Thoughs on Class 3 BioChem - A Dog is Better than Flonase

I had a dog in the house from birth to 4 years old. I started developing allergies around the age of 7 and again during undergrad. Reading the article Can Dogs Keep Kids from Getting Allergies made me wonder if allergies would be part of my today if I continued to have a dog throughout my life. Theoretically speaking a dog can only expose the household to contaminants based in the local environment. There is a possibility I have a richer microbiome for San Bernardino County, CA. Shortly after moving to locations such as Orange County and Monterrey County, then I developed resurgence of nasal allergies. As one moves from Southern CA to Northern CA multiple factors change such as local agriculture, environmental moisture, pollutants, wildlife activity, pollen, and trees. While living in Monterey, my housing was next to a huge wildlife preservation. All I knew was life in the suburbs, major cities, and desert. In Monterey from the land to the sea everything was new to me. I saw luscious trees not of palm origin, a skyline without smog, and a wealth of wildlife I had no idea could still survive in present day CA.

The downside was frequent sneezing, runny nose, and constant nasal inflammation. After a year the allergies subsided and I visited Southern CA twice. When I returned for my first summer in Southern CA I was a dry eye and runny nose mess. Its as if I adjusted to cleaner air and I was allergic to my smog ridden home. This didn't last for very long. Looking back it may all be connected to a dog. After returning from my summer I acquired a new roommate with a dog. Similar to myself the dog was traveling between two homes, one in LA and one in Central CA. This dog had the off leash freedom to enjoy hikes in the vast wilderness near my school as well as the complex streets of downtown LA. I didn't realize until now that my allergies subsided from that time until moving to Oakland. My allergies flared up again and subsided around the time I started dogsitting. Yes, there is a huge possibility I am making connections because I am looking for connections. There is also a possibility a dog is better than Flonase (brand presciption drug for nasal congestion).

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Thoughts on Week 8 Class Discussion

When we were discussing the Alkaline diet, my mind kept drifting back to our discussion on color rich foods. I noticed many of the slightly-moderately acidic foods were beige, brown, and tan. The foods in the alkaline category encompassed a variety of colors within each ph range. I realized the two are connected as in most things in life. This means I don't need to know the ph of every food I eat. If I eat a well balanced meal with multiple colors of the rainbow with a hint of beige/tan/brown then I am doing pretty well. I like having the list on hand as an easy cheat sheet for my most recent grocery shopping trip. I picked at least one food in each category and intentionally bought items which were different colors. I will begin meal prep after class today and see how I feel after the end of the week. I can report back via this blog on what I did and how I feel. I love being my own test subject :)
Read more

Chem - HW#2

During class we read an article called "Are you Eating Monsanto weed killer for breakfast." It really opened my eyes to how bioaccumalation of pesticides is affecting us. The study performed by the Alliance for Natural Health showed trace amounts of synthetic pesticides in pre-packaged breakfast foods and grains. This wasn't surprising to me because in the back of my mind I believe none of those items benefit my health. The shocker was "the amount detected in cage-free organic eggs actually exceeded the allowable limit under FDA guidelines." This means the chickens are eating so much corn and feed with synthetic pesticides that their bodies have accumulated more than the regulated amount. I never considered how the synthetic pesticides are getting into the animals and for chickens this means its getting into their eggs. I realized I am likely ingesting more chemicals and synthetic pesticides than I am aware. I currently only buy pasture raised eggs, but I have n...
Read more

Thoughts of Week 3 Class Discussion

As many of our class discussions go, we were on the up and optimistic for our class discussion. One things that stood out to me was how little I know about what to do with my own waste and more importantly my view on what waste is terrifyingly narrow. I originally thought of waste as items which are molded, broken beyond repair, and used paper/plastic/electronics products. In the middle of our discussion I started thinking of everything in my bathroom, under my sinks, and whats gets disposed of during a move out. I thought of my nail polish, toxic makeup, bath products, cleaning products, single use containers, expired herbal patents, and more. It's appalling about how much waste I currently have and do not know what to do with.  This lead me to do some research and I found more information on how to dispose of hazard waste, but I am still unsure on how to dispose of items which arent quite labeled as hazardous waste such as: makeup and nail polish.
Read more