Valencia Porter, MD, MPH

05/29/2026

05/27/2026

This “magic” combo is not the only way to address mast cell activation/histamine intolerance. There are at least 20 natural substances that may help and finding the root cause that is triggering this imbalance in addition to hormonal changes can be very helpful and improve your overall health.

Before perimenopause, Angela hiked over 100 miles a month. “I was incredibly active,” she says. “I moved to the mountains so I could hike.” Then: “Man, oh man,” she says with a sigh. “Perimenopause wiped me out.”

With approval from her doctor, Angela began taking HRT for her symptoms, but it didn’t make a big enough dent. Then, a few months ago, Angela saw a social-media post from a woman who took daily anti-histamines (like Allegra, Claritin, or Zyrtec) plus Pepcid AC (a common antacid) for her perimenopause symptoms. Her results, as reported, sounded miraculous: no more brain fog, no more tossing and turning all night. Even her mood vastly improved. Angela, who is now 55, decided to try the regimen for herself.

“Women will go to their doctors and say, ‘I take Allegra and Pepcid and my PMDD symptoms go away. It’s like magic,’” says Zachary Rubin, an allergist and clinical immunologist, who has seen patients who take anti-histamines for these purposes for years. So far, Rubin says, these experiences are clinically unsupported. However, he notes, that does not mean it’s not working for anyone, and there are plausible reasons for why it might work.

Read Katie Heaney’s report on how a rumored “drugstore secret” for treating perimenopause and PMDD has gone viral — and if it really works: https://nymag.visitlink.me/OAPLAW

05/22/2026

Why do I post political stuff on a medical page? Because political decisions can and do affect your health. This is completely unacceptable. Stop the rollbacks on
Clean Water
Clean Air
Support Clean food (sustainable, regenerative organic should be the norm not the exception

05/08/2026

Bait and switch. Unfortunately everyone is screwed by these environmental and health decisions. Cancer risk. Infertility. Food supply issues. Microbiome disruption. Just to name a few consequences.

RFK Jr.’s “wellness” movement is collapsing under its own contradictions

04/25/2026

Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy this week blasted the MAHA PAC as a “moral and ethical mess.”

04/25/2026

This is what toxic mold can look like.

This was my bedroom, pre-remediation. I would lay in bed every night, unable to sleep, my heart racing, ears ringing so loud I'd say they were "screaming", a choking feeling in my throat, a hot poker in my hip joint, getting up to p*e 14 times a night. I had no idea what was going on behind my wall not 6 feet away. There was no obvious sign, no smell.

Long story short, the threshold of the door (that goes out to a balcony) was installed backwards. So for 16 years, when snow would build up outside that door and then melt, it would melt onto that threshold - which was tilted inwards instead of outwards - and drain into the right side of the doorframe you're looking at.

From the bottom of the corner and all under that first window...mold on the back of the drywall.

So when people ask me if mold can be hidden behind a wall, I say yes. When people tell me they are sick in their home and they think it's mold, I believe them.

⬇️ Inspection and remediation photos in the comments.