The People's Pharmacy

You may think of allergies as causing sniffly noses and congestion in the spring or fall. But allergies can go far beyond that. As Dr. Kari Nadeau points out in this episode, allergies can affect us from head to toe, including eyes, nose, throat, lungs, sinuses, skin and gut. In the most dangerous instances, the whole body is threatened with an anaphylactic reaction. That's a medical emergency! One in three Americans will develop allergies at some point in our lives, so it's important to know what works to control them. At The People's Pharmacy, we strive to bring you up to date, rigorously researched insights and conversations about health, medicine, wellness and health policies and health systems. While these conversations intend to offer insight and perspective, the content is provided solely for informational and educational purposes. Please consult your healthcare provider before making any changes to your medical care or treatment. How You Can Listen You could listen through your local public radio station or get the live stream at 7 am EST on Saturday, June 6, 2026, through your computer or smart phone (wunc.org).  Here is a link so you can find which stations carry our broadcast. (Welcome, Huntsville, Alabama!) If you can't listen to the broadcast, you may wish to hear the podcast later. You can subscribe through your favorite podcast provider, download the mp3 using the link at the bottom of the page, or listen to the stream on this post starting on June 8, 2026. What Are Allergies? We begin our discussion of your allergy survival guide with an explanation of what is happening during an allergic reaction. The immune system perceives some foreign compound, usually a protein, as dangerous even though normally it would not be. So it reacts by trying to flush the invader out by producing extra mucus. The turbinate sinuses can make one to two gallons of mucus a day, and naturally, it has to go somewhere. That's why you might be congested. Having all that mucus in the sinuses can also encourage bacterial growth, so if the allergic reaction persists, some people have to deal with sinus infections. Emergency Treatment In determining what works, you need to know the nature of the reaction. If you have two or more organs involved, if you are having trouble breathing or if you feel dizzy, you may be in the midst of an anaphylactic reaction. What works for that is an epinephrine injection and immediate medical attention. This is potentially life-threatening, so you will want to figure out what triggered the reaction so you can avoid it in the future. Once someone has suffered one anaphylactic reaction, they should keep epinephrine with them at all times in case of another episode. Epinephrine comes as a self-injector pen or a nasal spray (neffy). Can You Spot Drug Allergies? In the warnings that are rattled off as part of a TV ad for a pricey new drug, we often hear viewers cautioned not to take the medicine if they are allergic to it. That sounds like simple common sense, but it also has a Catch 22 quality. How do you know you are allergic to a medication unless you take it–and experience an allergic reaction for which you might need treatment. Most of these presumably are immune system-mediated reactions, in which the body produces IgE. That is how allergies to penicillin or sulfa drugs work. Some drugs cause a different type of reaction, not IgE-mediated but dangerous nonetheless. Lisinopril is the most commonly prescribed blood pressure medicine in this country. Like other ACE (ACE is short for angiotensin-converting enzyme) inhibitor medications, lisinopril can trigger angioedema. This swelling can affect the face, lips, tongue and throat, where it can compromise breathing. The most insidious aspect of this reaction is that it can occur after the person has been taking the drug without problems for weeks, months or even years. “Red man syndrome” or infusion reactions in people taking vancomycin can likewise occur without warning. The last type of drug reaction is not actually an allergy at all, although people occasionally use that terminology. It is better described as sensitivity. For example, a stomachache is a common reaction to the antibiotic erythromycin. Some people are disabled by this abdominal pain and try to limit their exposure to erythromycin thereafter. What Works and What Doesn't? Since the immune system is acting inappropriately to cause allergic reactions, treatment should involve immunotherapy. Eye drops can help eyes feel less itchy and irritated. Likewise, OTC nose drops or nasal sprays can often help the nose. The corticosteroid Flonase (fluticasone) and the antihistamine Astepro (azelastine) are good examples. During allergy season, some people find that a daily nasal wash (with a neti pot or NeilMed device) can help reduce the mucus and remove the allergens such as pollen causing the reaction. There are also oral antihistamines and inhalers for asthma. For decades now, allergists have offered their patients shots to help desensitize them to the allergen causing their trouble. Joe had these as a child and teenager and has been largely free of allergies since. Not everyone gets such lasting relief. Complications from Current Therapies Medications have side effects, and that is true of allergy medicines as with other drugs. Antihistamines, especially the older ones like Benadryl (diphenhydramine), are notorious for causing drowsiness. That's one reason it is often included in nighttime pain relievers as the “PM” in drugs like Advil PM. We worry about regular use of such antihistamines because it has been linked to a greater risk for dementia. A second-generation antihistamine such as Allegra (fexofenadine) is much less likely to make someone feel sleepy. However, Dr. Nadeau has seen patients on antihistamines suffer worse allergies if they stop suddenly. The People's Pharmacy has received hundreds of reports from people who experienced unbearable itching upon discontinuing Zyrtec (cetirizine) or Xyzal (levocetirizine). This can last for weeks. Doctors don't usually worry much about steroid nasal sprays like Flonase because they are topical. Presumably, nasal tissues pick up most of the dose. Just the same, using such a nose spray day after day for a long time could result in systemic steroid exposure that is not trivial. Stronger Medicine Dr. Nadeau is enthusiastic about the benefits of two potent prescription medicines. One is Xolair (omalizumab). It was originally developed to prevent asthma, but is now approved for chronic sinusitis, food allergies and chronic hives. Paradoxically, Xolair is one of those medicines that could cause a severe allergic reaction even on the first dose, so the FDA warns that the initial injection should be given in a healthcare setting prepared to treat anaphylaxis. This is uncommon, though, occurring in 0.1 to 0.2% of patients. The other medication Dr. Nadeau is prescribing for allergy patients who don't respond well to other treatments is Dupixent (dupilumab). The FDA has approved this medicine to treat a wide range of conditions, including eczema, asthma, chronic sinusitis, allergic reactions affecting the esophagus and chronic hives, among other things. Most insurance companies will not cover this pricey injection unless the patient has failed all other therapies. Fighting Air Pollution: What Works Air pollution makes allergy symptoms worse, so using an effective air filter inside the home is a good step. A HEPA (high-efficiency particulate-arresting) filter is ideal, especially as part of the air-handling system. If that's not possible, utilizing a MERV 13 in the part of the home where you spend the most time is a good second choice. Sonu One new option for treating allergies is acoustic resonance therapy with the SoundHealth Sonu headband. It uses vibration from sound to loosen mucus from the sinuses so that they can clear. The FDA has approved its use for children as well as adults. New research was just published demonstrating its helpfulness in treating children with nasal congestion (Oto-Open, April-June 2026). SoundHealth has underwritten The People's Pharmacy podcast. Dr. Nadeau has also been compensated for her role in conducting studies of this device (International Forum of Allergy & Rhinology, Dec. 2025). Since it does not employ medications, there are no drug side effects. This Week’s Guest Kari C. Nadeau, M.D., Ph.D., is Dean of the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health ( starting July 1 2026). Until then, she holds many other positions. At Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health she is: John Rock Professor of Climate and Population Studies; Chair of the Department of Environmental Health; and Director of the Allergy, Extreme Weather, and Exposomics Lab. Dr. Nadeau is Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and serves in the Division of Allergy and Inflammation at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. She is an Adjunct Professor at Stanford Medical School. Dr. Nadeau is also the co-author of The End of Food Allergy, which provides strategies for treating and preventing food allergies in children. Here is a link to the research underway in her Harvard laboratory. PHOTO CREDIT: STACY GEIKENTaken in April 2017 at Kari Nadeau’s professorship dinner The End of Food Allergy: The Science-Based Plan That Turns Food into Medicine The People's Pharmacy is reader supported. When you buy through links in this post, we may earn a small affiliate commission (at no cost to you). Listen to the Podcast The podcast of this program will be available Monday, June 8, 2026, after broadcast on June 6. You can stream the show from this site and download the podcast for free. This episode has additional information about Nasalcrom (cromolyn sodium nasal spray) and its effect on mast cells; alpha gal allergy to red meat; and the latest thinking on preventing peanut allergy among young children. Download the mp3

Over the years, we have spoken with scores of healthcare experts about chronic illness. Many of them attribute the problems to inflammation, which is after all a natural response to infection or injury. But not everyone has a system for locating and addressing the source of the inflammation. If you want to treat the cause, […]

What do you conjure up when you think of music? Perhaps you imagine a singer-songwriter telling her story. On the other hand, you might imagine a parade with a marching band, an orchestra playing an outdoor concert or a mother singing her baby to sleep with a lullaby. Regardless of the format, music acts on […]

Tick season is well underway in many parts of the country. It seems that a mild winter and a warm spring have brought the nymphs out seeking blood. If that blood is yours, you may be exposed to a range of pathogens. What's more, ticks are not the only creatures ready to bite you. Fleas […]

Americans often boast of having the best health care in the world. It is certainly the most expensive health care. We pay twice as much as people in many other industrialized nations. Are we getting our money's worth? Some population statistics, such as life expectancy, suggest we could be doing much better. How can we […]

If you had to name one thing that could contribute to better health throughout the lifespan, what would it be? We think exercise, or at least physical activity deserves the top spot. Yet in 2025, fewer than half of adults met the guidelines for aerobic physical activity. And less than one-quarter were doing both aerobic […]

Hospitals can be pretty overwhelming. Sometimes you may feel like you need a map to find your way around the maze, not to mention a trusty guide to get you to the department or health professional that could actually help you overcome illness. In addition, being hospitalized often means being deprived of fresh air & […]

Millions of Americans are in pain. Arthritic joints make exercise difficult, even though moving is one of the best things we can do for joint pain. Pinched nerves can cause excruciating, long-lasting pain. The usual treatments, such as NSAIDs, may help ease the pain momentarily, but do nothing to help heal the underlying condition. What […]

A chance encounter with a stranger on an airplane offers lessons for all of us in how to disagree without fighting. Infectious disease expert Morgan Goheen, MD, was wary when the person in the seat next to hers struck up a conversation with questions about the origins of Lyme disease and the value of being […]

Chronic diseases make up the bulk of the problems that modern health care must address. Each condition seems to have its own drivers–cholesterol for heart disease, airway hyperreactivity for asthma, neurotransmitter imbalance for depression and other psychiatric disorders, a buildup of amyloid beta in the brain for Alzheimer disease. What if all these conditions had […]

Every five years, the Departments of Agriculture and of Health and Human Services jointly issue guidelines on what we should eat. The most recent Dietary Guidelines for Americans (2025-2030) have been controversial. [Here is a link: https://www.dietaryguidelines.gov] Among other things, the administration decided to flip the food pyramid upside-down in illustrating its recommendations. Why did […]

According to the Alzheimer's Association, nearly seven million Americans currently suffer from that type of dementia. Experts expect that more will be burdened with it in the future, as baby boomers continue to reach advanced ages. Many people are eager to protect the brain from deterioration. In this episode, we discuss an unexpected approach to […]

Obesity is a big problem in the US. The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases says 2 out of every 5 American adults are obese. What's more, one in three is overweight, with only about 25 percent of us at a healthy weight. It's not just adults; children are increasingly suffering weight […]

Most medical interventions are either pharmacological–prescribe a drug–or surgical–remove or repair the offending body part. If those approaches are inappropriate, doctors long for a different technology. In this episode, we discuss the development of a relatively new noninvasive technology, focused ultrasound. Doctors use it to treat conditions such as Parkinson disease or essential tremor. It […]

Medicine has changed enormously over the last several decades. As with other parts of society, digital technology has disrupted previous practices. Clinicians can now care for patients at home, monitoring them with sophisticated sensors for oxygen saturation, heart rhythm, blood pressure and much more. Even more significant, patients now have greater access to medical knowledge […]

Inflammation is a double-edged sword. When you have a sudden injury or infection, your body responds by calling immune cells to the site of the problem. It may become red, swollen and painful, but all that is supposed to be part of the healing process. What happens with chronic inflammation is more insidious. Many serious […]

One of the most basic pillars of health is good nutrition. A range of eating patterns might all be considered balanced diets, but in general people do better when they eat less processed foods and more whole foods. Vegetables and fruits play a starring role in at least two diets that have been studied extensively, […]

Millions of people are feeling apprehensive these days. The headlines are enough to make almost anyone feel anxious. People who are distressed may have a difficult time finding a therapist, however. There are too few, and consequently many are not taking new patients. Wait lists are long, often three to six months. Therapists who are […]

Influenza usually starts in November, and cases increase throughout the winter, not fading until March or so. This year's flu season is especially severe. An awful lot of people are suffering with fever, cough, congestion, body aches, headaches and other symptoms of influenza. Of course, flu is not the only infection out there. Other viruses […]

Do you know someone who has struggled for years to meet deadlines or manage their time? Perhaps you have a smart friend who just never did well in school (or possibly at work) because they couldn't seem to turn papers (or reports) in on time. Such people might find a diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity […]

When doctors talk about infections, they are usually referring to acute situations in which the immune system gets overwhelmed by a virus such as influenza or chickenpox. Infections also result from the interaction of bacteria with the immune system, as in the case of pneumonia or sepsis. These can be crises, but they are relatively […]

Do you worry about things you can't see, smell or taste? Most of us don't. Yet particles we can't detect with our five senses are often present in the air we breathe. They have the power to make us sick. How can we achieve cleaner indoor air so that we have less chance of coming […]

Diabetes is a serious metabolic disorder that affects close to 40 million Americans. Most of them have type 2 diabetes, which means their bodies produce insulin, but their cells are not very responsive to it. As a result, blood sugar builds up and people run the risk of cardiovascular complications like heart attacks or strokes, […]

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For decades, neurologists and pharmaceutical firms have been focused on amyloid plaque building up in the brains as the cause of Alzheimer disease. Drug companies have developed compounds to remove that plaque, and they have been successful. There are medicines, notably lecanemab and donanemab, that reduce the amount of amyloid plaque visible on a scan. […]

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Losing weight is hard. That's probably why almost three-fourths of American adults are overweight or obese. On this episode, we speak with a distinguished doctor and former FDA commissioner who has personal experience struggling with the scale. In this discussion of popular weight-loss drugs like Wegovy, we tackle the biology of weight. We also interview […]

If you have ever suffered with sinusitis, you know how terrible it can make you feel. Breathing is difficult; smelling and tasting anything is impossible. What are the causes of sinusitis and what can you do about it? Joe and Terry talk with a leading physician who does research on how to treat sinusitis to […]

This week, we start the show with an interview with epidemiologist Thomas Farley, MD, MPH. His essay in JAMA Health Forum (Aug. 8, 2025) describes why older Americans are dying of falls at an alarming rate.  Once you have a chance to hear why this problem is worse in the US than in comparable countries, […]

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Americans take a lot of medications. Luckily, the Food and Drug Administration only approves those that are safe and effective. However, the agency's definition of “safe” includes medicines that can harm or kill some people, and the definition of “effective” covers some drugs that only work a little better than placebo. Has the FDA changed […]

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We may not often stop to think about it, but our water, food, furniture and other ordinary items are frequently contaminated with toxic chemicals. In this episode, Dr. Aly Cohen describes these threats to our health. You may have heard of compounds that can disrupt hormonal balance (endocrine disruptors). Everyday toxins like these can also […]

In this episode, our guest, Dr. Andrew Armstrong of Duke University, discusses recent advances that men should know to overcome prostate cancer. We ask about former President Joe Biden's diagnosis. What does it mean to have Stage IV prostate cancer and a Gleason score of 9? News outlets have reported that Mr. Biden's previous prostate […]

This week, we welcome dermatologist Dr. Chris Adigun to our studio to answer your questions about summer skin problems. You can call in your stories and questions about bites, burns and blisters between 7 and 8 am EDT on Saturday, June 21, 2025, at 888-472-3366. Or you can send us your question or story ahead […]

In this episode, we acknowledge the many reasons that people may be feeling anxious or depressed. It often seems that current conditions are designed to break our brains. Perhaps that's why 60 million Americans suffer from depression or anxiety. Not everyone who might be feeling nervous or down in the dumps deserves a diagnosis. However, […]

In this episode, Joe & Terry speak with two scientists studying mosquito preferences. Why are some people mosquito magnets while others barely get bitten? A range of factors influences mosquito behavior and may explain why mosquitoes bite you and leave your neighbor alone. Learn how to outsmart them. You could listen through your local public […]

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In this episode, Joe & Terry speak with two physicians who have examined ways that artificial intelligence might contribute to patient care. Can AI help with better diagnoses? Is robotic surgery better? Could AI save lives or is it more likely to cause trouble? You could listen through your local public radio station or get […]

In this episode, our guest, award-winning science journalist Carl Zimmer, describes the hidden dangers in the air we breathe. He begins with the concept of the aerobiome–the collection of living things from ground level to the stratosphere. While that includes eagles and dragonflies, the most insidious inhabitants are those we can't see. Often, we are […]

This week, the topic is lead. A hundred years ago, chemists discovered that adding lead to gasoline decreased engine knock and gave the cars of the day more power. It remained a popular additive for decades. At the same time, companies were adding lead to house paint to help it last longer. We know now […]

This week, two scientists discuss the evidence on using vitamin C to treat colds and as part of the treatment for cancer. For years, the medical establishment has maintained that such claims could not be considered seriously. But new studies vindicate Linus Pauling, the Nobel Prize winner who postulated that vitamin C would help. You […]

In this episode, investigative journalist Gardiner Harris delves into the dark secrets of one of the country's most admired pharmaceutical firms. Johnson & Johnson sold talcum powder–Johnson's Baby Powder–for decades even though it contained asbestos, an acknowledged carcinogen. How did the company maintain its superb reputation for so long? You could listen through your local […]

This week, Joe and Terry discuss liver health with two specialists. You may not have spent much time thinking about your liver. It is, however, an absolutely essential organ. When the liver is working properly, every part of the body gets the nutrients it needs and no parts are exposed to damaging toxins. These are […]

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In this week's episode, a functional medicine expert will describe how to adjust your lifestyle to achieve the longest healthiest life possible. Is your biological age greater or less than your chronological age—the one you celebrate with birthday cake? How can you increase your chance of enjoying vibrant good health as you grow older? You […]

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This week, two pharmacists describe why you should check with a pharmacist about possible problems when you combine supplements, herbs and medicines. In some cases, a supplement might interfere with your prescription drug. In other situations, an herb might slow metabolism of the medicine and increase the possibility of side effects. It's better to know […]