Allergies and Natural Medicine TreatmentsAn allergy is an inappropriate immune response to a foreign substance that results in inflammation and organ dysfunction. Allergies range from life-threatening to annoying, and symptoms include systemic anaphylaxis, throat inflammation, bronco(airway)spasm (eg: asthma), blood vessel inflammation, hives and other skin rashes (eg: eczema), hay fever, itchy and inflammed eyes and nose. Allergies affect about 20% (1 in 5) of the North American population. Allergies can be triggered by inhalation (eg: pollens, animal danders), direct contact (eg: poison ivy), ingestion (eg: drugs or foods), or injection (eg: stinging insects or drugs).
Common Food Allergens: Other Common Allergens: It is important to note that though the items listed above are the most common allergens, ANY substance can be a potential allergen
Possible Treatment Options To Help Eliminate Or Reduce Allergy Symptoms***Important note: You should always speak with your health practitioner before making dietary changes or taking any form of supplements to ensure that they are suitable for you.
DIETEating a healthy diet, free of inflammatory foods will decrease your likelihood to experience allergies, particularily seasonal and food. Eating a diet that includes inflammatory foods can worsen your allergy symptoms.Click here to see one example of a dietary cleanse that will help decrease inflammation in your body. Click here for a list of inflammatory foods.
SUPPLEMENTSVitamin C: 5000mg per day, or more. Vit C moderates the immune response. Choose a buffered form to decrease the risk of digestive upset with high doses of this vitamin.Quercitin: 500mg twice a day. Has the ability to reduce the secretion of histamine from immune cells.
Probiotics, such as Acidophillus (as directed): Probiotics are important to maintain a healthy gut flora. Altered gut flora has been linked to increased incidence of allergies. Here is a link to a medical research study discussing this issue: http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/448473 HOMEOPATHICSHomeopathics are best given by a qualified homeopathic practitioner who can determine the individual remedy that is best for you. However, here are 3 very common homeopathic remedies with chief symptoms that are best known to reduce seasonal allergy symptoms.
Allium Cepa: Headache during runny nose/discharge; worse in warm rooms, better in open air Headache made worse by closing eyes. Profuse tearing from eyes, which is usually bland, while nasal discharge is ususally acrid and burning. Nose is "like a faucet"; very watery and profuse. Hay fever, worse from flowers Severe tearing pain in throat during cough Euphrasia: Mucous production with bland nasal discharge and acrid profuse tearing from the eyes. Eyes are burning, irritated; photophobia (can't stand light); intense blinking. Cough only in daytime. (Better at night in bed) Sabadilla: Hay fever with tremendous sneezing; where sneezing is the primary complaint. Craves warm drinks.
OSTEOPATHYOsteopathy or other physical therapy to improve body structure and therefore function. Any soft tissue (muscle, tendons, ligaments, fascia, connective tissue), or hard tissue (bone and joints) dysfunction will compromise the proper flow of blood to an area, or drainage of blood and lymphatic waste materials away from an area of the body, thus setting up a state of conegestion in these tissues. Nerve function can also be compromised in this way, possibly leading to increased sympathetic nervous system tone which causes a state of stress in the body. Stress can worsen allergy symptoms.
NMT: NEUROMODULATION TECHNIQUEIn my over 10 years of practice, I have had the most success with treating people for, and eliminating their allergies using this technique. NMT works to correct the informational errors that the immune system is reading that causes it to inappropriately target a substance - such as a food or inhalant - as something that requires an immune attack. Practioners using NMT, myself included, have successfully eliminated anaphylactic reactions to a variety of substances in many, many people. |