I agree! For me it's the nut tree pollens -- once the trees leaf out I'm okay. Had a strange experience this year as I travelled from the Coastal Southeast to the Northeast -- it was spring in the south and late winter in the NE and did it ever confuse my system.

And then you go to bed and keep waking up because you can't breath. So sucks!

I wonder why this article didn't mention the popular prescription drug Singulair? I've tried all the others, but Singulair has worked the best for my wide variety of allergies with the fewest side effects. Just one tablet a day...

Yep, my daughter takes Singulair, but it is a bit expensive.

Isn't Singulair and Asthma medication? I take it for that reason and other things for my allergies.

Yes it is. but it's also used for upper respiratory allergies. I believe the dose for the upper allergies may be a little less than for asthma. She takes 5 mg. per day.

Thanks evanusk. I thought I had heard an acquaintance say that once and I thought I had imagined it.

You're welcome!

No seriously! It's the darn medicine making me fat! I knew it wasn't my lack of exercise, or my habit of overeating. In between sneezes, sometimes I will inhale an entire sandwich. I also have a severe thyroid problem. Too much food passes by this gland causing weight gain.

Maybe they don't exercise because they have colossal sinus headaches and their eyes are itching like crazy.

Figures you'd have to go there. I've had allergies all my life, including when I was young and stick-thin. This "study" is a big bunch of BS and so are a lot of the negative comments.

Hmmmm.... is it my allergy meds that keep me at 90 lbs as well as the need to work out every day?

Agree this study is BS - - for now. It even states there is no supporting evidence.

Finally. I've always wondered why I weigh so much. I eat right, I just can't lose any weight.

Forget the fact I am to lazy to get up and exercise, I take full responsibility for my weight.

I've always said I eat right I just don't burn off what I eat. This explains alot I've always thought it was the meds making me tired.

I just hope kitten that you never have to take medications who's side effects can cause weight gain and not have anyone believe you. Have inflamation of the joints from arthritis or fibromyalgia and have pain so severe that you have tears in your eyes because if you take any more meds you know that the end result is going to be more weight gain. And then you have people like you who end up mocking someone overweight as being a deadbeat, lazy fool. People like you kitten disgust me.

Oh kacz, you're being too nice. I would have wished the opposite. People like that have learned nothing but hate growing up. They deserve everything they sit here and condemn others for. I am a FIRM believer in "an eye for an eye."

While I'm not huge, (no slam to larger people), I do have asthma, and the medication for asthma is PACKED with steroids.
Surely, you bodybuilders are aware of what athletes and other sports figures used steroids for, right?

Lize and the rest, won't be "90" pounds forever. I was too, most of my life, within the 90-110 range. If ithat's the only tophy you have in life, Lize, I pity you frame of mind when you lose it.

I don't think anyone on here is mocking fat people out of hand, it's just the ones that blame EVERYTHING other than their own poor eating habits and lack of exercise for being fat. If you want to carry around that extra weight, that is your choice, but please don't trouble people with the "it's my slow metabolism" or "it's my allergy meds" or "this is just water weight" like you're some kind of sponge. It is because you eat more calories than you burn. Plain and simple.

Cappy,
I'm only 10 lbs overweight. That's a whole big whopping 125 lbs. total. I know, that makes me DISGUSTING to look at, right?
10 lbs. over the government's "recommended" weight, which has been ridiculously forced on us all for years, is considered "obese", and "unhealthy".

That kind of "logic" only fuels the fire for people who have not yet grown to their full "potential". (I say that lightly).

The problem with what you are saying, is that people have no business "mocking fat people" or any other person at all. Most do not "mock". Most are downright hateful. They are bullies, and bullies need to be caged together. (Oh, did I sound cruel? Shame on me.)

I wonder how many of you all have overweight parents, uncles, aunts, grandparents that are overweight, and how many of you will blatantly "mock" their weight to their face? If you're not man or women enough to do that, than your right to do it to strangers is zero.

The pollution, the sun, the poisonous pesticides and additives the government allows in our foods, the steroids added to the feed of food chain bred animals, and the highways will probably kill more of us, than an extra few pounds or not running a marathon every day.

In case you haven't heard, a lot of "healthy" runners, athletes, etc., even KIDS unfortunately, are dropping dead like flies. Heart attacks.

"Moderation", my friends, not only refers to food, alcohol, and other "poisonous pleasures". Too much exercise can kill you too.

ConwayTwitter, IM about 10 lbs overweight as well, based of my height (5'10") and weight (185lbs) despite having a 15 1/2" neck and 34" waist. (I have an athletic build) People like you and me aren't who I was talking about and most of the people on this board are talking about. (I will admit to you that some of them are downright cruel, though) Also, I dont make excuses for my 10lbs except for that I dont run my usual 10-15 miles a week when its cold while still eating more than I should. I didn't say anything about you being "disgusting to look at" (having never seen you) I was only commenting about the fat people that we probably all have come in contact with that have EVERY excuse other than their own poor food choices and lack of exercise as to why they are fat. After this study, there are some who will now add their meds to the litany of reasons why they are fat, but never accept that they could lose weight if they were willing to reduce their caloric intake, adopt a healthier diet with more fruits and vegetables, exercise more and drink more water instead of soda and fruit juice. I don't mock anyone to their face and don't mock them behind their backs either. I simply don't care what choices anyone else makes as long as they don't infringe on mine. But I will tell someone fat who is whining about their weight and all the reasons why (other than the real ones) to their face that if they eat healthier, exercise, drink water, etc. that they can lose the weight. I hope I didn't sound too harsh the way I said it though.

Conway, thank you for bringing up asthma and the medicines used to combat it. The steroid medicines used to treat severe asthma do indeed cause weight gain. Especially the older medicines they used to give which have long term side effects including weight gain. It can be harder for them to maintain a lower weight because the steroids are working against them.

I haven't read any other comments yet, but, excuse me, kacz, did you even see that I was joking? I KNOW medication can make you gain weight. I mocked someone for being a deadbeat, lazy fool? I disgust you?

Let me repost what I said.

"I can see it now...larger people claiming "this all because of my allergies" instead of their eating habits and lack of exercise.

(joking)"

I never mocked anyone. I said "larger people" instead of obese. I can't believe I disgust you over all the other comments after my own. I called no one a deadbeat or lazy fool. No where even close. Thanks for singling me out for nothing.

Also, I have had medication that contributed to about a 25lb weight gain in less than 6 months. I still take medication that has a side effect of weight gain...and I've gained weight. I have had people not believe me. I don't sit there and try to blame it solely on my medicine, however. I've started eating healthier because I now know I cannot afford to eat as I once did.

I never sit around and mock overweight people seriously. Also, ConwayTwitter, "people like that?" I cannot see how a simple comment, clearly stated as joking, makes me a person who only grew up to know hate. I called no one an ugly name nor did I condemn anyone.

I see so many news articles blaming things for obesity. Yes, many things contribute to obesity, but there is usually a way to help yourself. It just may require changing part of your lifestyle. Which stinks since I have had to do it.

I would also like to add that I can understand people with allergies having troubles. I'm usually an allergy med junkie 1/3 of the year. I get sinus headaches, fatigue, and the general hate of going outside during allergy seasons. I understand it can be a big hindrance.

So my comment was a joke as clearly stated. I'm a little upset that a few did not realize that, as I would never want to offend someone into thinking I was a "fat hater."

You should try just eating animals. They don't produce any pollens!

Sirlafalot, that would sound like an obvious solution, but I wasn't vegetarian until a few years ago and it wasn't any better when I ate meat. I mean sure I could only eat meat and no veggies, but besides the obvious health problems associated with eating only meat, it wouldn't keep me from having to take allergy meds anyway. If I take my Zyrtec my ears ring and I am a bit tired, but I can live a fairly normal life. If I don't take it I can't eat much of anything, go outside, sleep through the night, or do much of anything else.

Life's full of trade-offs, and I wouldn't want to eat animals anyway, so guess I'll take the meds and eat my veggies:)

When I eat chicken, I always get a face full of scratches.

Assuming you have nasal allergies. It won't help with allergic asthma (or itchy eyes) in the slightest.

Buy local honey. Unpasteurized honey I've heard it works. Worth a try

I use the netipot. It helps but it just isn't a cureall.

I'm not certain anything is a 'cure-all' but my Neti Pot works wonders. It reduces swelling so quickly that my ears pop open almost immediately.

Each morning I have the juice of half a lemon, a tablespoon of local, raw honey, and a sprinkle of good cayenne pepper made into an infusion. I drink lots of water and real orange juice. If I need the big guns I take Arizona Natural sinus and allergy.

Everything sets off an allergic reaction : pollen, leaf mold, dust, cat dander, compost, gluten, dairy. . .I manage very well with my regimen. My eyes used to itch so badly I'd want to scratch them right out of their sockets. No more.

btw My cats sleep with me every night so my method works on dander, too.

I see what you are saying and of course allergies aren't an excuse to eat ice cream at 3am, but really it doesn't sound as if you have any idea how debilitating allergies can be if the topic didn't jump out at you as familiar allergy-wise. Obviously this article isn't talking about binge eating or not exercising because you don't want to, but instead about how severe allergies and the allergy medicines themselves affect hunger, weight gain, motivation and ability to exercise, and possible changes in how our bodies react to food, histamine, and allergy medicine.

So your comment is not particularly helpful or even totally accurate in every case...you know every single obese person in the world and that they are all lazy and eating ice cream at 3am? Sure how you eat and what exercise you eat make a huge difference, but those factors aren't the whole story, so how about knocking off the stereotypes and focusing on the purpose of the article??

What ram-762581 said. Since YOU obviously don't have allergies, YOU assume everyone else feels just as wonderful as YOU do during allergy season.

anybody who feels the need to make childish comments about obese people must be very ignorant. Look down at your body, is it perfect? I hope it is, since your personality won't garner any praise.

my childish behavior stems from my obese family. watching them gorge has influenced me to eat right and exercise. sorry, but i have no respect for overweight people and i dont see anything wrong with that.

Actually, they are just TROLLS who sit on computers all day, at home OR at work, and look for articles like this so they can come in and make their arrogant remarks. They have low self esteem, so they have to make others feel bad to make themselves feel good.

rockmebritney

my childish behavior stems from my obese family. watching them gorge has influenced me to eat right and exercise. sorry, but i have no respect for overweight people and i dont see anything wrong with that.

Well, what a revelation! That must have made you feel really good about yourself.

You are correct. Your behavior IS childish.
I bet not a lot of people have respect for you either. You just may not know it.

Clearly you haven't been on a medication that causes weight gain. My husband started a medication that has this effect and out of nowhere gained 50 lbs within 2 months. Even though he's obese now, he still maintains his regime of going to the gym 2-3 times a week to run on the treadmill or use our exercise bike. His diet is not extreme, we rarely eat out and I grew up with a dietician for a mother, so I can assure you that our meals are not poorly balanced. But clearly the medication has done something to his metabolism, so even though he wasn't gorging, he'll need to train his stomach to become accustomed to less food, and try to exercise even more. Point is, some people can be doing things right or at least better than many others, and outside factors such as medication can still inhibit ability to maintain a decent weight. So I find such a generic lack of sympathy and close-minded judgment unfair to apply to the entire population of obese individuals.

That's awesome! hahahahaha

huh? Could you elaborate on that because I am not sure I understand?!

Mmmm? What thread are you on?

Better question would be: what side of his brain is he sitting on?

He's on the right thread. Just another j.a. But a sarcastic remark can only work if people actually get it. lol Guess you should go back to the drawing board, eh, chm? If you don't want to be around "these people", no one is stopping you from moving to the bottom of the ocean, where maybe "these people" won't be.

Please try REMEDIAL READING COMPREHENSION, then re-read the article before commenting again. Not ALL fat people have allergies, not ALL people with allergies are fat, and not ALL people are fat from eating junk food. 2 specific allergy medications were "studied" and found to possibly contribute to weight gain is some people.

MeanGene just looks for excuses to be, well, mean. Read some of his/her other comments on different articles and you'll see that.

Correct, with severe allergies, the recommendations are to stay inside and to shower to wash all the pollens off. When my allergies fire up, most of the time I also go into a low key asthmatic flare up. That means I cannot get enough air, that in turn makes me extremely tired.

I work an 8 to 12 hour work day (I so wish there was a drug to mimic allergies that we could give to non allergic peoples so they could live in our shoes). After work, I pretty much go to bed and try to sleep off the allergy attack. Most of the new medications don't work. I have done the studies for claritin, zyrtec and allegra on phase II clinical trials. Zyrtec never has worked for me nor has Singulair.

Going out to a health club to exercise is a whole other realm of problems, all it takes is one person with strong perfume or cologne and it can make an allergy attack much worse for many people.

Its not that people with allergies are lazy, the allergy attack itself can really take a lot out of a person. Its like working with a head cold often. The feeling of a head cold, the sneezing, grogginess and stuffy head is what we feel with other symptoms, the itchiness in the eyes, in the ears and some of us even get it in the throats. A normal person may get that once a year. An allergy sufferer may get that once a month, once a week, every other day, several days in a row.

When my allergies go full boar, I alienate people because I cannot stop sneezing. It gets annoying. I get nose bleeds, it freaks people out, sometimes I cannot breathe, I have to get out an inhaler. If someone slips the wrong ingredient in food on a food day, I can get a reaction.

So, if i am in the bathroom with a neti pot, or clearing out my lungs or running to the bathroom with a nose bleed. That is my allergies. I am sorry if it offends you that some of my brothers and sister may offend thee with being overweight because the only meds on the market do not include a weight loss element or the ones that perhaps will keep the weight off are not in an affordable copay tier with out health insurance.

I'm lucky I don't suffer as badly as you do -- but for a few weeks a year, I'm pretty miserable. The meds I need then pretty much put me asleep in my chair for a few days until I begin to get used to them ... and even then, I'm not exactly a bundle of energy.

I've spent entire summers until the first frost with my eyes red and swollen and barely able to see. My asthma kicks in, and my nose is raw from wiping it. Allergy meds only mildly alleviate my symptoms. This makes me EXHAUSTED.

Unless you have suffered allergies, you are in no position to judge. I am not overweight and I do try to watch my diet and exercise regularly. But I can see how allergies could be a contributing factor.

It is true that many overweight people are simply eating too much and not exercising enough. However, there are so many contributing factors that make it much harder for those people to maintain a healthy weight. They could eat and exercise the same amount as the next person and still be 20 pounds heavier. Things like DNA, hormone imbalances, thyroid problems, etc., etc. In addition, those who are very poor cannot afford the super healthy lifestyle. (My boyfriend had to adjust his diet due to gallstones and our grocery bills went up $50/week and we were already pretty healthy before that)

It is time for people to stop judging and start helping. These studies are great for our continued research to understand the human body which we still know little about compared to how much there is still to learn.

Let me point out a flaw in this logical analysis. If these fat sneezers can't get out to exercise, then just how is it that their fridges and pantries are getting filled up with food? Is the food just magicking itself into their fridges and pantries? I tried to send my fridge out for groceries once and the thing just hit me with an ice cube. These fat people are perfectly capable of getting out and about, in fact that's what this medicine they take is ostensibly for.

If the fatso foodies ain't in the pantry and it ain't in the fridge then it ain't going in the mouth either. The crime of lardacity is a planned one.

Gene,

Don't insult your own intelligence. There is a huge difference between a 30-60 minute cardio workout and running to the market. Also, there can be another party in the household who can get the food.

Tis better to remain silent and to be thought a fool than to open ones mouth and remove all doubt.

well said Kayless. He really thinks magicking is a word??????? gosh, he's more ignorant than I had realized. He probably can't even GET an obese women to look at him, so he is upset.

Unless you do research, don't comment on whether "real science" exists or not. Try reading articles in one of the hundreds of peer-reviewed journals. Whether the media covers it is a different story. And often times if a media release is provided, the authors of the research need to emphasize the portions that will be more interesting to the media - which can be misleading. For e.g. I had attractiveness research that got media attention. The focus of the study, however, was to understand how the human brain represents a face, not attractiveness per se. But the attractiveness part is what the media picked up on, and it had hundreds of naive comments similar to your own. Unless you have read the study, you cannot say whether it's flawed. And one thing I know from personal experience, is that you cannot trust a quote provided from the media as actually being a quote. One newspaper completely made up a quote from me about some British celebrity I'd never heard of. That being said, there is also what we call exploratory research. And this seems to fall in that category. An association seems like it *may* exist and therefore is worth further investigation. This is how science starts. Exploratory research is a necessary precursor to well-formed hypothesis driven research. And exploratory research doesn't initiate from some stab in the dark question, but rather something that looks like an interesting question given the other evidence in the field. It's not enough to form a hypothesis yet, but enough to be worth investigating.

I can relate. I bought a used treadmill, used elliptical trainer and a used total gym because I couldn't exercise outside for years. I'm a lot better now on my new nasal spray, but I still have trouble outdoors sometimes.

That was the one oddity of the article. I can never eat when my allergies bother me. Does not matter if I took medicine that day or not. I cannot eat until I am completely over the attack. I don't trust the result of this study on that point, I would have to see a double blind to trust the results. I always lost weight in allergy season because I cannot eat.

Yep, everyone is different. If a doctor prescribes something for me and says it won't make me drowsy, you can bet that in ten minutes after taking it, I'll be out for days. (very low tolerance for drugs stronger than an aspirin).
If they say it makes "most" people anorexic...I will gain weight.

LOL, that's funny.

I personally think water is horrible anyway. It's bland and it does not quench your thirst.
It doesn't make you less hungry, either. It only makes you less thirsty. ;)

Apparently no one drinks water any more. Didn't you know? That is why there are so many diet drinks out there. No one wants to drink their calories, but they don't want plain water.

Personally, I prefer plain water. It is free (usually) and crisp and cool without any lingering taste.

Shannon,

You must be drinking that fancy, gourmet, bottled water then. Most city's"tap" water have very distinctive "tastes", unless you run them through a PUR or Britta type filter system, and even then maybe not. SO, which "BRAND" of water do you drink? Let me guess it's like FIGI or that other one that is draining the aquifer of the island it comes from, so the local indigenous population's wells are going dry?? Right?? Then it is shipped halfway around the world in wonderfully "Green" plastic bottles. Oh, the hypocrisy.

I usually just drink water. I am fortunate to have well water instead of city water. Sometimes when city water comes out brown...I would seriously not want to drink tap water.

Also, htdjpf, I agree with you to an extent. I'm not the biggest fan of bottled water, but when I am away for college living in a dorm, I drank bottled water. I see no terrible harm in it (besides the populations apparently losing their own water supply? I've never heard that...terrible) as long as you recycle. I keep all plastic bottles and recycle once I get a trash bag full.

Htdjpf: I somewhat agree with what you said about tap water. Not only does tap water have a bad taste, but it also has a bad smell. The chlorine that is put into the water even burns my nose. However, since I do drink a lot of water (and I mean a lot of water) and cannot afford to purchase 'over-priced" bottled water, what I do is boil the tap water, wait for it to cool, then purify it using the PUR 7-cup pitcher filter system. It is much cheaper than buying bottled water and it really does work. The water taste like what water should be, that is "tasteless." I say give it a try. You will be pleasantly surprise.

Kittin, we used to have well water that did taste pretty good, but after living there only a few days, my daughter and the neighbor's son got real sick with stomach pain and vomiting. It didn't affect any of us adults, but we figured out it might be the water and had it tested. It had very high levels of lead, enough to cause lead poisoning if the kids would've kept drinking it. We switched to bottled water that was filtered by reverse osmosis, the only sure way to get rid of the lead. I know city water tasted like chlorine, but it is tested for lead and not allowed to contain over a certain level. Don't know if you have any kids, but lead can poison adults too, so please be careful! You might want to have your water tested like we did. We eventually found a cheaper alternative to bottled water from a water store. They use reverse osmosis. We also looked into a filter installed in our home, but it was very expensive. Water store water turned out to be cheaper.

um-- other things make you fat . . . Is this comment supposed to be clever?