I recently checked the forum to see if there is a correlation between bad allergies and having a j-pouch....30% of the J-pouch population has bad allergies...my wife had her surgergury 11 months ago and just when she was starting to feel better, the allergies began....maybe it's this time of the year....so my question is what do you do to deal with this...a Doctor we saw today said that taking ani-histomines is not good for anyone who had colitus....also, has anyone tried air purifiers and or centaral airconditioning

Interesting connection since they are both hypersensitive body reactions! I have had allergies since age 15. I have never been told that I should not take antihistamines. I currently take 5 allergy/asthma meds which keep things under control almost all the time along with my twice monthly allergy shots.

Allergies are common--I would guess that 30% of the entire population might have them, not only j-pouchers. My son has had three sinus surgeries for chronic sinusitis and recently tested positive for a lot of allergies. In addition to using Sinus Rinse, Astelin (antihistamine spray), and Flonase (steroid nasal spray) every day, he takes Singulair and Protonix and and started allergy shots two weeks ago (a 3-5 year process). Since some of the allergens he reacted to are dust, dust mites and feathers, I bought mattress and pillow encasements from Mission Allergy. All other bedding is now washed weekly in hot water. Evenutally I will remove the carpeting from his room. It's Sacramento, the hot, dry, tree capital of the state--we already have central air, and I bought a Kenmore air cleaner for his room (not sure how helpful that is.) We now keep his window closed most of the time.

I have HORRIBLE allergies to grass pollen, which thankfully only lasts a few weeks a year. I don't think there is any linkage to UC. I did notice that 24 hour claritin-D was coming out whole so I switched to a 12 hour medication with less enteric coating. I've taken antihistamines my whole life as needed and never heard that I shoudn't with UC/a pouch.

-Kenadi