Arizona is a great place to live, even with the miserably hot 110+ degrees for a few weeks in the summer. My only problem is when it comes to allergies. I’ve lived in North Carolina, where yellow pollen coats the cars and sidewalks, and after it rains, you can follow the pollen as it is carried down the street towards the drains, leaving neon yellow streaks in its wake. Being a native New Yorker introduced into this environment as an adolescent, I had only minor allergies compared to what would be expected. I spent a year in the high plains of New Mexico, where in the Spring you aren’t so concerned about the pollen as you are about the ridiculous wind. Whatever pollen there was certainly was being blown across the border into Texas.

But Arizona had me fooled. I wasn’t expecting the wave of blooming everythings to hit me like it did. Over the past 10 years, I’ve become a much more organic/natural/Whole Foods-y type of chick. I’m into the naturopathic approach to treating colds, and have become much more wary of just pumping a Z-Pack into my system to feel better. So, with a specific concern about voice quality when recovering from an onslaught of flowers and pollen and dust (oh my!?) I’ve found some things that seem to work. Some are common sense, some are new to me.

- Lemon, honey and ginger tea. We have readily available fresh lemons in AZ, so I’ve been picking them off the trees in my subdivision (in the shared area, not directly out of my neighbors back yards, promise!) and squeezing them for my tea. And then LOTS of honey, and if I have it, a few slices of fresh ginger. Also, "Throat Coat" tea comes highly recommended, I was told it’s in Whole Foods and online, so I’ll be getting some of that for future use.

- Homeopathic pills, specifically "Cold Calm" from Boiron. It’s not medicine, it’s more like a signal to your immune system to kick things into gear. They’re flavorless and have no known drug interactions or potential allergic reactions.

- Extra vitamin C (2500-3000mg) on top of my regular multivitamin (which is vegetable based and you can take without food and it’s easily digestible, it’s AWESOME.) I understand that it’s bad to keep such high levels of Vitamin C going for more than a few days, so I do that at the start of a cold or when allergies are flaring up, and taper off after 3 days.

- Neti pot with saline packets. Some people think it’s gross. It would be gross to use a Neti Pot in, say, the bathroom at your office. But it really clears things up and if you’ve got to have your voice in good shape by 9am, this thing can work miracles. *These miracles will expire after a few hours, or after breathing in all the lovely allergens again, but hey, enjoy it while it lasts.*

- LOTS of water! This is common sense, but I’m more likely to drink coffee all day, so it really takes extra effort to bump up my water intake. I have a few Camelbak bottles and I make a point to fill it up twice or three times a day during regular working hours, and drink more in the evening.

I had a weekend workshop in L.A. where my voice quality was crap and that’s partly because I was traveling and had a very busy week leading up to my trip, and partly because my allergies had gone unchecked for a few days and I didn’t take the precautions I needed. Lesson learned!