Black, green and red tea blues

Shortly before our trip I had a cold and it made my chronic cough worse. I always figured the cough was due to allergy, since I have so many allergies and dust and mold are impossible to avoid. The cough sounded pretty bad while we were in California, and my husband said I needed to see a doctor and get a chest x-ray. What, for an allergy?

Hoping to avoid the hassle of an x-ray, I looked for a local allergist who might do extensive allergy testing. While researching allergists online, I recalled my previous allergy tests and all the things I was supposed to avoid. The last time I had extensive testing, I was looking for the cause of a cough. Oh, now I remember! The tests showed I was allergic to black tea and black pepper, in addition to all the allergens previously uncovered. And I gave up black tea and pepper (mostly - it is very difficult to avoid pepper in restaurant food). But I experimented with green tea and found two brands that I seemed to tolerate. They were decaffeinated since I am supposed to avoid caffeine.

But maybe green tea is part of the problem. And probably chocolate is part of the problem too - a little chocolate often sets off a coughing spell. So I decided to give up green tea and chocolate for a while. But I miss it especially since the weather is cold and tea and cocoa are warming and comforting. I can drink a little decaf but more than a cup gives me heartburn.

The cough improved. I decided the try rooibos (red bush) tea which is from a completely different plan than black and green teas. I bought some in Winchester and was looking forward to a nice hot cup. Well, just a couple of swallows set off a violent cough. I coughed and coughed until I threw up. My throat fell like it might be swelling so I took some liquid Bendryl. Within a few minutes I started feeling better.

I've been off tea for six days now and my cough is definitely much better. But it's not entirely gone. I may still have to go to a doctor. We shall see.

P.S. I just had a hunch - I've had reactions to fluoride before and black tea is high in fluoride. So I just looked up "fluoride in rooibos tea" and sure enough: Rooibos contains the minerals, copper, iron and potassium, calcium, fluoride, zinc, manganese, and magnesium. Well, whether or not that's the problem, I won't be drinking rooibos tea again.

Joseph Mercola writes about fluoride at high concentrations in tea and points out the risks of consuming too much fluoride, including hypothyroidism.