Allergies

2 questions. I am interested in alternative medicines and I wanted to know if natural bee pollen taken daily can be beneficial to building up a tolerance for certain allergies? I suffer from asthma as well and they are taking Albuterol off the market which is not something someone that suffers from severe asthma wants to hear. I'm familiar with Pro-Air, which from an asthmatics point of view is not as beneficial. I don't care what doctors say about the same dosage etc, I feel tight and unable to breathe when I suffer from an acute emergency attack I also know how to control this asthma pretty well since I've dealt with it just about my whole life. I'm not solely dependent on the rescue inhaler. I use Advair daily but the season changes still effects my symptoms causing a need for the rescue inhaler. I don't know if legally I can be advised to purchase the medicine elsewhere or what I should do about wanting to continue to use Albuterol? Are there any solutions or recommendations?

[National Jewish Health]

The therapeutic value of natural bee pollen remains controversial but there is a long history of its use for the treatment of disease, especially allergic respiratory disease, and a significant amount written about this in the medical literature.  The following is an example of what one may find, regarding this topic.
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Authors
Full Name Ishikawa, Yasuko. Tokura, Tomoko. Nakano, Nobuhiro. et al
Institution Atopy (Allergy) Research Center, Juntendo University School of
Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
Title Inhibitory effect of honeybee-collected pollen on mast cell
degranulation in vivo and in vitro.
Source Journal of Medicinal Food. 11(1):14-20, 2008 Mar.
Abstract Bee-collected pollen (bee pollen [BP]) has been used as a folk medicine for centuries against various diseases, including allergy. There is no study elucidating how BP exerts such an anti-allergic effect. Since mast cells play a central role in the pathogenesis of various allergic diseases, we investigated the effect of BP on mast cell activation elicited by the Fc immunoglobulin E (IgE) receptor (Fc epsilon RI)-mediated pathways. The in vivo effect of orally administered BP on cutaneous mast cell activation was examined by passive cutaneous anaphylaxis reaction. In vitro mast cell degranulation and IgE binding to mast cells and the status of protein tyrosine phosphorylation were examined using bone marrow-derived mast cells. Daily oral administration of BP to mice significantly reduced the cutaneous mast cell activation elicited by IgE and specific antigens. BP also reduced in vitro mast cell degranulation and tumor necrosis factor-alpha production by inhibiting IgE binding to Fc epsilon RI on mast cells. The inhibitory effect of BP on mast cell degranulation by preventing IgE binding was confirmed by the reduced levels of protein tyrosine phosphorylation, which occurred as downstream events in activated mast cells via Fc epsilon RI. These results first revealed that the anti-allergic action of BP was exerted by inhibiting the Fc epsilon RI-mediated activation of mast cells, which plays important roles, not only in the early phase, but also in the late phase of allergic reactions.
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The active ingredient of the newer inhalers, albuterol, is chemically identical with the substance in the previous inhalers that have given you relief.  Even assuming this to be true, the therapeutic impact of the medicine will, to some degree, be dependent upon the way it is delivered to the lungs and, hence, dependent upon the distribution and penetration of the medicine, within one's lungs.  Thus what you have experienced could be on both a subjective and an objective basis.  In addition, medicine delivery has always varied from one manufacturer to another.

My recommendation is that you try each of the products mentioned below, in the FDA Advisory, including Xopenex HFA ™ (levalbuterol) inhalation aerosol, so that you might determine which is superior to all the others, for you.  The chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) inhalers will not be available in the US, but may be available in Mexico or Canada.  You may want to call a pharmacy in one of the major medical institutions in these 2 countries, to determine availability and get information about accessibility.
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FDA Advisory: Transition to HFA-Propelled Albuterol Inhalers - June 2008

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a Public Health Advisory to announce a phase out of albuterol chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) propelled inhalers to hydrofluoralkane (HFA) propelled albuterol inhalers.  The CFC propelled albuterol inhalers will not be available in the U.S. after December 31, 2008, and patients should be transitioned to a hydrofluoralkane (HFA) propelled albuterol inhaler now.  To date, the three HFA-propelled albuterol inhalation aerosol inhalers on the market include ProAir™ HFA, Proventil® HFA, and Ventolin® HFA.  In addition, levalbuterol, the (R) enantiomer of racemic albuterol, is also available as Xopenex HFA™ inhalation aerosol.

This national transition from CFC-propelled inhalers to HFA-propelled inhalers is ongoing and other medications using CFC-propelled inhalers will be phased out over the next several years.

Additional information may be found at http://www.fda.gov/cder/drug/advisory/albuterol_cfc.htm
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One other option would be to abandon the metered dose inhaler delivery system and use albuterol, via a nebulizer.

Good luck.