Grumble grumble allergies grumble

[puglogic]

I am so blessed in that I have never had a single allergy in my five decades on this planet, but 2013 has decided that I should start sharing the fun with allergy sufferers. I groused to my doctor, who reported that she has seen at least three to four times the number of first-time allergy sufferers this year. And then there's Prevention : http://www.prevention.com/health/health-concerns/allergy-season-2013-information

I detest taking any over-the-counter or prescription medication, and prefer to treat things from within as much as possible. I eat well, drink well, exercise well, have little stress in my life, and get lots of rest and meditation. While this helps me to rarely get sick, it has not saved me from this current scourge.

I know there are a lot of folks here who carry a ton of wisdom about holistic, simple, and home remedies for things. Has anyone ever run across information on how to strengthen or condition your body to better fight against allergic reactions? Herbs, special treatments (like local honey?) and things like that? Not to fix the symptoms -- the symptoms I can deal with, pain in the rump that they are. But I want to see if I can get my immune system to somehow return to my non-allergy-suffering self, no matter what the pollen count is doing. If that's even possible. Any thoughts or resources you can think of?

[flowerseverywhere]

check out a netti pot or some kind of sinus wash- that helps me more than anything. Don't use tap water, I use distilled but it cautions against tap water. I had no allergies until I was 56 then whammo. It is overwhelming. I also take an over the counter antihistamine or I have copious amounts of nasal drainage to the point I am dripping. It is gross, sorry. no advice about the immune system. I eat better than ever, I take a b complex, multivit and calcium with D, no meat and avoid all kinds of chemicals- I try to eat organic as much as possible. I also became sensitive to smells, why in the world people think gobs of perfume or aftershave smells good I have no idea. I can't get near smoke of any kind or I am hacking and coughing. I think it is from years of chemical exposures we all have. I hope you get some good advice I have not heard.

[Miss Cellane]

I've never heard of any way, other than medication, to change your immune system's reaction to an allergen. Basically, an allergy is an over-reaction of your immune system, so you'd be trying to weaken your body's immune response. I'm not sure how good an idea that is.

The only thing I know of that comes close to what you are looking for is allergy shots, where you are injected with gradually increasing amounts of whatever you are allergic to. Works for many people, but if you are trying to avoid prescription medication, shots wouldn't be an option for you.

My main allergies are dust mites and tree and grass pollen. I deal with them in several ways. I keep the house as dust-free as possible, especially my bedroom. I use a neti pot. When pollen counts are high, I retreat indoors and use an air conditioner with a good filter. And during ragweed season, I used an antihistamine and a decongestant so that I can breathe. My nasal passages basically swell shut at times without the medication, and that leads to other problems. Although I try to avoid medication as much as possible, sometimes I need to function at work and the only way I've found it to take the pills.

If you can identify the allergens in your environment, you can work on reducing them as much as possible.

[Rosemary]

What kind of allergy symptoms are you experiencing? Hay fever?

I grew up having seasonal allergies - trees, grasses, weeds, molds, etc etc. I had periodic sinus infections and lots of hayfever. Took decongestant for years and years before I was old enough to know better. Had a round of immunotherapy (allergy shots) as a teen, with some good results... then moved on to having asthma and taking meds for that.

Allergy injections aren't really prescription meds, but they are a hassle. Usually one needs to make at least 2 visits to an allergist to get tested and to have the serum made. Then, usually, twice weekly injections for a long time as the dose is increased. It can be very difficult to find time to do this with a 9-5 job.

I experienced some relief from taking quercetin and bromelain supplements. Quercetin is a natural compound that is found in, if I recall correctly, apples, onions, and other foods. I think bromelain is sourced from pineapple. It's been a long time since I took these so I suggest you read about them before trying. I learned about using these for hayfever from Dr Andrew Weil's early natural health book.

Now I consider myself to be nearly allergy-free (I still react to dust if it gets stirred up near me). I have identified wheat as a food that really increases my congestion, and no longer eat it. I eat about 10x the vegetables I ate as a child on a daily basis, and limited meat, dairy, and grains (and no flour). I think my diet is the main cause for the reduction in my allergies.

Some years ago I purchased very high thread count cotton covers for our mattress, box spring, and pillows from an allergy supply source online. I think these made a big difference, too. The weave is tight enough for them to be dust mite - proof, but they are cotton so they breathe. One other thing you might try is using a HEPA filter in the room where you spend the most time - bedroom at night, and in an office or other room if you spend many hours of the day in one place. Also, limit bringing pollen into the house (assuming it's pollen that's bothering you) by removing shoes at the door. If you hang laundry outside, consider giving it a brief run through the dryer after it's dried to remove any pollen that has gathered on it.

[ApatheticNoMore]

I've heard food sensitivities can worsen allergies. I actually found this seems to contain a bit of truth. I'm slightly food sensitive to dairy (I'm not allergic to it, I'm not giving it up when I'm healthy :)). I've only suffered environmental allergies like 2 odd years, I'm not allergy prone at all, just body or environment were slightly off those years. I did find that during that period when I cut back on dairy allergic symptoms were less ... So hmm. So any food that might cause sensitivities I might experiment with eliminating.

Possibly an anti-inflamatory diet could help with allergies as it is inflammation. Andrew Weil bases his whole diet on being anti-inflamatory (but oddly when I just got a tangent searching for him all he recommends is to give up dairy - haha - so it's not just me .... dairy is bad)

"Follow a low-protein diet and try to eliminate milk and milk products. Excessive protein can irritate the immune system and keep it in a state of overreactivity. The protein in cow's milk is a frequent offender."
http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/QAA106632/seasonal-allergies

The OTC antihistimines work moderately, it was never terribly effective for me, but it did do something, and my allergies were never terribly severe, so I made do, suffered a bit.

[iris lilies]

I'm fortunate to have had allergies as a child, young adult, and adult, and now they've seemed to greatly subsided. Now all I have to do is wear gloves and be totally covered when pulling up old dead plant material and I'm pretty much ok.

I used to live on Dristan but now hardly ever take an allergy meds and it's always over the counter, never prescription.

[AnneM]

I never had allergies until this spring at age 48. According to one of my older beekeeping friends, the maple pollen was the highest he had seen in 50 years of beekeeping. I was miserable; nasal passages so swollen I had to sleep with my mouth open. Just awful! Claritin helped a little bit, but not much. As soon as the maple flow stopped, so did my allergic reaction.

[pinkytoe]

I haven't personally tried this one but in an odd way it makes sense - eating boogers!! There is supposedly a doctor out there who pushes this theory. It does make one wonder why many children do it naturally in their early years.

[puglogic]

Thanks SO much, everyone.

I think it's the pollen from the big pine trees that has been so troublesome. When the wind blows, you can see literally clouds of it rising into the air. It is starting to dissipate, so we'll see if life gets easier from here on out. A little scary that a lot of smart people are saying pollen issues will get worse and worse with the advancing change in our climate. But we do what we gotta do, right?

Appreciate everyone's time and great ideas!

[jennipurrr]

I been a life long sufferer of allergies. I used to get horrible sinus infections about four times a year.

If it is not too much of a cost burden for you (my insurance paid all but a copay) I highly suggest you get tested to learn exactly what you are allergic to. I am moderately allergic to several seasonal things (oak, grasses, etc) but I am highly allergic to dust mites. The seasonal stuff is now much more managable now that I have taken steps to make my house more dust free. I use the bed/pillow covers and after my first nights sleep I woke up and I could BREATHE! I do other stuff, like get the oak leaves out of my yard promptly so the dogs don't roll on them all winter, wipe down their fur with a wet cloth when they come in when its polleny outside. I thought I was allergic to the dogs but turns out it was just what they were tracking in.

Also, I have been doing allergy shots for two years now. The allergy shots are tiny bits of the stuff you are allergic to and they help your body stimulate an immune response and over time become desensitized. I am in the maintanence phase now (at the highest dose) and have to continue this for another 6 months or so every week and then can start dropping down to every two weeks and then every month, every two months, etc. It was a big time commitment, but fortunately my insurance covered the cost, which I think was about $10 week otherwise. I was on the fence about it at first, but am so glad I did them. My life is so much better now as I was sick for weeks at a time, and always had to get on antibiotics which wreaked havoc on my digestive system. This may be overkill for you since it seems like a newish thing, and may not be as severe.