Health & Wellness

Your Immune System Is Talking—Here’s What ‘SHE MD’ Says It’s Trying to Tell You

October 26, 2025

medicine allergies immune system — Photo by Simon Kadula on Unsplash

If you’ve ever wondered why your skin flares up before your period, why your kid always has a “mystery” cold, or how your plastic water bottle could secretly be working against you, SHE MD just connected all the dots. Hosts Mary Alice Haney and Dr. Thaïs Aliabadi sit down with Dr. Tanya Elliott, a board-certified allergist and immunologist, to talk about what’s really driving modern allergies, hormonal chaos, and the rise of mysterious immune issues.

Stress, hormones, and hives

Put simply, allergies can spike when your hormones do. “Anytime we see things where [there are] fluctuations in our estrogen, there’s an association with increased levels of estrogen and activation of our allergy cells,” Elliot states. Perimenopause, pregnancy, pill changes, or a high-stress week can tip allergy cells into overdrive—showing up as hives, flushing, weird rashes, or extra-itchy eyes.

Asthma’s another unexpected allergy trigger. “The statistic is, 30 percent of women’s asthma gets worse, 30 percent of women’s asthma stays the same, 33 percent of women’s asthma gets better,” Elliot says. We don’t have the whole mechanism nailed down, but estrogen swings are a prime suspect for why symptoms shift.

Want some quick ways to work with your hormones? Track symptoms alongside your cycle or hormone changes and look for patterns, keep maintenance meds truly maintenance (daily nasal steroids during your season, not just on bad days), and loop in an allergist if hives or breathing issues cluster around hormonal milestones. If you’re switching your birth control or entering perimenopause, flag timing and symptoms at your appointment—those details are the clue trail.

Being too clean can make us sicker

Somewhere between the rise of hand sanitizer and the fall of playing in the dirt, our immune systems got confused. “In developing countries, like in Africa, for example, we don’t see allergies because those allergy cells are actually busy fighting parasites. And in developed countries where we’re super sanitary and use hand sanitizers nonstop, our allergy cells get bored. So they start reacting to normal things occurring in the environment,” Elliot explains.

That “boredom” comes at a price. When our immune systems don’t get regular training—via exposure to natural bacteria, dust, and everyday microbes—they start misfiring, treating harmless things like pollen or peanuts as threats.

Elliott adds that over-sanitizing, frequent antibiotic use, and delaying exposure to certain foods (like peanuts) have all contributed to a rise in allergies. “People need to be eating as much, tasting and trying as many foods as possible as early on…and exposing people orally through the GI tract and avoiding sensitization through the skin,” she advises.

Be careful with the food allergy test

If you’ve ever gotten one of those food panels that said you’re “intolerant” to your favorite snack, Elliott wants you to take a breath—and maybe grab that banana again. “Save your money and eat as many bananas as you want,” she says with zero hesitation. According to her, a lot of the at-home or blood-based food intolerance tests are, in her words, “baloney.”

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Those panels often measure random antibodies, not the real allergy pathways that cause hives, swelling, or anaphylaxis. “There’s no correlation between what shows up on that test and your actual symptomatology,” Elliott explains. Real allergy testing—like skin pricks or IgE blood tests—should only come after an actual reaction, not out of curiosity. “She also warns that removing foods unnecessarily can create allergies later by cutting off exposure.

Instead of relying on lab printouts, Elliott recommends keeping a food diary and following an elimination diet with a professional to pinpoint triggers. True allergy? You’ll know it—your body makes it pretty obvious.

Mold and microplastics

The things making you feel “off” might be hiding in plain sight. Mold, microplastics, and everyday toxins can trigger headaches, fatigue, congestion, or even allergic reactions—sometimes long before you notice the culprit. “There’s something called sick building syndrome, where you literally are getting sick from your house,” Elliot reveals.

Her advice? Play detective. Check under sinks, carpets, window seals, and even behind wallpaper. “Any musty smells…get a dehumidifier in your house,” she says, adding that humidity above 50 percent is prime mold breeding territory.

Then there’s the microscopic stuff. “Scientists now are looking in the blood under this microscope that could see tiny, tiny, tiny microscopic things, and it’s like, Oh crap, what the heck is in here?…Oh, well, it’s coming from this and this, and then we realize it’s everywhere,” Elliot reveals.

That “everywhere” includes plastic cutting boards, black utensils, scented candles, and even beauty products.

Benadryl is out—what to reach for instead

If your medicine cabinet still has a bottle of Benadryl in it, Elliott says it’s time to say goodbye. Not only does she have her own personal gripes with the drug, she notes it’s just not effective for severe reactions. “Benadryl will not stop an allergic reaction from progressing into something life-threatening,” Elliot says.

The real lifesaver? “Epinephrine is an EpiPen, so don’t be afraid to use it.” For mild symptoms, she suggests something like Zyrtec.

Your body’s not betraying you; it’s talking to you. The real power comes from listening to it, asking your trusted health provider questions, and creating an environment (and lifestyle) that lets your immune system do what it was designed to do: protect you, not panic.