Re: Garlic

Fresh onions/garlic actually *cause* me to get bad colds, migraine & my throat closes up. It's an allergy. See the About.Com onion-allergy testimonials

Re: Estrogens

Tell your friend to check out the sensiblehealth.com website by Julia Chang. She mentions foods and herbs with estrogenic effects. It's a good site. Interestingly, one of the foods she mentions is cherries, and both myself & some other women I've communicated with, have found that cherries has the effect of *stopping* bleeding, though J.Chang's site seems to say the opposite. Still, I know for a fact that cherries do have *some* effect on the menstrual cycle, since I've observed it for myself.

For many years, I used to get bad colds, including nasal drip, headachiness, and my throat would feel like a sword swallower.

So I decided one day to desperately chew on raw cloves of garlic, hoping to cure myself - BUT!

Instead, it made it MUCH MUCH worse - which is when the light dawned that I'm allergic to garlic & onions (in non-sauteed form).

For example:
soup made with cooked (vs. sauteed) onions
or oniony herring
or garlicky pickles

On About.Com there are onion-allergy testimonials, though many of them speak of nausea, migraine, or stomach problems. However, some speak of sinus & throat problems similar to mine.