March, 2013, I am not a botanist or an allergist. In winter 2011 my nine Ficus nitida trees froze just deep enough to kill the leaves and smaller branches. The larger branches lived and new growth occurred after several months. During the months that the dead leaves and thin dead branches began to break down, I came down with a terrible respiratory problem. The respiratory problem hit everyone in my household and recovery took months. Friends and neighbors in the Phoenix area described similar respiratory problems. None of us or anyone we knew thought about the F. nitida decaying in the air. We all recovered and in the winter of 2012-2013 the F. nitidas froze again. One morning a few months after the freeze, while sitting on the patio I saw what I thought was mist swirling and blowing through the yard. I discovered that the breeze was taking some sort of dust out of the dead parts of the trees. Large amounts of dust I should add. It hadn’t been too long since the last rain and we hadn’t had any dust storms to fill the trees with dirt. The trees should have been relatively clean compared with summer dust conditions. I thought little of it until later that day when I was working on one of the trees and became aware that I was breathing a lot of their dust and shortly became very sick. It reminded me of being sick 2 years before because the symptoms were the same. I believe it’s possible that as the plant material breaks down to small particles the particles become airborne and wreak havoc on our lungs. Here is an article about F. nitida and how dangerous toxins are trapped by their leaves then released when they die and break down. http://link.springer.com/article/10.1023%2FB%3AWATE.0000026521.99552.fd?LI=true# Unfortunately, it’ time for my trees to go. Bob Here is a link that might be useful: Capture of Particulate Pollution by Trees:

Hi everyone. Kebbiee1 - Prevention is better than treatment, however here in Australia I just rub a bit of Ti-Tree oil on any itching or stinging irritations and it stops them in their track, but I don't know if it's available where you live. There are also various antiseptic creams now available containing Ti Tree oil as the active ingredient which work just as well. A pair of men's old work socks with the toe cut out and pulled over the arm will give good protection as will long armed gloves made for the purpose. Although they look cumbersome, they aren't, as they are made out of a type of light weight canvas. Last time I bought them they were $5.95 AU. All the best, Nev.

I'm sorry you are going through this....but for a Dr to decide to do an allergy screening because of a single hive on her chin, AND to tell you that she is allergic to all thses things seems way WAY too out there. Please get a second opinion...I suspect that a certified allergist will pooh pooh the whole thing when you tell him why and how the testing was conducted. I am an "allergic person"...have...had all sorts of allergies. I have tested positive and negative to all sorts of things like corn, ragweed, certain foods etc....and periodically I will get a few idiopathic hives...mostly when there are other stressors like a sinus infection...or a lot of mosquito bites.I have a friend who is an allergy cripple....she looks normal, but spends a week at a time at an allergy clinic and avoids all sorts of things like beer, freshly made bread ( but day old bread is good as is wine!) etc etc etc... Someone told her she was highly allergic to "something" and she has searched until she found someone who will corroborate those findings. Get a second opinion....and perhaps a third opinion. Allergies are very scary, I am allergic to Penicillin to a dangerous degree and my Son in Law to fish....once! he ahd a reaction needing a trip to the ER...but has managed to eat small amounts since...(what a dummy to even try it!)...allergies come and go. Get at least one more opinion....probably 2 more. No need to make Grace an "allergic kid" because one doctor found a bump on her chin! Linda C

Thanks Feathers! The reason it seems like I'm quickly trying random concoctions is that this has been ongoing for three months as acute and months and months as low grade and for a few years now as recurring, and I summarized. I give a treatment at least a month before I abandon it. Perhaps shorter if it is making me very ill. So if your sinuses are inflamed, it could be allergies or it could be bacterial, viral or fungal infection, or a physiological condition, to name few possibilities. So for starters, cheap and easy and relatively low risk is to try an over the counter antihistamine. But if it doesn't work, then: 1. You didn't take it long enough, 2. It was poor quality control and the active ingredient wasn't, or 3. You didn't take it in high enough dose, 4. That particular antihistamine doesn't work with your body chemistry. Lather rinse repeat for a whole spectrum of antihistamines on the market. But 5. It isn't allergies. So now, if it isn't allergies, you can try to figure out if it is bacterial, viral or fungal. Your and your doctor can use some observable and easy indications to try and figure that out, like is the mucus yellow. But your mucus could by atypical or it's not yellow enough to notice, etc. So do you try a test? How reliable is the test? What's the cost. For example, my thyroid test costs $120.00. If it's negative, what then? With our without a positive test, you try antibiotics. 1. That particular antibiotic isn't a good fit for your bacteria. 2. The bacteria are resistant. 3. You didn't take it in high enough dose. 4. You didn't take it long enough. 5. You don't have a bacterial infection. 6. You have a bacterial infection but it is not causing your inflammation. You could have to try several antibiotics, each with their own 1-6. So now, on to the viral route. But now you're in much hotter water, since viruses are difficult to treat since they live in your cells and can go dormant and hide out. Or you go the fungus route, and oral fungicides can have serious side effects on the liver . . . and on we go. On the physical side, you have a scan, which is very expensive. Everything looks normal but you are out 500 dollars and that's on top of the test fees and medicines you've bought. One gets cautious if one has been down this route before with another type of chronic inflammation. I seem to be prone to them. I had chronic migraines for 30 years and I have chronic cystitis. Also IBS, which is intermittent. Oh, and as for depression, I have to be very careful on meds for that, since migraine and IBS inflammation is a seritonin problem. In general I don't do well on antidepressants either. I have tried two (for over a month, I know they take a while) and they made me ill (headaches, sleep problems and the worst was the gut effects, triggers IBS). Put those three together and depression, even if i had it to the clinical level, was not as bad and my depression issues were not touched by any of the meds but getting into a better situation made them go away so in the two cases I tried anti depressants, it wasn't chronic, one was due to constant migraines and the doctor just probably went, "Here, let's try these anti-depressants since nothing else is working" (Note, chronic pain from headaches is depressing and zaps your energy). If the headaches go away, VOILA! so does the depression!!. Also note, taking a beta blocker might work for a while to fight headaches, but you develop tolerance and higher and higher doses provide minimal control and cause you to feel "blah" which can get misdiagnosed as "depression." The second time I tried an anti-depressant was for a situational crisis in my life. Not only did it not work for my mood, sleep and concentration issues, it made me feel worse in all three areas plus a new problem of nausea and gut pain. The crisis subsided after a long while, and so did any "depression." If the medicine does not affect the physical symptoms of depression and instead gives you a new set of symptoms and problems, it's not a good treatment. Am I "depressed" abut being sick, yes, but I don't have severe pathological depression to warrant that pharmacological worm hole. Again, I would go there if I thought it was a likely path to feeling better. If they meds didn't do such a number on me I might try them for situational depression, but that's not me. A walk or listening to music or spending time in the garden is much more effective for me for situational depression. If I could muster the energy for any of those, I think my "depression" would abate. I have the desire. Sigh.