eastave

My husband and I just returned from a trip through Hungary, Slovakia, Poland, and Czech Republic. His allergies were awful in Krakow. Everywhere else we were, his normal dose of sudafed worked fine, but in Poland we had to head back to the hotel several times things got so bad. I am sure the people at the hotel thought I was really mean since he almost always had severe eye watering on our return! Anyway, we were just curious if anyone else had had this happen to them, and what it might have been. Right now his theory is some sort of Medieval mold. It seemed to hit him in old buildings, but it also happened on the street sometimes too. Despite all of this, Krakow was our favorite city of the trip.

cmt

I've never been to Poland, but I was allergic to London when I was there 19 years ago. I was using it as an intermittent base, and every few days I'd leave to spend a few days elsewhere--York or Bath or the Devon and Cornwall area--with London in between these trips. Whenever I was outdoors in London I had severe, nauseating, almost blinding headaches. Whenever I left to go to another part of England, I was magically cured.

amp322

Several years ago, a friend of mine travelled to the Czech Republic with me. I have been there something like 9 times, and my allergies range from not bad to very bad, depending on the weather there, and where I'm staying. (reconstructed places with new paint bother me, as well as the old Communist built buildings, with old carpet & moldy conditions) Well, my friend could hardly stand the air in the Czech Republic, and had to visit about 10 different hotels just to find one that she could stay in without having non-stop attacks! No matter which town we visited, she was miserable. She was very depressed about the whole thing, and we all just declared her as allergic to the entire country! A few years later, I was in a cellar restaurant in Prague, and there was someone smoking there. Well, I guess the lack of ventilation set off my allergies, and I sneezed continuously for 1 hour!!! I mean, I thought I was going to need to go to the hospital. My friend gave me her nasal wash, and it helped calm me down. Anyway, the pollution factor, as well as "old mold" is definitely enough to mess someone up. Many people who live there have asthma. So, bring along medicine even if you don't always need it. Last summer, I had to go to a pharmacy & try to explain to a girl who only spoke German & Russian that I needed allergy pills. Let's just say that I played charades until she said the word "Zyrtec", and I clapped & said "yes! yes!"

aschie30

Thanks for the fair warning about allergies in Krakow as I will be going there in Sept. (I have terrible allergies.)

I am traveling to Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. Would be interested in hearing about your trip - i.e., good restaurants, your hotels, anything off the beaten path that you discovered, etc.

nytraveler

The same thing happened to my boyfriend on our first trip to Germany. It was one of those adorable alpine villages - and there were roses everywhere. It turned out he had "rose fever" but had never been in concentrated enough contact before for it to be symptomatic.

Once we left the village he was OK - but roses were in bloom everywhere - so he was a mess until we got to a big city.

eastave

Well I guess it is not good news that we aren't alone! It is interesting to hear about other people's experiences. aschie30, I am finishing up a trip report that I would be happy to share with you. It is kind of long, and in probably all the wrong ways. I am writing mainly to remind us about what we did, not so much as advice for other travelers. That said, I do include the hotels we stayed in and most of the restaurants we ate at. If you are interested in it, email me at:
ecaucutt at yahoo.com.

delor

I was interested in your post and when we arrived in Warsaw in September in mid-September, we were miserable until we got to Krakow! We did get some relief from the Claritin we brought with us. The Warsaw locals blamed the allergies on "pollution"> My advice is to always travel with medication for basic needs such as: 1. allergies, 2. digestive problems 3. constipation and the opposite!! 4. Sleep problems and the most important*** 5. What you are regularly prescribed by your doctor ....AND CARRY ALL BY HAND AT ALL TIMES..DO NOT CHECK MEDS THRU LUGGAGE!!
By the way, many countries in Europe have the most amazing over the counter meds that are not available in the US under any circumstance. Try Strepcils and lemocin antibiotic for throat infections, nuprofin and nuprofin- plus for pain relief and nuprofen gel and Voltaren Emugel for muscle pain relief in gel form for rub in pain relief.
No antibiotic throat medication is available in the US, even under an RX.
Strepsils works great and is available in most EU countries and all of Britain.
Why isn't ibuprofan gel over the counter in the US? The gel works great and doesn't go near the stomach and upset it///.........????

Mucky

This is a really interesting post and something I guess not many people prepare for during creation of the holiday planner.

My personal problem is animals...I cannot stay in anywhere that may have allowed pets. I always check that pets are not allowed prior to booking.
There is nothing more miserable than having eyes and nose running and even asthma whilst on holidays.

I suspect your hubbies problem was probably due to pollution/smog/call it what you like.

London is just as bad, here is a scientific test for you.
After a day walking around London, blow your nose in a white handkerchief and see what your nose has collected, you will be surprised at what you see and worried in case any of that black stuff finds its way into you lungs.

(Sorry if I just spoilt your breakfast)
;-)

Muck

GSteed

Recent history. Krakow - Katowice area was once labeled 'unlivable'. Soviet industries polluted! Today the same area suffers from wind borne pollution from Germany, Czech R. and Austria. Surprizingly few natives are affected or bothered. Some Slovakia cities post pollution levels on outdoor signs.

paulalou

Interesting topic....my husband's aunt, originally from Poland lived with us for several years and decided she wanted to live out her retirement back in Poland. It turns out she couldn't stay because hse allergies acted up so badly! No amount of her allergy medications helped. So she ended up returning to the states.

Keep in mind, emission standards and pollution control are virtually non-existent compared to what we have here. His aunt was returning to an industrial region, and sadly, could not live there!

jasmindsouza

it is a collection of symptoms that can appear in any number of combinations. These symptoms include bloating, gas, abdominal pain and spasms, and nausea. The pain is often triggered by eating, so people suffering from IBS don’t always eat, which results in malnutrition.read more about this http://atozmenopause.com/digestive_problems.html

bilboburgler

Krakow was notorious for this a few years ago as the steel works Stalin put up have no enviromentals. Mrs Bilbo suffered so bad we left town. In the old days the shop windows were actually made dull by the acid in the air. I thought the plant was closed...

wanttogo

DH suffered from the headaches, stuffy nose and finally a quesy stomach in Istanbul. It was terrible for him. We never did find out what the problem was. While there is a lot of traffic in Istanbul, it is no worse than Rome, Cairo etc. The only place that he was bothered was Istanbul.

Pat

nytraveler

I think it's most likely to be one specific plant than anything else. (And I had a boyfriend do the rose fever thing in Germany - we stayed in a town with huge number of roses - and he was crying until we left.)

christycruz

DH & I have terrible allergies, but no reactions in Poland (early Sept).

We both got the squirts in Istanbul. That was fun pantomiming for the pharmacist so we could take a long bus ride. (TMI?)

walkabout

I have never had a problem in Europe, but when I was in Rotorua (New Zealand)my eyes were burning and watery the whole time. Sulfur from the geothermal springs, perhaps? Don't know, but I could barely stay outside for more than a few minutes.

Lulealady

Interesting topic indeed! When you see Krakow today and the creamy yellow of the market and the beautiful brick buildings around the old town square and up at the castle, you see a completely transformed city. In 1980 these same buildings were absolutely brown with soot. Pollution from cars but moreso from the heavy industry and nearby coal mining and processing.

I was at a party one night in a small coal-mining city named Bytom, not far from Krakow. Every single person was smoking unfiltered Soviet cigarettes inside the flat -- it was impossible to even catch your breath. So I went outside on the balcony.

And it was worse! The coal in the air was unbearable. I keep wondering how those folks fared in the long run. What diseases they accumulated do to the pollution.

Europe is so full of old wood and corners and cloth. It's probably a miracle more of us don't have a reaction.