Confused. Would a dehumidifier or a humidifier benefit me?

You haven't presented enough information to answer your question. As a result, there can be no correct answer beyond guessing. Hopefully though, I'll give you enough information to answer the question for yourself.

Your husband is correct. GA has very high relative humidity (RH) - outside. The annual mean RH in GA is about 87% in the morning and and 54% in the afternoon.

http://www.sercc.com/climateinfo/historical/avgrh....

Okay... so what is your actual environment like? Do you use air conditioning, which reduces relative humidity? Do you sleep with a window open at night, which increases relative humidity in your house at night. When AC or gas-heat is going, it typically lowers humidy? Or is your house generally conditioned year round, leaving a RH of less than 50%?

The top 3 allergen triggers are mold, pollen, and dust mite feces. Mold and dust mite feces allergies get worse with increasing RH. Dust mites eat the skin cells that you slough off every day, and since 8 or so hours is spent in bed, there tends to be a lot of tiny recyclers living there. Increasing your RH will make these allergies worse. Using a dehumidifier would improve them.

Pollen allergies are not very humidity-dependent.

An increase in contact with allergens overnight through changing humidity conditions could cause all your symptoms. Your throat seems dry because the inflammatory response has cut of mucous secretion. Do you feel really "stuffed up" but your nose doesn't run? That's inflammation. When it is bad enough, the increased permeability of your blood vessels can cause spontaneous nose bleeds and immune cells run in, out, and around your tissues looking for a boogieman infection that isn't there.

So:

Go get tested for your allergy triggers, including molds and dust mites;

Measure the relative humidity in your home before going to bed and when you wake up (write them down);

Try taking a Zyrtec before you go to bed and see if you wake up feeling better in the morning.

Then come back and ask again which is better. If I were to offer a knee-jerk answer, it would be you need a dehumidifier.

A humidifier is used in the wintertime to alleviate dry air in a home which can cause sore/dry throats. Sinus drainage down the back of your throat can also cause sore throats in the morning upon awakening and taking an allergy med/over the counter decongestant might make this go away. A dehumidifier is used during the summer months to remove excess moisture from the air and keep mold at bay so, it is possible that both could benefit you, depending upon what time of year it is. If you have allergies of any kind, a daily allergy med can probably stop a lot of your symptoms plus increasing your daily water intake.

To me it sounds like you need a humidifier. If you wake up with a sore throat, it sounds like it's dry, and the moisture in the air would help you. Most people use dehumidifier in basements and rooms with lots of moisture. Hope that helps!

I don't think you need either one. I don't think the humidity level is a problem for you. What you actually need is an air purifier. It removes the pollen from the air.

A humidifier would probably help with the wheezing and the sore throat.