Are you fighting with nature right now?
Tree pollens are out with a vengeance these days. You may be one of the 25% of the population that suffers with runny eyes, stuffy noses, headaches, or sinus pain. You feel like you’re a victim to this beautiful time of year. You’re trapped in the house with your windows closed, and your kleenex on the ready.
Well, the good news is there is lots of things I can do to help!
Depending on the allergy, a person’s season can begin in early spring and last through to first frosty days in Autumn. Like I say right now the trees are full-on. In a couple months that shifts to grasses and in the late summer / early fall it’s the ragweeds and weeds that are the culprits.
At any rate, that’s a long time to suffer. But! You don’t have to!
Here is what I recommend:
1. Get tested.
I do a skin prick test in my office to pick up environmental allergy buggers. This is like what you’d experience if you saw an allergist. Same same. I test for season things including a group of trees, grasses, weeds, as well as year round allergies including cats, dogs, mould and dust. This test is about 95% accurate.
I talk about and demonstrate the skin prick test in this CTV Island News clip. (I was on the news!)
2. Check your food allergies.
What do food allergies have to do with seasonal allergies? Good question. I’m glad I asked it. If we are eating foods that are offensive to our system, there will be more inflammation in the body. Inflammation makes the immune system more reactive. A more reactive immune system means your body is responding to things in the environment that it shouldn’t be reactive to. Got it?
3. Consider these supplements.
My patients have a lot of success taking the following natural allergy supplements:
Vitamin C: Take about 4 grams per day.
Quercetin: This is a molecule that stabilizes the cells that release histamine so they don’t release histamine and thus you don’t look and feel like you have a perma cold.
Fish Oil: Marine lipids are a potent anti-inflammatory. You’re aiming to take about 3 grams per day.
MSM: This sulphur based molecule can also act like an anti-histamine. It’s especially good when the sinuses are involved. You’ll want to take 3-6 grams per day for about 6 weeks.
May seem like a lot of stuff, but at least you won’t be reliant on drugs! Well, that’s my opinion anyways.
4. Consider sublingual immunotherapy
What now? After doing the skin prick testing I mentioned above, you can take specific remedies under the tongue every day to desensitize your immune system to the allergen. Whhhaaa? Aka your immune system gets over it. It’s not longer reactive, and you’re free to enjoy the beautiful spring and summer weather.
5. Clean out the sinuses
Your symptoms are just your body’s way of trying to get rid of the pollen allergens. Much respect, right? So why don’t you help your body out by giving the old nasopharynx and sinuses a rinse. How do you do that? Well, start with a Neti pot which you can get from the health food store, and go from there! For a great instructional video Google “Daniel Vitalis Neti Pot,” and you’ll have everything you need to know.
So there you have it! Five tested ways to make sure you’re fully functional and enjoying this beautiful spring time of year. In the comments below I’d love to hear about your best strategies for beating the seasonal sniffles.
