Antihistamines’ Generation Gap
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Are You Ready For Allergy Season?
For those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, fall will be upon us soon, and we have a few weeks to be ready for it. A common seasonal ailment is of course seasonal allergies—it’s not serious for most of us, but it can be very annoying, and can disrupt a lot of our normal activities.
Suddenly, a thing that notionally does us no real harm, is making driving dangerous, cooking take three times as long, sex laughable if not off-the-table (so to speak), and the lightest tasks exhausting.
So, what to do about it?
Antihistamines: first generation
Ye olde antihistamines such as diphenhydramine and chlorpheniramine are probably not what to do about it.
They are small molecules that cross the blood-brain barrier and affect histamine receptors in the central nervous system. This will generally get the job done, but there’s a fair bit of neurological friendly-fire going on, and while they will produce drowsiness, the sleep will usually be of poor quality. They also tax the liver rather.
If you are using them and not experiencing unwanted side effects, then don’t let us stop you, but do be aware of the risks.
See also: Long-term use of diphenhydramine ← this is the active ingredient in Benadryl in the US and Canada, but safety regulations in many other countries mean that Benadryl has different, safer active ingredients elsewhere.
Antihistamines: later generations
We’re going to aggregate 2nd gen, 3rd gen, and 4th gen antihistamines here, because otherwise we’ll be writing a history article and we don’t have room for that. But suffice it to say, later generations of antihistamines do not come with the same problems.
Instead of going in all-guns-blazing to the CNS like first-gens, they are more specific in their receptor-targetting, resulting in negligible collateral damage:
Special shout-out to cetirizine and loratadine, which are the drugs behind half the brand names you’ll see on pharmacy shelves around most of the world these days (including many in the US and Canada).
Note that these two are very often discussed in the same sentence, sit next to each other on the shelf, and often have identical price and near-identical packaging. Their effectiveness (usually: moderate) and side effects (usually: low) are similar and comparable, but they are genuinely different drugs that just happen to do more or less the same thing.
This is relevant because if one of them isn’t working for you (and/or is creating an unwanted side effect), you might want to try the other one.
Another honorable mention goes to fexofenadine, for which pretty much all the same as the above goes, though it gets talked about less (and when it does get mentioned, it’s usually by its most popular brand name, Allegra).
Finally, one that’s a little different and also deserving of a special mention is azelastine. It was recently (ish, 2021) moved from being prescription-only to being non-prescription (OTC), and it’s a nasal spray.
It can cause drowsiness, but it’s considered safe and effective for most people. Its main benefit is not really the difference in drug, so much as the difference in the route of administration (nasal rather than oral). Because the drug is in liquid spray form, it can be absorbed through the mucus lining of the nose and get straight to work on blocking the symptoms—in contrast, oral antihistamines usually have to go into your stomach and take their chances there (we say “usually”, because there are some sublingual antihistamines that dissolve under the tongue, but they are less common.)
Better than antihistamines?
Writer’s note: at this point, I was given to wonder: “wait, what was I squirting up my nose last time anyway?”—because, dear readers, at the time I got it I just bought one of every different drug on the shelf, desperate to find something that worked. What worked for me, like magic, when nothing else had, was beclometasone dipropionate, which a) smelled delightfully of flowers, which might just be the brand I got, b) needs replacing now because I got it in March 2023 and it expired July 2024, and c) is not an antihistamine at all.
But, that brings us to the final chapter for today: systemic corticosteroids
They’re not ok for everyone (check with your doctor if unsure), and definitely should not be taken if immunocompromised and/or currently suffering from an infection (including colds, flu, COVID, etc) unless your doctor tells you otherwise (and even then, honestly, double-check).
But! They can work like magic when other things don’t. Unlike antihistamines, which only block the symptoms, systemic corticosteroids tackle the underlying inflammation, which can stop the whole thing in its tracks.
Here’s how they measure up against antihistamines:
❝The results of this systematic review, together with data on safety and cost effectiveness, support the use of intranasal corticosteroids over oral antihistamines as first line treatment for allergic rhinitis.❞
~ Dr. Robert Puy et al.
Take care!
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How to Eat (And Still Lose Weight) – by Dr. Andrew Jenkinson
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You may be wondering: what diet is he recommending?
The answer is: some guiding principles aside…. He’s not recommending a diet, per se.
What this book does instead is outline why we eat too much ← link is to where we previously had this author as a spotlight featured expert on this topic! Check it out!
He goes into a lot more detail than we ever could have in our little article, though, and this book is one of those where the reader may feel as though we have had a few classes at medical school. The style, however, is very comprehensible and accessible; there’s no obfuscating jargon here.
Once we understand the signalling that goes on in terms of hunger/satiety, and the signalling that goes on in terms of fat storage/metabolism, we can simply choose to not give our bodies the wrong signals. Yes, it’s really that simple. It feels quite like a cheat code!
Bottom line: if you’d like a better understanding of what regulates our body’s “set point” in weight/adiposity, and what can change it (for better or for worse), then this is the book for you.
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The Best Mobility Exercises For Each Joint
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Stiff joints and tight muscles limit movement, performance, and daily activities. They also increase the risk of injury, and increase recovery time if the injury happens. So, it’s pretty important to take care of that!
Here’s how
Key to joint health involves understanding mobility, flexibility, and stability:
- Mobility: active joint movement through a range of motion.
- Flexibility: muscle lengthening passively through a range of motion.
- Stability: body’s ability to return to position after disturbance.
Different body parts have different needs when it comes to prioritizing mobility, flexibility, and stability exercises. So, with that in mind, here’s what to do for your…
- Wrists: flexibility and stability (e.g., wrist circles, loaded flexions/extensions).
- Elbows: Stability is key; exercises like wrist and shoulder movements benefit elbows indirectly.
- Shoulders: mobility and stability; exercises include prone arm circles, passive hangs, active prone raises, easy bridges, and stick-supported movements.
- Spine: mobility and stability; recommended exercises include cat-cow and quadruped reach.
- Hips: mobility and flexibility through deep squat hip rotations; beginners can use hands for support.
- Knees: stability; exercises include elevated pistols, Bulgarian split squats, lunges, and single-leg balancing.
- Ankles: flexibility and stability; exercises include lunges, prying goblet squats, and deep squats with support if necessary.
For more on all of these, plus visual demonstrations, enjoy:
Click Here If The Embedded Video Doesn’t Load Automatically!
Want to learn more?
You might also like to read:
Building & Maintaining Mobility
Take care!
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COVID is still around and a risk to vulnerable people. What are the symptoms in 2025? And how long does it last?
10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.
Five years ago, COVID was all we could think about. Today, we’d rather forget about lockdowns, testing queues and social distancing. But the virus that sparked the pandemic, SARS-CoV-2, is still circulating.
Most people who get COVID today will experience only a mild illness. But some people are still at risk of severe illness and are more likely to be hospitalised with COVID. This includes older people, those who are immunocompromised by conditions such as cancer, and people with other health conditions such as diabetes.
Outcomes also tend to be more severe in those who experience social inequities such as homelessness. In the United Kingdom, people living in the 20% most deprived areas have double chance of being hospitalised from infectious diseases than those in the least deprived areas.
How many cases and hospitalisations?
In Australia, 58,000 COVID cases have been reported so far in 2025. However, testing rates have declined and not all positive cases are reported to the government, so case numbers in the community are likely much higher.
Latest data from FluCan, a network of 14 hospitals, found 781 people were hospitalised for COVID complications in the first three months of the year. This “sentinel surveillance” data gives a snapshot from a handful of hospitals, so the actual number of hospitalisations across Australia is expected to be much higher.
While deaths are lower than previous years, 289 people died from COVID-related respiratory infections in the first two months of the year.
What can we expect as we head into winter?
We often see an increase in respiratory infections in winter.
However, COVID peaks aren’t just necessarily seasonal. Over the past few years, peaks have tended to appear around every six months.
What are the most common COVID symptoms?
Typical early symptoms of COVID included fever, cough, sore throat, runny nose and shortness of breath. These have remained the most common COVID symptoms across the multiple variant waves.
Early in the pandemic, we realised COVID caused a unique symptom called anosmia – the changed sense of taste or smell. Anosmia lasts about a week and in some cases can last longer. Anosmia was more frequently reported from infections due to the ancestral, Gamma, and Delta variants but not for the Omicron variant, which emerged in 2021.
However, loss of smell still seems to be associated with some newer variants. A recent French study found anosmia was more frequently reported in people with JN.1.
But the researchers didn’t find any differences for other COVID symptoms between older and newer variants.
Should you bother doing a test?
Yes. Testing is particularly important if you experience COVID-like symptoms or were recently exposed to someone with COVID and are at high-risk of severe COVID. You might require timely treatment.
If you are at risk of severe COVID, you can see a doctor or visit a clinic with point-of-care testing services to access confirmatory PCR (polymerase chain reaction) testing.
Rapid antigen tests (RATs) approved by Australia’s regulator are also still available for personal use.
But a negative RAT doesn’t mean that you don’t have COVID – especially if you are symptomatic.
If you do test positive, while you don’t have to isolate, it’s best to stay at home.
If you do leave the house while experiencing COVID symptoms, minimise the spread to others by wearing a well-fitted mask, avoiding public places such as hospitals and avoiding contact with those at higher risk of severe COVID.
How long does COVID last these days?
In most people with mild to moderate COVID, it can last 7–10 days.
Symptomatic people can spread the infection to others from about 48 hours before you develop symptoms to about ten days after developing symptoms. Few people are infectious beyond that.
But symptoms can persist in more severe cases for longer.
A UK study which tracked the persistence of symptoms in 5,000 health-care workers found symptoms were less likely to last for more than 12 weeks in subsequent infections.
General fatigue, for example, was reported in 17.3% of people after the first infection compared with 12.8% after the second infection and 10.8% following the third infection.
Unvaccinated people also had more persistent symptoms.
Vaccinated people who catch COVID tend to present with milder disease and recover faster. This may be because vaccination prevents over-activation of the innate immune response.
Vaccination remains the best way to prevent COVID
Vaccination against COVID continues to be one of the most effective ways to prevent COVID and protect against it. Data from Europe’s most recent winter, which is yet to be peer reviewed, reports COVID vaccines were 66% effective at preventing symptomatic, confirmed COVID cases.
Most people in Australia have had at least one dose of the COVID vaccine. But if you haven’t, people over 18 years of age are recommended to have a COVID vaccine.
Boosters are available for adults over 18 years of age. If you don’t have any underlying immune issues, you’re eligible to receive a funded dose every 12 months.
Boosters are recommended for adults 65–74 years every 12 months and for those over 75 years every six months.
Adults over 18 years who are at higher risk because of weaker immune systems are recommended to get a COVID vaccine every 12 months and are eligible every six months.
Check your status and eligibility using this booster eligibility tool and you can access your vaccine history here.
A new review of more than 4,300 studies found full vaccination before a SARS-CoV-2 infection could reduce the risk of long COVID by 27% relative to no vaccination for the general adult population.
With ongoing circulation of COVID, hybrid immunity from natural infection supplemented with booster vaccination can help prevent large-scale COVID waves.
Meru Sheel, Associate Professor and Epidemiologist, Infectious Diseases, Immunisation and Emergencies (IDIE) Group, Sydney School of Public Health, University of Sydney
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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A warm, wet spring means more mozzies. How to protect yourself from the diseases they spread
10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.
Mosquito bites are annoying. They can also have deadly consequences. So what diseases do mosquitoes in Australia carry?
And with warmer weather on its way and rain expected to continue, how can you prepare for the coming mosquito season?
Mosquitoes are deadliest animal
Mosquitoes kill more people than any other animal. Worldwide, more than half a million people die each year from mosquito bites that transmit malaria parasites.
Australia is fortunate to be free of major outbreaks of malaria, though occasional cases do occur.
The most common mosquito-borne disease in Australia is caused by Ross River virus. Around 5,000 cases are reported each year and, while never fatal, the illness can be severely debilitating. Symptoms include fever, rash, joint pain and fatigue.
Mosquito populations fluctuate year by year. A/Prof Cameron Webb (NSW Health Pathology), CC BY-NC-SA Murray Valley encephalitis virus is responsible for very rare but potentially fatal disease. It’s detected most years in northern Australia.
There has been a resurgence of the virus in southeastern parts of Australia following flooding in recent years. Mosquitoes pick up the virus from waterbirds throughout the Murray Darling Basin before they pass on the pathogen to people. Mosquito and waterbird populations both boom after flooding.
Mosquitoes in some coastal areas of Victoria can also pass on the flesh-eating bacteria that can cause Buruli ulcer.
What about Japanese encephalitis?
Japanese encephalitis virus can cause fever, headaches, vomiting and, in rare cases, death.
Over the summer of 2021-22, there were 45 cases of Japanese encephalitis in southeastern Australia. This virus was never expected to spread so widely. In some parts of Australia, people died due to mosquito bites for the first time in around 50 years.
Scientists and health authorities thought Japanese encephalitis virus would transmit in a similar way to the closely related Murray Valley encephalitis virus, with outbreaks typically occurring after flooding that provided ideal conditions for both mosquitoes and the waterbirds carrying the virus.
But we now know pigs – especially feral pigs – are in the mix too, along with a range of other animals.
With gaps in our understanding of what drives local transmission, predictions of Japanese encephalitis activity are now proving to be less reliable. This makes it hard to work out the threat it may pose this summer.
Last summer, despite the lack of any substantial rainfall, the virus turned up even though mosquito (and waterbird) populations were generally low.
The virus also wasn’t limited to those areas where we’d expect to see it. There is growing evidence it’s made its way to the east coast, with the virus detected in the suburbs of Brisbane.
Ongoing wet weather can provide ideal conditions for mosquitoes. A/Prof Cameron Webb (NSW Health Pathology), CC BY-NC-SA How will the weather impact mosquitoes this season?
Like all insects, mosquitoes thrive in warmer weather. But they also need water.
It doesn’t really matter if it’s a “wet” or “dry” summer, mosquitoes are always active. But sometimes there are more – lots more.
In most parts of Australia, there is currently no shortage of water. Some regions have had record rainfall this winter, with more on the way.
The Bureau of Meteorology is predicting above-average rainfall through to the end of the year. Once the weather warms up, it could be a “buzzy” start to mosquito season.
This doesn’t mean outbreaks of mosquito-borne disease are inevitable. But we need to be alert to the risks and how best to protect ourselves and family.
Scientists like me trap mosquitoes across Australia each summer to track changes in their abundance, as well as activity of pathogens. A/Prof Cameron Webb (NSW Health Pathology), CC BY-NC-SA Monitoring mozzies
More rain means a greater risk of mosquito-borne disease. But outbreaks aren’t easy to predict, so surveillance is critical.
Australian state and territory health authorities undertake monitoring of mosquitoes and the pathogens they carry each year. The objective is to provide an early warning of elevated risk of mosquito-borne diseases. This may be due to increased mosquito activity or the detection of mosquito-borne pathogens.
Given the uncertainty around Japanese encephalitis, it’s also important to monitor locations where the virus has not yet been detected.
How to stay safe this spring and summer
There’s a lot you can do to protect yourself and family from mosquito bites and mosquito-borne disease.
A vaccine is available for those at risk of Japanese encephalitis. See your local health professional for advice on accessing the vaccine.
But there aren’t vaccines for the other local mosquito-borne diseases. Nor are there any specific treatments for these diseases. So preventing mosquito bites is the best way to protect yourself.
If you’re outdoors when mosquitoes are active, cover up with long pants, a long-sleeved shirt and covered shoes. Apply an insect repellent containing diethyltoluamide, picaridin, or oil of lemon eucalyptus to all exposed skin.
Skip the stickers, patches and wristbands, as the evidence shows they aren’t a reliable way to prevent bites.
Keep your property free of mosquito breeding grounds, too. Mosquitoes can lay eggs in any container that fills with water: a plant saucer, a bird bath, discarded plastic buckets, bottles or tins. Tip them out each week, cover them up or throw them away.
Cameron Webb, Clinical Associate Professor, School of Medical Science & Sydney Infectious Diseases Institute; Principal Hospital Scientist, University of Sydney
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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Blueberries vs Jackfruit – Which is Healthier?
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Our Verdict
When comparing blueberries to jackfruit, we picked the blueberries.
Why?
Both have their merits!
In terms of macros, blueberries have more fiber and jackfruit has more protein. However, notwithstanding jackfruit being a common culinary stand-in for animal-based meats due to its texture, it doesn’t actually have that much more protein than blueberries (and, for what it’s worth, less protein than avocado), so we say the extra fiber in blueberries counts for more, and thus blueberries get a small nominal win in this category.
As for vitamins, jackfruit does sweep this category: blueberries have more of vitamins E and K, while jackfruit has more of vitamins A, B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B7, B9, and C, winning.
Looking at minerals, blueberries have more iron, manganese, selenium, and zinc, while jackfruit has more calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, and potassium, for a 4:4 tie here.
In other considerations, blueberries are famous for their antioxidants and not without reason; blueberries are much higher in polyphenols, so that’s another point in their favor.
Adding up the sections makes for a clear overall win for blueberries, but by all means do enjoy either or both, as diversity is best!
Want to learn more?
You might like:
Jackfruit vs Durian – Which is Healthier? ← including some fun durian facts (such as how to pick a good one, and what happens if you eat durian and drink alcohol)
Enjoy!
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The Diet That Reduces Stroke Risk By Up To 25% In Women
10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.
The Mediterranean Diet is considered by many to be the current “gold standard” of healthy eating, and with good reason. With 10,000+ studies underpinning it and counting, it has a pretty hefty weight of evidence.
(For contrast, the Ketogenic Diet for example has under 5,000 studies at time of writing,and many of those include mentioning the problems with it. That’s not to say the Keto is without its merits! It certainly can help achieve some short term goals, but that’s getting a little off-topic here so we’ll not derail)
Wondering what the Mediterranean Diet consists of? We outlined it in a previous main feature, so here it is for your convenience:
The Mediterranean Diet: What Is It Good For? ← also covers which foods actually go into it, and which don’t 😎
To get us started today, we’ll quickly drop some links to a few of those Mediterranean Diet studies from the top:
- Definition of the Mediterranean Diet; a Literature Review
- Mediterranean Diet In Healthy Aging
- Cancer and Mediterranean Diet: A Review
- Impact of Mediterranean Diet on Chronic Non-Communicable Diseases and Longevity
- Mediterranean diet and cardiovascular disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies
- Adherence to Mediterranean diet and health status: meta-analysis
The short version is: it glows, in a good way.
There’s nothing mid about about the Med when it comes to the mind
For that matter, there is also a brain-focused set of tweaks to the Mediterranean diet!
The MIND (Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay) diet also adds extra portions of specific brain-foods, that already exist in the above diets, but get a more substantial weighting in this one:
MIND and Mediterranean diets linked to fewer signs of Alzheimer’s brain pathology
See also: The cognitive effects of the MIND diet
And now, most recently, researchers (Dr. Ayesha Sherzai et al.) did a prospective cohort analysis in which she and her team followed 105,614 women for an average of 20.5 years (in the longitudinal study sense, not in the stalker sense) and found that higher adherence to a Mediterranean diet was associated with a lower risk of total, ischemic, and hemorrhagic stroke.
How much lower, you ask?
Well, the title of today’s article is a bit of a giveaway, but let’s break it down. During follow-up there were 4,083 strokes in total, including 3,358 ischemic strokes and 725 hemorrhagic strokes, and…
- Overall stroke risk: high adherence was associated with a 18% lower risk of any stroke, even after adjusting for smoking, physical activity, high blood pressure, and other factors.
- Ischemic stroke: high adherence was associated with a 16% lower risk of ischemic stroke, the most common type caused by blocked blood flow to the brain.
- Hemorrhagic stroke: high adherence was associated with a 25% lower risk of hemorrhagic stroke, a less frequent but more severe type caused by bleeding in the brain.
So, all in all, very good news!
You can read the paper in full, here: Mediterranean Diet and the Risk of Stroke Subtypes in Women
So, with that in mind…
- Want to make it even better? See: Better Than The Mediterranean?
- Want to do it with much less effort? See: Mediterranean Diet… In A Pill?
- Want to know what else you can do? See: Reduce Your Stroke Risk
Want to learn more?
Everyone even vaguely health-conscious knows that prevention is better than cure, but many still don’t think about a lot of things until they’re too late.
To be ahead of that curve, check out:
Don’t Get Caught Out By These “Nontraditional” Stroke Risk Factors
And, for that matter,
6 Signs Of Stroke (One Month In Advance)
Take care!
Don’t Forget…
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