Allergies getting worse

[eronn_actually]

I am on day 21 of my first Whole30, and overall things have been going pretty smoothly, although I've definitely noticed that my hormones are adjusting.

 

Over the past few days, though, my seasonal allergies have gotten worse.  I am allergic to pretty much "everything" as my allergist put it (not food, but all environmental stuff like animal dander, dust, pollen, etc.), and for the past few years I've been taking allegra, singulair and occasionally a nasal spray (although I haven't been using that lately).  My allergies have been very well-controlled on this regimen, despite living with two cats.  Except now I've been noticing that my nose is running a lot more, and I'm sneezing fairly frequently (despite the pollen being pretty low the past few days).

 

I suppose there is a chance I'm getting sick (my right sinus feels very tender), but usually when I get a cold or sinus infection, they come on really quickly.  If that's what this is, it's certainly taking its sweet time.

 

Has anyone else experienced this?  I will probably start using the nasal spray again and see if that helps, and obviously if this turns into a full-blown cold or sinus infection, I'll know it's that.

[Renee Lee]

It's impossible to tell...too many moving pieces.  Here are the first things that came to mind for me:

 

1) immune system is recovered enough at day 21 that it IS a cold and it's just not going to manifest into a full fledged cold. During cold season, I almost never get a real cold any more.  It's like 3-4 days of low-level annoying sniffles, rather than a day getting sick, 3 days of being SICK, and then a day or two recovering from that.

 

2) you could try removing some foods that are high in histamines and see if that helps? Check out this shopping list for what's been excluded. http://whole9life.com/book/ISWF-Shopping-List-Histamine.pdf

 

3) some other confounding factor...being away from the cats for a few days and coming back and getting blasted (happened to me ALL the time), getting dosed with some soy or dairy eating out, whatever.

 

Good luck! My allergies have done nothing but continued to improve the longer I keep the dairy and grains out.

[eronn_actually]

Thanks Renee - #1 had occurred to me, since I don't usually have sinus tenderness with my "normal" allergies.

 

I don't think it's the food specifically, because looking at the low histamine list, I don't eat many of the foods that are grayed out.  Tomatoes, spinach and pistachios are the only ones I've eaten lately, and those were not in large amounts at all (and I haven't had any in the past...3 days, I think).

 

I will keep at it and see how things go.  Right now it's just a slight annoyance, and the benefits of the way I'm eating definitely outweigh the slightly increased sniffles and sneezing.