Retirement Location
 

We live in the Midwest and want to retire in a location that will be allergy-friendly. We have seasonal and year long allergies. There are lots of lists of allergy friendly cities. We would like to hear from people who have moved for their allergies, successsful and not successful, Did anyone's allergies get worse - even if an allergy was not a factor in moving? If you live in any of the allergy-friendly areas do you enjoy living there?
Looking forward to reading your thoughts! Thank you.

Which of the cities on the list(s) is one that you would want to live in (or near)?
Try 3 or 4 different town/cities during your peak allergy season and see if you have a problem with the allergens there.
If I found a place that I really liked, I could learn to take a couple of allergy pills (Allegra etc.) every day.

What exactly are you allergic to??? The reason I mention this is I lived in an area where many people (including some members of my family) suffered from "allergies" but I didn't. Years later we moved to a different area and I developed an allergy to "something in the air" while some members of my family no longer had any symptoms.

I agree with roams around.

I moved from a dry climate with lots of dust in the air (grain farmers) to a wet climate with lots of pollen. My allergies improved because what makes me really sick is whatever is in the grain or dust.

But friends with pollen allergies that visit are really, really sick here. I still have an allergic reaction to the pollen but it's at a different time and NOWHERE near as bad as the other thing.

>>allergy-friendly<<??

Without knowing what you are allergic to there is no way on earth to give you advice.

Plus -- what sort of weather are you looking for? Seasons?

Whatever you do-rent for a year and experience all the seasons to see how it effects your condition.

When we moved from the NW Indiana (near Chicago) to Denver, my wife was on a regiment of allergy shots for a whole host of area related allergies ranging from dust, mold, pollen, grasses, weeds, etc. Her doctor recommended that she suspend the shots in Denver until a local allergist could determine what she was allergic to that area. That was 37 years ago. She has managed since then with some OTC pills in the Spring time and nothing during the rest of the year.

So, for us, Denver is a very allergy friendly area. We did play the "Where to Retire" game about ten years ago looking from Florida, the Keys, to San Diego, and including the Phoenix area and concluded that there was no point in moving since we had nearly everything we want in the Denver area. January, part of February, can be a little tough so we just make it a point to gone for about six weeks - generally the Caribbean.

My allergist told me that wherever I moved my body would find new allergies there, perhaps not as bad as those where I left. Now when I return to the east coast, my former allergies such as rag weed don't bother me anymore. I used to be a mess when it was in bloom.
I agree that Denver is a good choice for allergies and many other lifestyle reasons too.