Allergies: Seasonal or Year Round Plague

Sunshine finally! Most people are thrilled when winter makes its exit, the days get longer and the flowers begin to bloom, I am one of them. However, there are those that dread springtime with its green grass, trees radiant with blossoms and new leaves and flowers popping up everywhere. Its the wicked pollen! The yellow dust that sits thick on your car if you live in an area where there are lots of trees, or the invisible stuff in the breeze on a windy day coming from nearby orchards. It could simply be that great smelling flowering bush in your yard, sometimes you don’t know, it just seems to be everything from March to June!

On occasion, I get the patient who has allergy symptoms year round. Sounds crazy right? Because what’s blooming in December? Those people may not have allergies at all, but instead they may have a hypersensitivity to too much stuff, chemicals, foods, etc. due to an inability to clear histamine. A dirty filter, also known as the liver, causing the body to create histamine to nearly everything. Today we are talking about the garden variety seasonal allergies (but if you have allergies all year round this applies to you too!).

The basic concept of allergies is that your body has an abnormally high sensitivity to certain substances, such as pollen, foods, or microorganisms. Common symptoms may include sneezing, itching, skin rashes, eye redness or itching, runny nose, post nasal drip, scratchy throat, fatigue and sinus congestion.

If you suffer from allergies, when you breathe in, eat or come in contact with an allergen, (that’s the thing your body is reacting to) your immune system perceives this usually harmless thing as a foreign invader and creates an immune response. This causes antibodies that form, I think of them as the first line of defense. If we get exposed again, the body thinks it’s doing a great job by creating this immune response, but if it’s creating a defense to grass or your pet that can be a problem. In response to the allergen the body makes histamine, a chemical that causes most of the common allergy symptoms.

Rarely, complications of allergies or more severe symptoms can develop from simple allergies and may require medical treatment such as:

• Anaphylaxis– a life threatening response to an allergen, most commonly bees and peanuts. An epi-pen is generally carried by these individuals.
• Asthma– an immune system reaction that affects the airways and breathing.

Most recommendations include avoidance of the allergen, which is easier if it’s peanuts or a cat, but a little more challenging if it’s all the outdoors! So what can we do about it if we don’t really want to avoid the thing that makes us miserable?

The liver, one of my favorite detox organs in the body, is responsible for breaking down and clearing histamine. Anti-histamine drugs for the most part do not stop the body from making histamine, instead they block the histamine from making it to the receptor and thereby reducing the symptoms. Oftentimes there are side effects to anti-histamine drugs and over the counter medications.

There may be other ways to reduce symptoms of allergies without the use of OTC and prescription medications. The liver being responsible for the removal of excess chemicals in the body, must be cared for and cleaned from time to time in order for it to be efficient. Since the liver filters the blood, and histamine is in the blood, foods and herbs that clean the filter can improve its detox capacity. Less histamine means fewer symptoms!

Keys to a happy liver include:

• Not over indulging in alcohol
• Keeping a chemical free home environment
• No plug in air fresheners
• No scented laundry detergent or dryer sheets
• No spray air fresheners
• Only essential oil fragrances
• Green cleaning supplies when possible
• Drink lemon water first thing in the morning, before coffee
• Eat beets and beet greens
• Eat plenty of protein and make sure you are digesting it, it is needed for detox

Remember when it comes to supplements for allergies, Standard Process and Medi-Herb have research supporting their ingredients and effectiveness.

Products such as:

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These supplements can provide detox and symptom support for allergies.

Another way to reduce your body’s response to allergens is to use an oral antigen. Some of you may be old enough to remember getting allergy shots from the allergist when you were younger. The purpose was to expose the patient to small amounts of the allergen and create a reduced reaction by the immune system. In many cases it worked, but going to the doctor week after week for years is a tough routine to follow, and many claim they really didn’t keep it up. Luckily, we have a homeopathic method of doing just that, reducing the body’s response to an allergen! We can muscle test to determine the allergen, or we can use conventional allergy testing from your MD to identify the worst allergens and use homeopathic remedies to gently and affordably reduce the reaction the body is having.

You see the pollen is not the bad guy here, if it were everyone would have allergies, and that is just not the case. The problem is how the body responds to it. If we can change the response and help clear the histamine, we feel better and our immune system is not overworking on a harmless antigen. It becomes free to do more important work like protect us from viruses, bacteria, etc.

We have homeopathic antigens available for:

• Pollen
• Evergreen Trees
• Oak Trees
• Mold
• Pet Dander
• Grasses
• Eggs
• Dairy
• Nuts
• And more!

Homeopathics are also great for allergies especially for children. Getting to the underlying cause of the allergies is our goal, so these issues are not lifelong. If you suffer from allergies, give us a call to see if we can help.