How to help symptoms of seasonal allergies?

Scotch and cocaine.

 

Always works for me

 

A tablespoon of local raw honey a day is one method I have heard, never worked for me though. I take Loratadine (Generic Claritin) at bedtime, it's a 24 hour non drowsy tablet, combined with Flonase nasal spray, also at bedtime.

I'm figuring if it just started doing the honey thing might work, or some people claim apple cider vinegar works too.

 

Best home remedy that I know of is to take a of minimally processed LOCAL - I repeat LOCAL - tablespoon of honey before bed (it also helps you sleep). I swear by it. It won't eliminate your symptoms but it truly helps to make them livable. It builds up your immunity to pollen/plant allergens that are affecting you where you live. Call around, hit the i-net, see if any local small apiaries are in your area (local apple orchards are another good source, but they have to have their own bees and the honey has to be collected on site directly from there, OR they buy direct from . . . a local apiary).

The theory behind it is that the bees in your area are harvesting pollen and collecting it from any number of sources that may be ailing you. Commercial honey from a supermarket is useless for two reasons: 1) more than likely not from around where you live and 2) heated to 180 degrees for pasteurization, which kills everything beneficial in it that you don't want dead. Try to avoid local health food stores if you can. They'll price gouge you, but if push comes to shove, go for it. People who harvest their own honey on a small scale are very amenable to selling to direct, but sometimes want you to provide your own container.

Try to avoid OTC anti-histamines or RX steroids unless you really have no choice, and you can still use honey, 'cause, well, it won't hurt and it tastes good! : ) For the love of all that's holy - run - don't walk - from OTC nasal decongestant sprays. You'll get a rebound effect, and you'll never be able to breathe without it. Simple, straight saline is the way to go and it really works!!! Also, SINUS BUSTER! http://sinusbuster.com/, and you can use it conjunction with saline.

It could also be leaf mold that's ailing you, because it's around that time, and that's a related but somewhat different animal. Good luck, and if you have any questions, feel free to ask!

 

That ends this thread. Well done

 

I've had allergies before. @jetophile knows what he's talking about.

 

I have had allergies for pretty much my whole life and I would love for what she posted to be true for me but unfortunately it's not the case for everyone. I am allergic to just about any kind of grass or tree pollen and I tried to go the natural route. For me it did not work but I always encourage the natural route first.

On another note, I have been on pain killers for years due to bullet fragments, titanium plates in neck, and a few other issues. I worked off of morphine, now off of hydrocodone for 2 months, using curcumin/tumeric, boswelia, and SAMe, with gabapentin being my last actual prescribed pain killer, hopefully done with that soon too, so I am all about trying to get natural. Just thought I would throw that out there for anyone in pain.

 

Saline, it keeps the mucus membranes moist. Generally combating the inflammation and allowing them to function as normal.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

 

Ha, you posted right above me about local honey. It would help if I could READ. My apologies. I wasn't trying to steal to steal your thunder, I didn't just, well, you know, READ.

 

Haha, no worries. I would never steer anyone away from immediate relief. If your symptoms become intolerable, don't needlessly suffer and please see a Dr. who may, depending on severity, refer you to an allergist. You may be a candidate for shots. No guarantees on the honey, but I've yet to meet someone who didn't find at least some semblance of alleviation if they're fairly new to seasonal Armageddon. So, if you're looking for a natural solution, it's worth a whirl.

 

Agreed. Start with the least invasive and work your way up. So, yeah, to further expound on the honey thing, it's only fair to give the flip side. Basically it's seen as placebo effect. There haven't been many controlled studies done because it's kind of hard to control the habits of bees and what they go for most in a given season. It's also hard to control the food source that's most readily available in a given season, etc. Its benefits have been dismissed for a variety of reasons (although generally proven to reduce inflammation), another one of them being that the pollen levels in honey are way too low to give you a "vaccination effect" (Sudafed doesn't, either, just sayin'). It's considered a busted myth, also due to the fact that bees harvest primariloy NECTAR not POLLEN, and that pollen collection is incidental and not associated with grass and trees. There was a study where people with a severe allergy to birch had near miraculous levels of relief after birch pollen was ADDED to the honey in increments. Anyway, nothing ventured nothing gained, JV.

Only an idiot would tell someone to rely on honey alone when they'd die without an epi-pen. The way I look at is if it won't physically harm you and it helped you, then it worked, even if the actual true medicinal effect is minimal. That also comes with a lot of caveats, because I crap on the supplement and 'natural remedy' scams ALL THE TIME - all of which can be harmful and contraindicate RX meds and other herbals which half the time don't even contain what's supposed to be in them. In extremely rare cases, raw honey can cause a life-threatening reaction if there's bee parts in there and traces of venom IF YOU'RE ALLERGIC TO BEES. That being said, exercise caution in all things and use your head. People can be so stupid, but that goes without saying. Local honey can also used in combination with conventional therapies, and many people do notice a difference after comparing with and without. All that being said, I can only speak for myself and for other people I know who have gone the honey route with and without a combination of other therapies and had varying degrees of alleviation, some stellar, some fair to middling. I should've explained that the 'truly livable' comment was conditional in my first post about it. Still swear by it, but that was strictly personal experience.

Tumeric, yep, but it only has effect if it's warmed up. Warm it up with/in some high quality coconut oil and bottoms up. It's actually really delicious. Just watch out: IT STAINS EVERYTHING. Hops may also help. PM me, I have something else you might find of extreme interest. Feel good. Chronic pain is a bitch.

EDIT & P.S.: Good for you for getting off of that poison, and good regimen you got going on there. I pretty much do the same thing minus the Gabapentin. I use the poor man's version of SAMe: MSM powder dissolved in a little cranberry juice cut with water and one capsule of L-methionine. It'll save you a boatload of money. You can play with it and see if you get the same level of effectiveness as regular SAMe. You should also throw in a B-complex vitamin, but I suspect you already do.

 

I'll try the MSM powder, out of the supplements I'm taking, the SAMe was the one that the price is up there. I take vitamin B injections so no other B vitamins needed. I can thank my Nordic ancestors for that, my body can not absorb any vitamin B from food, the pernicious anemia is what caused some of my spine issues.

The turmeric I take is turmeric root / curcumin extract w/black pepper extract in a pill, $23 for a 6 month supply, saves me from having to mix up any turmeric milk or tea. I have also been using turmeric as a spice but I know the benefits are not near as much, but I like the taste and figure it can't hurt.

Once I get my affairs in order down here we plan on hitting the road half the year since the humidity here makes everything worse. We'll head for drier climates during the summer, last summer the month we were on the road was the best I felt in years even dealing with being in a vehicle so many hours. Figure climate change as well as the supplements i should be good to go.

 

My arm is hanging off at the elbow, if I ignore it long enough, it will go away. Typical male. J/K. Sort of. Kind of. A little. No. You could've gotten pneumonia, ya big dummy. Feel better!

EDIT & P.S.: Don't know where you live, but if you live in Canada and have a bad cough without congestion: BUCKLEY'S COUGH MIXTURE. I don't think they make the original anymore, though. It's Dextromethorphan, Canada fir balsam gum (yah, turpentine), pine needle oil, menthol, camphor, and capsicum (hot pepper). No artificial colors. It looks like a particular unseemly bodily secretion, and tastes like the worst thing you could possibly imagine. No pun intended. They discontinued it in the U.S., but I have never found anything that works like it, including cough syrup with codeine (which I'm allergic to). I still have half a bottle left and guard it with my life.

EDIT & P.P.S.: They discontinued it in the U.S. because the FDA didn't approve of drinking pine trees. Where do they think aspirin came from? Well, that's from the bark, but the rest does wonders for opening up your sinuses and helping you breathe a little easier. I put few drops of pine balsam essential oil in bowl of hot water, stick my stupid face over it, and cover my head with a towel and inhale the steam. It helps a lot.

 

I started getting Allergy Shots last spring to help build up my immunity...however process takes 6 months to a year to start working

MDs said my allergies set the stage for getting sinus infections