Posted by Maria Dimitrova

Read this if: You are a hay fever sufferer

Gain: Plenty of ideas how to prevent and alleviate the symptoms

Cost: Taking into consideration some factors like nutrition. Some money spent on herbs, supplements and massage therapy (unless you do it on your own). If you decide to on the vaccination, it will cost you around £300 a course.

For most people spring and summer are favorite seasons because of the outdoor activities, the beautiful green landscapes and the vacations. But just imagine being on a holiday, trying to shake off your stress of the daily grind, when you start sneezing. Your nose is running and your eyes are red and itchy. Try having fun in that state! At work, the discomfort is as bad as on being on the beach. It’s difficult to be focused and productive when you can hardly breathe. Driving a car with itchy, watery eyes? Maybe, it’s better to use the public transport.

To the vast majority of people this sounds painfully familiar. They know that it’s not an ordinary cold. These are symptoms of hay fever, also called seasonal allergic rhinitis or intermittent allergic rhinitis. The condition is caused by an overly sensitive immune system. When you inhale an allergen, your body thinks it’s being attacked and releases an antibody called immunoglobulin E to handle the situation. The antibody locates the invading allergens and hands them over to mast cells to kill them off. A byproduct of the battle is the release of a number of chemicals, one of which is histamine. Histamine is responsible for many of the symptoms of hay fever that you loathe.

The most common allergens

The most common allergens in hay fever are pollens. Pollen is made from small particles released by flowering plants. The time of year when a particular species of plant releases pollen depends on the local climate and what it normal for that species. Some species pollinate in the spring and others in the late summer and early fall. Generally, the farther north a plant is, the later in the season it pollinates. Variations in temperature and rainfall from year to year affect how much pollen is in the air in any given season.

The other common allergens producing hay fever are molds. Molds are a type of fungus that has no stems, roots, or leaves. Mold spores float through the air like pollen until they find a hospitable environment to grow. Unlike pollen, however, molds do not have a season. They are present throughout the year in most of the United States. Molds grow both outdoors and indoors. Outdoors, they thrive in soil, vegetation, and rotting wood. Indoors, molds (usually called mildew) live in places where air does not circulate freely, such as attics and basements, moist places such as bathrooms, and places where foods are stored, prepared, or thrown away.

Risky factors for acquiring a hay fever

What makes certain people more vulnerable to these allergens?

One suggestion is that the increase in allergic conditions is related to people having smaller families and better standards of cleanliness nowadays. This means children don’t get as many infections as they used to.

Some researchers think that getting lots of infections when you’re young helps strengthen your immune system. If children aren’t getting so many infections, their immune systems may be affected. This could make them more likely to get allergies.

There’s some evidence that first-born children, children from small families, and children who don’t go to day care are more likely to get allergic conditions such as hay fever. This might be because they get fewer infections in the first few years of their life than children from bigger families and children who mix with lots of other children at day care. Some doctors may advise parents to make sure their young children mix with other children so that they get infections when they’re young.

Other factors include:

• general state of health
• underlying food allergies
• intestinal yeast or parasites
• exposure to smoke and/or chemicals
• nutritional deficiencies
• low thyroid function
• physical or emotional stress.

Predictions for the future

Between 20 million and 40 million people in the United States have hay fever or another allergy with similar symptoms. The tendency is for this extremely unpleasant condition to affect more and more people in the future. According to Professor Jean Emberlin, of the University of Worcester, rising temperatures, changing seasons and pollution mean that up to 71 per cent of the population could be allergic to pollen by 2060. Mild winters and hot summers will boost the growth of ragweed – one of the main triggers of hay fever in the U.S. In a few decades it is likely to be warm enough in some areas to grow olives. These have very allergic pollen. Pollution will also take its toll as some pollutants alter the structure of pollen, making it more irritating to the immune system.

When to anticipate the appearance of the symptoms

Since hay fever depends on the presence of allergens, it’s recommended for hay fever sufferers to search for information about the expected level of pollen in the air. This will give you some time to take preventative measures.

The National Allergy Bureau provides information about the pollen count (visit http://www.aaaai.org/nab/index.cfm?p=pollen). Check it every day during the pollen season. When the count is high, stay indoors as much as you can and keep your windows closed.

The pollen levels are highest in the early morning, between 5 a.m. and 10 a.m and tend to be higher on warm, dry, breezy days and lower on cold, wet days.

Prevention measures and alternative treatments

If you don’t want to take anti-histamine drugs to treat this condition, take a look at these alternative ways of preventing and relieving the symptoms of hay fever.

If you are allergic to pollen:

• Don’t go outside on days with high levels of pollen if that’s possible
• Don’t dry your clothes outdoors. Pollen in the air may stick to your clothes
• Keep pollen away from your eyes by wearing sunglasses that fit close to your eyes
• When you’re in your car, keep the windows closed and use air conditioning. Some cars have pollen filters
• When you’re at home, use air conditioning on the “indoor” setting
• Use a special air filter to reduce the amount of pollen in your home
• If you’ve been outside for a while, take a shower to wash the pollen off your skin ³
• Avoid air pollution, cigarette smoke, and other irritants such as insect sprays, fresh paint, and tar.  They may make your hay fever symptoms worse.

If you are allergic to mold:

• Avoid places where mold grows, such as moist, shady areas and compost piles
• Try to keep your home dry inside
• Don’t mow your lawn or rake the leaves.

Foods and herbs that help to fight hay fever include:

• Beta carotene rich foods such as the red, orange and yellow fruits and vegetables are also rich in Bioflavonoids and vitamin C.
• Dark green foods are also helpful as they help to eliminate excess toxins in the body – spinach, watercress, rocket and chard, broccoli, freshly picked nettles, green beans, kale, seaweeds, spirulina, blue green algae, wheatgrass and chlorella.
• Garlic helps to reduce excess catarrh, eat two raw cloves a day
• Yoghurt is cooling and has a mild anti-histamine effect, eat plain unflavoured, organic acidophilus yoghurt in moderate amounts.
• Pollen (half a teaspoon a day) is said to help the condition.
• Aloe Vera has mild anti-histamine properties. Take the juice internally diluted in water
• Oats are calming to the nervous system and contain significant quantities of B vitamins and minerals.
• Foods that contain Omega-3 fatty acids may decrease your risk of having an allergic reaction
• Chamomile, peppermint, ginger, anise and feverfewteas in the form of tinctures, tea and pills
• Calcium
• Butterbur
• A compound of garlic and echinacea
• Stinging nettle in the form of freeze-dried leaf capsules – it works like a natural antihistamine for hay fever symptoms

Avoid these mucus forming foods and drinks: dairy products, tea and coffee, alcohol, wheat, refined and processed foods.

Acupuncture

It is the drug free alternative for allergy relief. And has been shown to be effective, even for people with allergies that are difficult to cure. Bear in mind that it is not a quick fix. It can take up to 10 sessions before you notice improvement.

Acupressure

This kind of treatment you can do on your own. With your thumb and fingers of your right hand, grab the meaty part of your left hand, between the thumb and fingers. Apply firm pressure for one minute, pushing toward the bone of the hand.

Press finger tips to the side of the nose, slightly above the nostrils. For about a minute at a time. Do the same to your sinuses slightly above each eyebrow.

Press the hollow above the center of upper lip as needed.

Indian Head Massage

To help clear clogged sinuses, warm up a small amount of organic sesame oil, using your fingers, massage along the top of your cheekbones, and across your forehead. The massage should last a few minuets or until you feel relief. Also with your fingers, use long strokes from your temporal mandibular joint (located just in front of your ear) on down your neck.
You can use the sesame oil, to swab your nostrils daily, it is extremely soothing to inflamed nasal lining.

Reflexology

It can help to minimize the symptoms by focusing on the main reflex points connected with the sinuses, head, eyes and adrenal glands.

Find detailed instructions with pictures how to relieve hay fever by massaging certain points on the body: http://artoflivingbetter.com/MASSAGE%20TO%20RELIEVE%20HAY%20FEVER.pdf

Vaccination

A vaccine called Pollinex Quattro jab is claimed to ease the misery of hay fever. It is based on grass pollen and tiny pieces of the food poisoning bug salmonella. Just four injections over three weeks can cut symptoms and the need for eye drops and anti-histamine pills by almost half. At a London allergy conference it was announced that even people with the most severe hay fever felt better after being given the vaccine. It creates a ‘good’ immune reaction which cancels out the allergic reaction that some people suffer when their body rejects pollen as being foreign. What raises the hope the most is that the British scientists behind the vaccine believe that taking a course a year for three years could even cure the condition. For more detailed information: http://www.allergytherapeutics.com/g301%20results.aspx

Immunutherapy

It is an alternative if medical therapy is not helpful. Allergy shots do not always help, but they can improve symptoms in many people. They are usually given by an allergist. Immunotherapy consists of a series of injections over several months. The shots contain very small amounts of the antigen causing the hay fever reaction. The idea is to minimize your reaction to the allergen by slowly decreasing your sensitivity to it in a controlled setting, which is usually the allergist’s office. How long the benefits last after that varies from person to person, but you could end up being hay fever-free for years after your immunotherapy ends.

In some cases self-treatment might not be effective enough or the hay fever attack can be so severe that you need urgent medical help.

Call your health care provider if you experience any of the following:

• Symptoms that do not improve with self-treatment
• Fever that does not subside
• Nasal secretions that are colored, thickened, or bloody
• Sore throat that gets worse
• Earache or ear discharge

Go to the hospital emergency department if you experience any of the following in conjunction with an allergic reaction:

• Very high fever
• Difficulty breathing
• Uncontrolled bleeding
• Discharge from the ear or severe earache

As people are different, they respond individually to different kinds of treatment. What might be effective for some, for others might be ineffective. The best thing is to try and see what works best for you. At least the alternative non-medical methods are considered harmless. And yet, if you want to act safely, visit a specialist who has had a lot of experince in using such methods and is highly recommended by their clients. Good luck in finding a permanent solution or at least an effective way to relieve the symptoms!

Further reading:

Alternative Pain Reduction Techniques

Conventional Pain Relievers

Yumeiho Therapy? Not as Exotic as the Name Suggests

Forget about Fad Diets. Nutrition is What Really Counts

Bee pollen, Food of the Gods – True or False?

Artificial Sweeteners – Weight Loss Benefits or Scam

Avoid Junk Food – Sweat Free and Unfat

The Truth behind Food Labels

The Dangers of Energy Drinks

Fit or Fat – See through the Lies in the Media

Benefit from Moving to Another Country

The Optimal Time to Become a Parent