Seasonal Allergies Are Getting Worse Every Year
April 9, 2013
Here are some natural ways to stop your body’s reaction and
relieve your suffering!
According to the Harvard Health Letter, seasonal allergies
are starting earlier every year, and pollen counts are rising.
At least 36 million people are affected by seasonal allergies
each year in the US.
Seasonal allergic rhinitis occurs when one’s immune system
overreacts to foreign materials and produces an inflammatory
response. Grass, weeds, and trees release tiny pollens into the
air, and inhaling them triggers a reaction of your immune
system. Floating pollutants such as mold spores and dust mite
droppings also contribute (though in warmer climates, this can
happen year round).
Uncovering what makes the immune system respond the way it does
is important.
One theory is that an excessive antigenic stimulus
overwhelms the immune system, and this is what leads to an
inflammatory response. In other words, a small amount of
allergen may not be enough to cause symptoms, but continued
exposure—or the exposure of number of different antigens—can
lead to an overload of the system. This is magnified when one’s
immune system is weak (which happens easily when one is tired or
stressed or has recently been ill).
There are natural approaches to seasonal allergies that work
well:
Calm the allergic response. According to
a study in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary
Medicine, subjects who took 2600 mg of MSM
(methylsulfonylmethane) found their upper and total respiratory
symptoms significantly reduced within seven days, and
improvement continued for all thirty days of the study. Also,
as Dr. Mercola notes, MSM is 34% sulfur, which can help
maintain optimal health. Sulfur helps the body detoxify itself,
and helps produce glutathione, an important antioxidant. MSM is
extremely safe and can be taken at high doses, even if one’s
diet is full of raw vegetables and MSM-rich foods. Some of our
staff have found complete relief from allergies with this
product, but required higher daily doses than 2600 mg.
Another substance that helps calm down the immune system under a
pollen attack is the Alpine herb butterbur. In Scotland,
researchers found that butterbur is effective. It can also
be used in conjunction with MSM—the sulfur to condition the
body, and the herb for acute attacks.
Petadolex, a butterbur extract supplement, reduces
inflammation so well that it
can be used for migraines and other headaches too—it was
endorsed as an OTC remedy for migraines by the Academy of
Neurology and the American Headache Society after their review
of 284 scholarly articles on the subject. Butterbur in the wild
contains a potentially toxic substance, but Petadolex has
removed it.
Freeze-dried nettles and quercetin are also used to reduce
allergic response. They both work—the former sooner, and the
latter over time—but they typically reduce rather than eliminate
symptoms. Antihistamine drugs were initially developed from
quercetin. As is often the case, the drugs had serious side
effects (such as drowsiness) while the natural product from
which it is derived did not. Another natural product that shows
promise is Carnivora, derived from the plant of the same name,
although more research needs to be done.
Remove
food allergens (which lightens the antigenic load).
As the Townsend Letter points out, allergic/inflammatory
processes may first become active in the gut. Then
transportation of food proteins across the intestinal wall
becomes altered, resulting in increased permeability and
motility of the intestine—Leaky Gut Syndrome. Coupled with other
conditions, such as intestinal infections, flora imbalance, and
decreased immunoglobulin A antibodies, this may lead to further
intestinal compromise and increased antigen-immune interaction.
Get acupuncture. Researchers had 442 people with seasonal
allergies receive acupuncture treatments. After eight weeks of
acupuncture, a
71% patients reported an improvement in their symptoms
(according to a scale used to measure allergy symptoms, the
severity of these patients’ symptoms decreased by an impressive
37%).
Reduce general inflammation in the body. Eating lots of veggies
with deep-water fish will decrease inflammation levels. Omega-3s
from all sources can reduce inflammation as well. In Traditional
Chinese Medicine, licorice, skullcap, cordyceps, and perilla
have been shown to have anti-inflammatory properties (though
consult a TCM practitioner for guidance).
Strengthen the immune system. At the head of our list is vitamin
D3, which
reduces the incidence of respiratory infections. Also get
plenty of vitamin E and magnesium, and knock off the sugar,
which greatly weakens the immune system. And don’t forget
vitamin C: studies indicate it’s a natural antihistamine.
Relieve congestion gently. Don’t forget
neti pots—saline nasal irrigation—which may provide sinus
pain relief for allergy sufferers. But you probably won’t need
them if you have enough sulfur in your system.