Antihistamine and Echinacea

jessica329 · Post by **jessica329** » Tue Sep 17, 2019 7:05 am

Hi all. So I had the flare from hell this past Friday (one of the worst in the 7 years that I've had this disease). I checked my allergy charts (I'm highly allergic to my dog, dust mites and tree pollen) and reflected on what I've been eating. I came to realize that it's active dust mite season, my dog is shedding and I've been frequently eating fatty cuts of meat (a problem for me). I dialed in my diet and started back on Zyrtec. This weekend my son brought home the gift of kindergarten germs and I've come down with his cold. I read that echinacea tea can help reduce symptoms, but then read that those with autoimmune diseases shouldn't take echinacea. Here are my questions:
1. Would Zrytec cancel any benefits of echinacea since Zrytec reduces the immune response? Or am I misunderstood how antihistamine work?
2. Is echinacea a no no with MC? I was planning on drinking a cup a day, but I certainly don't want to cause another flare.

Thanks!

Post by **tex** » Tue Sep 17, 2019 5:05 pm

Hi Jessica,

Looks like no one has tackled your questions, so I'll take a stab at them.

There don't appear to be any known interactions between Zyrtec and echinacea. The only risk I'm aware of is in taking echinacea with certain chemotherapy products. It can affect the thiopurines.

I'm not aware of any published research about using echinacea to treat MC. There are research articles and case studies about using it for UC, but they seem to show conflicting results. I've never tried it, so I have no idea how it might work to treat MC (or anything else, for that matter).

Tex

jessica329 · Post by **jessica329** » Wed Sep 18, 2019 7:11 am

Thanks for the reply. I was asking about the echinacea to treat the cold. Well, minor flare up today. My diet has been limited and on point since Saturday. My stomach was feeling good the last 2 days, so I've concluded that echinacea is a big fat no.