I’ve been amazed by how early people’s hay fever symptoms have started this year, but perhaps with the lack of winter and the resulting early blossoming of many trees and flowers, that’s a bit naïve of me!
The expectation is that this year, we will see pollen levels many times higher than has been recorded for decades. Not good news if every spring you expect to be affected by these pesky pollens for 3, 4 or 6 months of the year.
Thankfully, there are a few things you can do to help support your body and lessen the symptoms affecting your eyes, nose and throat.
Just three things can help to alleviate your symptoms, a few vitamins supplements, changes to what you eat and keeping a few Homeopathic remedies or a tincture to hand.
First, consider removing or reducing Histamine forming foods in your diet:
Histamine is produced by the body as a local immune response, and very often we hear of people being given an anti-histamine to reduce the reaction to an allergic response.
Histamine in its natural form is found throughout the body, such as the brain where it plays a role in the sleep wake process and in the stomach. It is this second area of the body that we can look to support by adjusting our diets to remove Histamine forming foods, thereby lessening the allergic response by allowing your body to focus on removing the allergens from pollen rather than the histamine foods in your stomach.
So, if you look to remove the following foods from your diet, you may notice an improvement in your symptoms:
Alcohol, particularly red wine and champagne. But also white wine and beer.
Smoked and processed meats such as salami, ham and bacon
Certain vegetables: tomato, spinach, avocado, mushrooms and canned vegetables as well as commercially prepared salads
Certain fruits: strawberries, bananas, papayas, kiwi, pineapple, mango, tangerines, grapefruits, prunes, pears, raspberries
Red wine vinegar, balsamic vinegar, Soy sauce, Mustard, Ketchup
Cheese
Bread and confectionery made with yeast
Peanuts, cashews, walnuts
Chocolate/cocoa, Coffee, black tea
Ok, so maybe giving up wine for 6 months isn’t likely, what supplements can you add to your daily diet to help…
Wholefood Cherry rich in vitamins and minerals, in particular vitamin C important for supporting the immune and respiratory system.
Selenium once available from soil, where it is now mostly depleted, Selenium treats inflammation in the body and improves respiratory conditions such as asthma
Vitamin B12 as well as boosting energy levels and mood, B12 also helps to balance the hormone levels in the body, which can be affected by increased histamine.
Vitamin D3 is another vitamin which supports the body’s immune response which can be compromised by allergies.
And finally some remedies…..
Nat Mur the symptoms of this remedy are of watery discharges from the eyes and nose with lots of sneezing. There may also be a loss of smell and a tickly cough.
Arsenicum, a remedy for symptoms that are burning, usually the eyes and the skin around the nose. Symptoms often leave the person feeling restless and exhausted.
Euphrasia also has burning, prickly eyes, with lots of sneezing. People generally feel worse indoors
Nux Vomica sufferers are very light sensitive, they have blocked noses and itchy inner ears. This is also a good remedy for migraine type headaches.
My most asked for remedy is my hay fever tincture, which combines a number of remedies and herbs that are known to support the respiratory system and reduce hay fever symptoms, drop me an email if you’d like to learn more.
Comments