Do medications interfere with the bee pollen immune boosting effect?

by P J
(Hawaii, USA)

I just moved from a dry desert area to a humid tropical area and immediately started having severe allergies to the mold and pollens. I live in a place where there are no seasons, this will be a year-round problem.

Here are my questions:

Some medications have a prednesone-like effect on the body to decrease the allergy response in the body. If I take these medications will it interfere with or decrease the immune-boosting effects of bee pollen?

If I take these medications to control symptoms and start taking bee pollen, will this increase the allergy symptoms? Is bee pollen only effective for seasonal allergies or hay fever?

I'm sure you have been asked this a thousand times, but I could not find any specific reference to medications.

Angela's Response:

Great questions. First off, I am not a doctor nor a pharmacist and don't know the pharmacology of these medications. The best person to ask about how a medicine will interact with any food is your pharmacist. I can offer my opinion for you though and that is that I don't believe the prednisone will lower the immune boosting effects of bee pollen. However, there have been no studies on this nor have I ever worked with anyone using prednisone while taking bee pollen so it is difficult to say.

To answer your second question, it has been my experience that bee pollen aids both seasonal allergies and hay fever as it does seem to help modulate the immune system. Again, it is hard to say if taking the meds and then taking bee pollen will increase your allergy symptoms. Your best bet would be to slowly, very slowly introduce bee pollen into your diet on a daily basis and observe any allergy symptoms.

Check out this page for my tips on how to take bee pollen carefully:

http://www.bee-pollen-buzz.com/how-to-take-bee-pollen.html