It’s Allergy Season!
They say if you move to the Northwest, you will have allergies within five years. I thought that saying was a little extreme, as I had never had allergies in California (and there is a wide variety of trees and crops and thus pollens there). Not everyone sneezes from pollens, and I thought I'd be immune. WRONG! A few months shy of being in the Portland area 5 years (and right after i'd moved into a house with 6 fir trees in the yard), I was sneezing. Just a cold possibly? That's what I thought at first. But when the itchy eyes started and the itchy nose went on for more than a couple of weeks, I was faced with the dreaded diagnosis--hay fever.
I just looked at the National Allergy Forecast and apparently we're having an earlier spring this year than last. Pollen count is high for Portland and Vancouver meaning most people who are usually affected by hay fever are experiencing symptoms now. I can believe it since I was driven from bed at 3 a.m. from sneezing and now sit at my computer typing this blog.
I haven't had allergy symptoms in 3 years. I was lucky. The first year I happened to get allergies I was shadowing a naturopathic doctor who did NAET treatments. NAET (Nambudripod's Allergy Elimination Technique) is an effective way to change the body's "alarm response" to environmental allergens. It is a system which uses chinese meridians and accupressure (no needles) to improve the health of the vital force. After 3 treatments, my hay fever symptoms had totally disappeared. I felt comfortable to be outside, to mow the lawn, and even to give away all the allergy herbs and tinctures I received free from various companies at trade shows. Now that my cupboard is bare of stuff that can help and i'm up at 4 a.m., I know what I need to do later today: get the stuff that can help.
What stuff is that? Well, for startes: Nettles....
...(later that week...) Freeze dried nettles are a great way to prevent and treat allergy symptoms. Normally if you touch a nettles leaf, your hand will get itchy and red from the histamine release in your skin. However, taken internally, nettles controls the histamine mediated allergic symptoms in your mucous membranes--your nose, eyes, and throat. Instead of creating inflammation, pollens and other allergens get handled by the body as any non-allergic body would. In 1990, a randomized controlled clinical study showed elimination of allergic symptoms in 58% of patients with just one capsule of freeze dried nettles a day. Pretty great, huh? I've taken Nettles and Eyebright--2 capsules of each--for 5 days now and I have no allergy symptoms. Yes, it is raining now, but I've worked in the yard almost everyday and have been outside for other reasons--even ran a 5k on Saturday at Oaks Park amongst trees and grass and never once sneezed.
I chose Eyebright because I have also been having many eye symptoms--itchy eyes and troubled vision--and I know that homeopathically, this herb is used for allergic reactions in the eyes. Homeopathic dilutions of plants such as eyebright (Euphrasia)can be also used for allergies. Another great choice would be homeopathic Allium cepa (common onion). Just as cutting onions can cause your eyes to water, itch, and burn, homeopathic onion will treat these symptoms (this is the theory of "like cures like"). Allium cepa was the best acute remedy for my husband when we were dating and he got allergic symptoms to my cat when he'd come over. I like homeopathics for acute symptoms, but I've found that capsules of freeze dried herbs will give longer lasting and a more preventative effect for hay fever. Constitutional homeopathic remedies can be used for a more lasting effect and I'll explain this in another post.
But you may not even need to use homeopathic medicine or anything in capsules if you have the right things in your kitchen. Anything with quercitin in it can alleviate or prevent allergic symptoms. Apples, capers, onions, green tea, chamomile tea, citrus, ginko (many people already take this herb), and leafy green vegetables have lots of quercitin. Perhaps that's why an apple a day keeps the doctor away. But remember to buy organic! Studies consistently show that organic vegetables and fruits have much higher amounts of quercitin than their "conventionally" grown counterparts. Organic tomatoes have been shown to have 79% more quercitin than non-organic. I think this is the reason we are seeing so many allergies today. The nutritional quality of our food has been robbed by our modernized agricultural practices. That too is another post.
So what should you use for allergies with all of these choices? For me, it depends on the severity of your symptoms. If symptoms are mild, using vegetables, fruits and green tea may do the trick. If they are moderate, perhaps nettles or other histamine reducing/mast cell stabilizing herbs will be beneficial. If you are just tired of having these long standing allergies and want them gone for a long time, then constitutional homeopathy, NAET, or allergy desensitization drops (available in my clinic) may give you the lasting protection from allergies you desire.
Save the rest of your spring and summer by getting treated now!
