I ADDED A TREATMENT TRACKER (AND OTHER THINGS I WISH I HAD YEARS AGO)
When I first built Achoo, it did one thing: show you what's in the air. Pollen levels, color-coded, done. That was enough to stop me from walking outside on the worst days. But it didn't help me figure out what to do about it.
I've been taking Zyrtec since I was a teenager. I take it every spring because... I've always taken it every spring. But does it actually work? Better than Claritin? Better than just staying inside? I had no idea. I was just guessing.
THE TREATMENT TRACKER
So I added a treatment tracker. It's simple: when you take something — a pill, a nasal spray, a neti pot, whatever — you log it. It takes about five seconds. The app remembers your most-used treatments and puts them at the top so you're not scrolling through a list every time.
You can log medications, home remedies, even avoidance behaviors like "kept windows closed" or "wore a mask outside." Anything you do to deal with allergies, you can track it.
DOES IT ACTUALLY WORK? NOW YOU CAN FIND OUT
This is the part I'm most excited about. Once you have a week or two of symptom and treatment data, the app starts calculating treatment effectiveness. It compares your symptom severity on days you used a treatment versus days you didn't, broken down by allergen.
I found out Zyrtec reduces my symptoms by about 70% on high oak days. Claritin? About 40%. That's information I've been missing for twenty years. The "What Worked" widget on the dashboard now shows you recommendations based on your own data, not generic advice.
PERSONAL ALLERGY INTELLIGENCE
The insights page has been around for a bit, but it keeps getting smarter. After 7 days of logging, it discovers your personal triggers, calculates risk scores for different allergens, and spots multi-allergen patterns you'd never notice on your own.
I discovered that my worst days aren't when oak is high — they're when oak AND grass are both moderate at the same time. I never would have figured that out without the data.
EMAIL ALERTS
I also added email notifications. You can get a daily pollen report for your area, plus spike alerts when something jumps. They're timezone-aware, opt-in only, and have a one-click unsubscribe. I hate apps that spam you, so I was careful with this one.
THE 7-DAY FREE TRIAL
One more thing: there's now a 7-day free trial. Full access to everything, no credit card required. I wanted people to be able to try the treatment tracker and insights before deciding if it's worth paying for. If it helps you figure out what works, great. If not, no hard feelings.
WHAT'S NEXT
I'm still using Achoo every day, still logging symptoms, still discovering things about my own allergies. I have ideas for what's next but I'd rather build things that actually help than add features for the sake of it. If you have thoughts, I'd love to hear them.
In the meantime, spring is coming. Your nose is probably already nervous. Achoo's got your back.