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I will also add that I suffer from allergies this time of year (late fall through winter). At least once a year I’ll get an allergy attack so severe that it very much feels like a cold or flu – the sudden onslaught of uncontrollable sneezing, runny nose accompanied by deep body aches, fever, chills and fatigue. I feel like I’ve been hit by a freight train and probably look like it. The last time this happened my boss told me (pleaded with me) to go home. The only way I know that it’s not a cold or the flu is that the symptoms completely disappear the next day.

I get that, too. In fact, I can never tell if I have an allergy or a cold. Looking up the symptoms is no help, either, since they are identical.

Anyway, thanks for trying to help educate people. I see so much misinformation in these threads that sometimes, I just want to throw my hands up in despair. But then I think, if no one tries to whittle away at the mountains of misinformation, then the forces of quackery win. So I keep plugging away, trying to educate people.

I see so much misinformation in these threads that sometimes, I just want to throw my hands up in despair.

Can you cite some examples of misinformation from this thread?

I get that, too. In fact, I can never tell if I have an allergy or a cold. Looking up the symptoms is no help, either, since they are identical.

One of these days I might see an allergist and get tested to see if it can be determined to what I’m so allergic. But then it only happens at most a perhaps three times a year and although it pretty much renders me useless while I’m having an attack, fortunately it goes away as quickly as it comes. It does puzzle me however as I can’t connect it to anything in particular – while it usually hits me in late fall through the winter, I’ve had attacks at other times of the year as well. When the pollen counts are very high, I might sneeze a bit but nothing like what I described. I’m not allergic to cats or dogs either. As I mentioned, when I had my last attack my boss actually told me to go home for the rest of the day and when I came in the next morning perfectly fine, she was amazed.

Anyway, thanks for trying to help educate people. I see so much misinformation in these threads that sometimes, I just want to throw my hands up in despair. But then I think, if no one tries to whittle away at the mountains of misinformation, then the forces of quackery win. So I keep plugging away, trying to educate people.

Thank you. But I’m just a “lay” person with a lifelong interest in science. You, as someone with the education, the PhD and actual experience in the field, do a much better job in trying to counter the misinformation and promotion of quackery. It’s too bad that it falls on so many deaf ears.