drops close at hand. They work well in the steamy shower. You can put a few drops in a small vessel of water and sniff. Unlike a nasal spray, the oil drops don’t enter directly into your nose.

The scented drop fumes indirectly help clear nasal passages that affect head congestion. You can also keep eucalyptus leaves hanging in the shower. Mint scents are a Vata girl’s preference. 👧🏻

✅ For foods, add fresh horseradish or spicy wasabi that’s great for clearing nasal passages.

Disappointingly, local honey doesn’t work the way we’d hope. Honey comes from flowers, and tree pollen comes from trees so there’s no cross-pollination… or an ex-pollinating effect that would be helpful for spring seasonal allergies.

But raw honey is a good natural sugar substitute and a natural humectant that help prevent dryness and other skin inflammations. It also has other “anti” properties that are good for you… antioxidant, anti-bacterial, and anti-fungal. So it helps in other ways.

✅ Keep up your vitamins and minerals, especially Vit C, D-3, Calcium, Zinc, etc.

✅ Drink teas. You can try a good green matcha tea or black tea (Vata preference) early in the day and then switch to decaf/herbal teas in the afternoon. You can do decaf all day if you prefer.

✅ Keep eye drops close by for dry eyes. You can wear blue-light-blocking glasses, so you don’t have to strain on devices that worsen dry eyes (and they help you sleep better).

✅ Keep cough drops nearby, in case you get a dry or itch in your throat. And menthol cough drops help to open up passages. They’ve been hard to find these days I’ve found, but I think you can find ’em if you look hard enough. 😉 Elderberry and zinc help for immunity-boosting, and lemon and honey drops are good for dry throats.

Seasonal allergies don’t have to be the daily annoyance that runs your life. You can have a much smoother season if you stay informed. And know, you’re definitely not alone. 😷

11 Tips For Winter Allergies + Save Money With Celestial Seasonings Tea

winter allergies

This or every winter, you may feel like you have cotton stuffed up your nose, head, face, or even in your ears. Allergies and winter allergies especially are no fun.

You may even get annoying chest congestion, that starts when you wake up and then once you get going, annoyingly disrupts an otherwise good day.

This article is all about what you can do to have a better winter season, facing winter allergies. Read all 11 tips, as they’re all golden to keep you fit and healthy.

Dryness aggravates allergies, so here are some simple moisture tips:

1. Invest in a small humidifier for every room or place you spend time in.

If you’re a Vata, then dryness is something you face regularly, literally on your face (or scalp), and probably on your cracking hands and sandpaper feet. Winter only aggravates dryness. You need a daily winterizing self-care regimen.

You may find yourself wanting to moisturize your rougher face more often. Or do glycolic exfoliation, and facial mask pampering. I have my favorites, but this article is about allergies, so I’ll try to stay on topic 😊

Keeping your body moist with non-fancy products such as Eucerin lotion and pure aloe (clear or Kermit frog green), will help. Every little tidbit helps to keep you calm and your winter allergies, tame.

When I was growing up, humidifiers were these relatively expensive, bulky, and loud machines that took up floor space. And if you’re a decorator, there was no way to dress up the eyesore.

Nowadays you can buy a sleek, inexpensive humidifier at your favorite variety or everything stores like Marshall’s or Home Goods. Table humidifiers are usually less than $20 and if cleaned regularly, you can use them year after year. Many table humidifiers have glowing neon changing color lights that you can turn on for fun and add cool brightness to your day… we all need that!

You can complement a running humidifier with a Vicks Vapor Rub, that contains camphor, menthol, and eucalyptus. I like that it can open up your nasal passages and wake up a Kapha imbalance if you gently sniff. As the name implies, it’s meant to be rubbed on your skin, and so can help chest congestion

For winter allergies/chest congestion:

2. Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV) steaming before you shower. You can do this over a pot on the stove. This is the best thing for chest congestion (coughing up mucus), or if you feel a heaviness to your chest that seems to come on when the weather starts to cool.

Take apple cider vinegar and boil/steam with a water mixture. Inhale and exhale through your mouth so you can deliver directly to your chest. Add more water in the beginning as the vinegar can have a stinging feeling. Then you know that you’re doing something good.

I recommend doing this before you take a shower, as the apple cider vinegar has a strong odor, that can linger on you and your clothes, and be repulsive to a sensitive Vata.

Thankfully it’s easily washed off by taking a shower. If you are highly congested, performing this practice once or twice per day is good. You want to nip it in the bud, so your chest congestion goes away after a few days. It may come back, but then you may only have to perform weekly or bi-weekly. The longer you let it go on, the longer it stays.

I don’t use the good ACV for steaming, as it will be wasted in evaporation. If you only have the expensive or organic ACV, with the mother (the good milky stuff) that’s good for ingestion, just don’t shake up the ACV bottle, and let the mother stay on the bottom.

Keep doing the other ACV tips and neti pot regimens recommended for fall allergies and ragweed allergies. Continue reading “11 Tips For Winter Allergies + Save Money With Celestial Seasonings Tea”

Fall Allergies and Sinus Congestion: Ayurveda vs. Allergy Medicine

Appreciating beauty of trees, even though the downfall is they create fall allergies and sinus congestion. — Trees (even your favorite ones!) create pollen and can create fall allergies havoc, but you can naturally improve your allergy and sinus congestion life and prevent nasty sinus infections with tips below.

Fall allergies and sinus congestion can leave you confused. People wonder, “isn’t pollen relatively low in the fall?” This article is all about addressing this.

I have been a year-round allergy sufferer who only developed allergies about 5 years ago. Post-allergy life is a new normal. If you experience allergies, they don’t have to run (or ruin) your life.

Feel lucky if you live allergy-free. I’m sharing below how I manage fall allergies and sinus congestion. If you experience bothersome sinuses, this could be because you have a Kapha nature (or imbalance). You can find out if you have a Kapha imbalance and how to restore your balance from that perspective.

You can also opt to take an allergy test from an allergist (where they can gently prick your arm or back) and find out if your situation is more complicated. I chose to do that and learned my symptoms were mostly external ones like watery eyes and annoying (but moderate) nasal congestion.

Allergy symptoms can last all day. Late afternoon and evenings can be worse than mornings (the opposite of spring grass allergies).

You may avoid opening windows and live like you’re caged in your castle, but it beats dealing with symptoms that show up the next day. I’m with you because that’s how I spend my days. Gratefully I’m pampered in my fortress and hopefully, you are too 😉. Continue reading “Fall Allergies and Sinus Congestion: Ayurveda vs. Allergy Medicine”