That Lemon Stuff Just Might Be Working

All this week, the folks I work with have been sneezing, sniffling and otherwise complaining about their seasonal allergies. In years past, I'd have been right with them.

Not this year.

There may be several factors: Maybe the junk I'm allergic to isn't floating around yet. Or, just maybe, the lemon juice/lemon oil/peppermint oil concoction my wife and I have been taking for the past few months in anticipation of allergy season is working.

I can't say I'm symptom-free. On the days folks have been complaining loudly, I have had a slight tingling in the nasal passages, the kind I usually get when the allergies are going to kick in. But that's it. Usually, the tingling is gone by 10 am or so, and I'm not bothered by anything for the rest of the day. I could easily be imagining things, but part of me believes as well that this herbal cure is actually doing something.

I'll take a cure -- even one that's only in me head, Mrs. Tweedy -- over the modern pharmacological one I've been using. I use an OTC version of, drat, forget the brand name. Want to type Ritalin, but that's something completely different. Anyway, I use a generic version of a popular antihistamine that, though it stops the allergy symptoms, leaves me a bit tired and often with thingling in my fingers. I get all of the symptom easing with the lemon juice cocktail, but none of the fatigue and finger-tingling. I like that in a cure.