Apparently Non-IgE Symptoms of Tobacco Smoke Allergy

Introduction Post

I figured out I'm allergic to cigarette and tobacco smoke in 2004, the day after I sat with a table of smokers for an hour in a music club. The next day I was too sick to do anything. I had sinus pain and pressure, chest pressure and wheezing, fatigue, stomach pain and pain in my arms and legs.

I've probably been allergic to it all my life. I grew up before there were restrictions on smoking and this would explain why I had frequent headaches and fatigue - though my other allergies also played a part.

I love music and dancing and continued to go to music clubs in spite of the symptoms. I would usually spend about 2 hours at a club before the sore throat and sinus pressure made me tired. It would be a day or two, sometimes three, to fully recover.

The symptoms got worse as I got older and I'm very grateful for the smoke-free laws! If smoking was still allowed in music clubs I would have had to stop going and I don't know what, if anything, could have replaced it in my life!

Now a combination of allergy management and lifestyle changes has made it possible to differentiate my smoke symptoms from other allergy symptoms.

I believe it's a non-IgE allergy because it's dose-dependent. If I'm able to avoid all but a little smoke, the symptoms aren't too bad. If I get a lot of smoke - like cigars on New Year's Eve or a punk rock show back in the day - I will be sick for days. Needless to say, I avoid it as much as possible and carry a mask just in case. I don't want to be even a little bit sick if I don't have to!

So I went out the other night to a music event at a small club. People go outside to smoke and some smoke comes into the doorway and the front part of the club. I spent most of my time in the other room - however, I did spend a little time in the front and picked up a little smoke. At one point I stepped outside for a quick word with someone and it went longer than expected, and I got a little more smoke there. The people I was talking to weren't smoking, but the wind blew a little over by us. Then again when I was leaving, a bit more even though I stayed away from the smokers. So altogether, a small but significant amount of smoke. My mold and ragweed allergies may make the exposure threshold a little lower than other times of year.

I didn't notice symptoms at the time. There probably was some congestion and inflammation, but it's gradual and seems like normal allergies.

After I got home, I irrigated my sinuses to help flush out smoke and allergens.

The next day my main symptom was sinus pain that was enough to be bothersome, but not enough to take more than the usual meds. With smoke the pain feels like it's deep in my sinuses, right in the center. Like a knot.

Also my sinuses felt dry and I used saline a few times. There seemed to be a little congestion too. I also irrigated the following evening, 22 hours after exposure. The pain and dryness didn't completely go away until the morning of the next day, 36 hours after exposure.

I've wondered if it's a t-cell reaction, but it's not very similar to my t-cell allergy to dust. It has a delay of less than 12 hours, not 24 hours. The sinus pain from dust is very different in low doses. With a small amount of dust I get an ache around the edges of my sinuses, and more systemic symptoms like fatigue and arm and leg pain. I don't notice this with the tobacco smoke allergy.

Drug companies will do anything

Introduction Post

For about a year I've been having trouble getting the allergy meds I need. Ever since the people who make Benadryl decided it was a good idea to put calcium in the pills. Calcium tears up my stomach. I can't take anything that contains calcium.

It's well documented in Annals of Allergy that people with allergies tend to have acid stomach. It's well known among GI doctors that calcium stimulates stomach acid.
The makers of Benadryl are apparently unaware of this. Their response to my upset emails was basically "come hold our hands and teach us". They don't do research or even read the medical journal in their own field! Since manufacturers copy each other like sheep, store brand versions are the same.

I've been noticing this in other meds also, and even worse. Pseudoephedrine (sudafed) contains calcium now, as does almost every other pill I look at. The few pills that don't contain calcium contain lactose - a wonderful idea when many people are lactose intolerant!

But even worse, the Sudafed brand of phenylephrine (an alternative decongestant) contains vinyl.
That's right, one of the ingredients is known to cause allergies. It's listed as polyvinyl alcohol.

I found a Walgreen's combo that contains acetaminophen with phenylephrine, and another version that also contains chlorpheniramine, with no calcium or lactose. I've been using these since last fall.

This is the only way I've found to get an antihistamine without the garbage that upsets my stomach.

Today I went to the Edgewater Walgreen's to get more. Mold is in the red zone and ragweed moderately high and on top of that I have a cold. I need this medicine more than ever. They had one box of the one without chlorphen. The associate told me they hadn't received the one with chlorphen since July 13. They're either discontinuing or changing it. Great timing, at the height of allergy season!

She checked all the other options and they all have calcium or lactose. A few years ago my stomach decided not to digest corn anymore - The Walgreen's brand of chlorphen doesn't have the other stuff, but it does have corn starch, which seems to be another common ingredient of theirs, and is one of the common food allergens.

I think customers are catching on to the meds that are upsetting their stomachs with calcium, because Walgreen's wasn't out of those. Only the ones without calcium.

Very anxious and disappointed, I looked at the sleep aids. They are the same medicine as Benadryl - an antihistamine. They all contain calcium except one. Sominex contains both calcium and lactose.
There is one that doesn't have either - Unisom.

Yay? No! Unisom contains phthalates! It lists "polyvinyl acetate phthalate" as an ingredient.
They are deliberately putting an ingredient that *causes* allergies in their medicine!

I don't know why they can't just use cellulose and iron oxide to make the pills. Why do they think calcium, lactose, artificial sweeteners, phthalates and other garbage are necessary? Are they trying to make us sick?

I wouldn't put it past them.