A series that runs every Tuesday, where I ask questions unrelated to the environment, fair trade, or local politics that I’ve been wondering about but haven’t been able to google the answers to. Any advice is appreciated.
Not too long ago, the USC pharmacy sold me another girl’s Lamictal along with my usual pharmaceudicals, cuz I didn’t check what I was paying for.
I got home to two frantic phone messages asking me to return the stuff.
Easy enough — I talked to the pharmacist — and she told me she’d already talked to my doc, who said that I’m not the kind of gal that would take advantage of this kind of mixup.
So I returned the Lamictal for a full refund — which was just $15. Both the Lamictal gal and I have damn good insurance, by US standards.
But — The whole incident made me think of an email from a reader demanding to know why I took Claritin for allergies, instead of opting for herbal remedies, or more drastically, changing my environment significantly.
My allergies are very much seasonal. There are months when I take 3 claritin a day, but most days, I take none.
What I’m wondering is: Are there readers out there who had pretty bad allergies but were able to bring them under control without using pharmaceudicals?
My seasonal pollen allergies used to be much worse and I’m not entirely sure why they’re better now. But I’ve been converted to indoor air filters and quercetin (an herbal supplement) and that’s all I need.
Comment by Kurt — June 20, 2006 @ 6:42 am
Not allergies, but I’m reliant on daily doses of drugs to maintain my sanity…
Not to tell you what to do–did the reader actually “demand”? That’s kind of rude, man–but when T. got a really bad case of allergies in Florida last week, I told him to take 2 tbs of apple cider vinegar with water and 20 drops of echinacea extract and it helped him a lot. I’m totally into this herbal remedy thing now–thinking of getting a reference book for easy lookup.
Comment by Jasmin — June 20, 2006 @ 9:05 am
Synthetic medicines are a very recent phenomenon, those natural remedies were all people really had before the 20th century. This is the only western nation where drug prices aren’t regulated and they gouge us whenever possible. There was a time when scientists created new drugs to help humanity (oh, yes they also got recognition, their names went down in history and there is always that little prize called the Nobel). They claim that they need to charge so much to continue research, but that isn’t true – they need to charge that much to make huge profits. The more money they make the more they can stuff into the pockets of politicians.
The other problem with the big US pharmaceuticals is that they are in such a rush to get “medicine†out to the public that we don’t need (think of all the new sleep aids and things like “restless leg syndromeâ€) that there have been major problems and some of these medicines have had to be recalled due to deaths from heart attack, sleep eating/walking/driving etc. At the same time women with doctors prescriptions have to fight to get birth control pills from their local pharmacies.
I would say if it is natural and it works – give it a shot, it will make you feel better in so many ways!
Comment by Penny — June 20, 2006 @ 9:56 am
I used to have nasty seasonal allergies that have all but disappeared. The disappearance seems to have corresponded with the start of my vegetarianism six years ago, but I can’t say whether the two are related or not.
Comment by lauren — June 20, 2006 @ 4:21 pm
Well, no. But I find that my allergies are very much lessened when (if) I remember to take bee pollen for about 6 weeks before allergy season starts. I think it works on more or less the same principle as allergy shots -desensitization. Maybe. But it works.
Comment by Andrea — June 21, 2006 @ 9:22 am
Well, the reader didn’t say “I demand to know…” so maybe “demand” was a lil strong. His exact words were: “Allergies to what? …. What is it that’s so in-your-face that you have to use drugs?”
Penny — I tots agree about the probs with big pharma. So whenever possible I try to do without, but once in a while my allergies get really bad — can’t get out of bed without drugs bad. It’s tough, cuz it then becomes a choice between supporting big pharma and living life –
I’m gonna investigate enviro-friendly filters and this bee pollen thing — I just need to remember to take it 6 weeks before! Thanks for the info, Kurt and Andrea :)
Comment by Siel — June 26, 2006 @ 2:51 pm
Little late on this one… but if you’re still reading Siel, I have a few suggestions.
1) Eat a spoon full of LOCAL honey (the more local the better) a day during allergy season. Honey or Bee Pollen that is not local will not help you nearly as much.
2) Try out a Netti Pot. Though a little wierd at first, these little devices can become quite addictive. They keep both allergies an colds away.
Hope your having fun,
E
Comment by EC — August 2, 2006 @ 1:01 pm
I have to be honest about not been enamored by the netti pot… I may get over it one day, but for now — am really intrigued by the local honey concept! Will be stopping by the local farmer’s market to check this out ASAP!
Comment by Siel — August 2, 2006 @ 7:23 pm