If you’re allergic to everything, it may interest you to look into mast cell activation or histamine intolerance. There’s also a theory in alternative medicine circles (and an entire Ray Peat forum which is simultaneously informative and nonsensical) about your fat-soluble vitamins are involved with autoimmune/allergy issues and can be out of whack. And so their answer is to take larger amounts of fat soluble vitamins. This can be dangerous if done with animal derived sources of vitamin A, like your skin can start sloughing off and you get wicked nausea and diarrhea and headaches. Theoretically, these symptoms in the Ray Peat world mean you need more vitamins D, E, and K to balance the vitamin A toxicity effects.

I have an issue with absorbing fats/good and my allergies are worse when I’m having flare ups, so I do see some merit in this theory. I have found that supplementing fat soluble vitamins, (+omega 3 and 9, and various other B vitamins and vitamin C, and zinc and iron and copper and selenium), has helped my allergies out a ton. I really really recommend that if you have systemic allergies like this, to see if supplements/vitamins help.

I only have two that I know of:

Siamese cats make my eyes painfully itchy

Rats make me breathe like I have emphysema.

A doc described allergies and migraines the same way to me - you have a cup and different triggers add a bit to your cup. That cup is your tolerance and you get symptoms when it overflows. It can be really hard to detect your triggers because it’s not just mountain cedar or soy or whatever - is 2% this and 3% that until it’s full. You can try a journal of everywhere you go, everything you eat, when/where you’re outside, etc.; but it’s easier to just take the meds. If you think the meds aren’t working, go off them for a few days and see how terrible you feel. On day 1 i get sniffly. By day 3 I itch so bad i can’t sleep.

I’ve had a stuffy nose for almost 50 years. Food makes me stuffy, dust and pollen make me runny.

If I behave food wise and it’s not fall or winter I can be somewhat normal.

Visiting Vegas had me breathing clear if I didn’t make bad food choices.

Medicine is barely effective. Never tried the shots because they’re not effective with food

As far as I know, I have 2 main allergies: pollen and metals (some metals, not sure which exactly).

Pollen

• It feels like my nose is a leaky faucet. It will run and run and I’ll have sneezing fits for hours. If I blow my nose, it makes the inside feel super-dry and itchy, which just kicks off more running and sneezing. So it basically feels pointless to blow my nose at all, and I usually settle for sniffling instead. But if I do that too much, I start getting mini-sinus headaches.
• Flare-ups. Sometimes I’ll see the plants that trigger it and I’ll start sneezing within 10-20 minutes. Other times I’ll go outside and it’ll start out of nowhere. It’ll last for hours.
• Meds do not seem to help at all. Maybe they shorten what would be a 6-hour episode into a 3-hour episode but who tf knows. I have yet to find anything that kicks in faster than a couple hours after use.

Metals

• I break out in a highly localized rash. It’s red, bumpy, and itches like mosquito bites.
• Flare-ups after prolonged contact (several hours) with a metal. It’ll last anywhere from a couple hours to a couple days.
• No meds. It’s pretty easy to ignore when it flares up, and it’s easy enough to avoid exposure.

So I’ve had allergies all my life. Waking up stuffy or sniffling is super common, I don’t even keep track of it. When it’s bad, if I tilt my head back, I’m literally drinking mucus lol (gross). I joke about being allergic to the outdoors, spring time’s bad, and there’s particularly something about the desert that makes my allergies act up. Some of the shrubs out there, sagebrush maybe. And I can get it basically everywhere, even while traveling to other countries, so it seems like I’m allergic to multiple things. My allergy symptoms are pretty much sneezing and sniffling, nothing to do with the throat.

I’ve taken OTC antihistamine meds before. They don’t completely dry me out but it helps a little. They’re not a magical cure, so I actually don’t bother most of the time unless it’s bad and I have something important going on.

I don’t think you’re being a big baby, because it sounds like you just developed this issue? I just deal with it because it’s normal, it’s been going on my whole life, kinda like wearing glasses lol.

I have allergies and they suck.

Most of the year, a daily dose of OTC Claritin takes care of it for me. But sometimes in the spring or fall, the pollen counts get too high and the Claritin isn’t enough. Doesn’t help that I’m allergic to multiple types of pollen. What helps me a lot is to start taking OTC Flonase. It makes a huge difference. The thing with allergies is, the medications work better if you get out in front of the allergic reactions. You can catch up after they start, but it takes longer.

One tip that helps some folks is to take a shower before you go to bed. This can reduce allergens building up on your pillowcase. Obviously, launder your linens regularly.

Also, vacuum the house (wearing a mask) and replace your HVAC filters frequently. Consider getting better filters that are good for allergies (but note they are expensive).

Don’t forget the cabin filter in your car.

Finally, the absolute best allergy therapy that I personally know of is immunotherapy AKA allergy injections. This regimen is a major PITA, but it works really well for some folks. It basically trains your immune system to stop freaking out and tolerate the allergens. I did it as a kid and it completely eliminated my allergies until adulthood when I developed new ones. I have considered doing it again, but I’m making do with the OTC regimen for now.

I hope this was at least a little helpful. You have my sympathy. Allergies are no joke, they can be miserable.

I realized that I had allergies during the height of the pandemic… so the short answer is it gave me way too much unnecessary stress because I was constantly worried whether I got COVID-19.

• Depends… I felt most times it was just “did I finally catch covid or is this just allergy?”, there was once or twice when it got really bad though.
• There was once when I had such a bad allergy that my eyes both flared up and I could barely see… It was bad enough that I reached out to the allergy department of my provider as soon as I was functional & got me into immunotherapy.
• Not meds, but I did 3+ years of immunotherapy: 1+ year of getting allergen injections every week (thankfully still had a car back then), and then once per month of maintenance after I reached the highest dose. Had to stop because of relocation/insurance nonsense… but I think the treatment worked.
• No you’re not being a big baby, please take your health seriously and stay safe & healthy.

Im lucky in that what allergies I have dont stick around.

When spring hits and theres a ton of pollen in the air I feel like I have a cold for about a month. Runny sneezy nose. And a scratchy throat.

When I’m not around dogs or cats for a while my eyes get irritated and I get itchy. Once Im around them for a couple days it goes away.

I will also get random skin irritation (red and itchy) when eating random junk food I havent had in a while.

Most of the time its candy that triggers it as I dont eat it alot, but it will happen with popcorn too.

For me its like a constant cold symptom. Runny or stuffy nose, sneeze attacks, swelling and redness, stuff everyone gets when they get sick.

2 specific pills per day keeps it under control most of the time. Some days nothing can save me. I had to try so many different medicines to finally find what works for me. My stuff doesn’t work for my sister. You’ll just have to try stuff until something works, like an episode of House M.D.

Are you being a big baby? I dunno man, everybody has their struggles. I’ve had my whole life to become numb to this problem. Maybe you’re just not used to it?