Allergy Relief Suggestions!

AaahhhCheeeww!

Well its that time of the year again :cower:...

:pullshair:Allergy Hell!:pullshair:

I'm sure there are many of you out there who have been engaged in this perennial battle who have some questions to ask and some advice to share.

I'll go first:

I'm allergic to grass pollens. I was getting by until I got slammed by being outside all day at the WaccoBB Picnic. I was down for the count that night and the following day. I seem to be feeling a bit better today.

After trying lots of natural remedies, many of which helped some, but not enough, I'm now using Zyrtec pills, which seemed like they worked better last year, combined with nose and eye rinses and medicated eye drops. And I've just started using an AirSource air purifier, on loan from Melissa Weaver of Enhanced Health Systems, which seems to be help as well. I'll post more about that when I have more experience with it.

So what works for you???

Also, since I'm condemned to being inside, I'm considering trying to find a place I can work near the coast, especially on hot days. I would need internet access and Cingular cell phone coverage. Anybody know of a cyber-cafe by the coast?

Gazoontite!

Barry and my other fellow sufferers,

I've had allergic rhinitis (aka hay fever) since I can remember. I spent my childhood and adolescence drugged up on heavy antihistamines for three months in the spring and three months in the fall. (Actifed, Sudafed, Benadryl) In my late teens I was tested allopathically and had the desensitization shots from 1974-1985. Then I dropped them due to lack of medical insurance. Within two years I was back on state-of-the-art antihistamines. (Seldane) When I had insurance again I got retested and have been on my second run of desensitization shots since 1998. I've paid for the last five years out of pocket.

The tests, serum and shots are bloody expensive! When you start you have to get, in my case, two to three shots twice a week for several months, then once a week, then once every two weeks etc. Two to four years in you will reach maintenance and don't have to get the shots more than once every six to eight weeks. I pay about $700 a year for the three vials of "juice of what irritates you." $36 per visit for three shots. Plus the $75 for the annual check-up. Testing used to cost around $500. I would be surprised if it isn't two to three times that nowadays. One would have to inquire.

And the shots aren't fun. Forget the needle, no biggie, you rapidly get used to it. No, it's the massive hive, a mosquito bite like welt from each shot that lasts three to four days. It itches! And there's the general systemic depletion I experience. It's not something that knocks you out, but you notice the effort your system is making to process the graduated stress that is the treatment.

Also while building up to what is termed, "maintenance," you will be encouraged by your allergist to use antihistamines, corticosteroids in powdered inhaler sprays every day (very nasty tasting stuff!) and sinus treatment steroids such a Flonase (which has the advantage of being a liquid and having no real bitter aftertaste.) All this stuff works if used as directed, but it's no fun having to take medicine every day for a year or two.

Regular twice to thrice daily warm saline nasal washes are highly recommended but personally I never got into them.

The shots work. This spring I've had some mild congestion and minor and rare mucous membrane itching (back of the throat, upper palette (sp?), inner ears, eyes once or twice) and a little wheezing, that's it. No antihistamines yet this season. This is a huge improvement over intense itching, congestion, chronic bronchitis/sinusitis, and periodic bouts of mild to intense asthma.

When your eyes itch so intensely that you contemplate gouging them out, and lying on your back for hours with an ice cold wash cloth laid over them is the only relief before the antihistamines kick in (keep the bowl of ice water next to you to resoak and cool off the cloth before wringing it out and replacing it over your eyes) a little mild congestion and slight itching is a major improvement!

I keep a supply of antihistamines, and a bronchodilator (albuterol), around just in case. Haven't used either since last late summer.

I've also tried: Chinese herbal pills (no noticeable effect), toughing it out without drugs and resorting to mental control (spent three days and nights on my back in Palo Alto in the spring of 1980, every breath a conscious act and major effort, felt like I nearly died. I killed my car trying to drive back home to Southern CA, where my resupply of antihistamines waited, because it was low on oil, I'd just checked the oil and it appeared to be full, and in my altered state it seemed like the car or me.)

I haven't tried bee pollen, nor have I eliminated wheat and dairy from my diet as many a crunchy friend has insisted I should. I've never been to see a naturopath or someone practicing other alternatives. I guess I buy the western scientific model in this case.

Allegra is the second best, and current, antihistamine that I've used. It is Seldane with the first metabolic step put in to avoid the unfortunate contraindication with acetaminophen, the two together destroy your liver and quite a few seniors kicked it before the drug companies made the change and banned Seldane. But I swear Seldane did a better job.

I've never tried Zyrtec, although I have a doctor’s sample supply. Claritin didn't work as well for me as Allegra. But everyone's different. The antihistamines since the eighties don't zonk you out like the previous generation. Sometimes they make you a little spacey or wired, but nothing like the soporific effects of benadryl! Need to sleep? It's guaranteed with benadryl and it's been over the counter for years, prescription no longer needed.

By the way, the first time I was tested they took my results around the waiting room telling the other patients, "You think you've got it bad? Check out this guy, on a scale of one to five, he hit a five plus for eighty percent of grasses, trees and shrubs! You're LUCKY!"

I also realized while waiting the five minutes for the skin pop welts to manifest on my back in the final stage of the test, that: You need not cause pain to torture someone, just induce intense itching and prevent them from getting relief until they spill their guts!

Avoidance of the stressors is the best method. But when plants are having sex, and your body doesn't like it, good luck avoiding the air we need to breath.

As most everyone knows, allergies are an immune reaction to environmental stressors that your body is genetically programmed to see as a threat. When the threat is registered your system produces histamines designed to purge the threat. Hence the increased mucous flow and blood rushing to the mucous membranes to increase fluid production to flush the offending chemical. In some intense reactions you go into anaphylactic shock and die unless you are treated with epinephrine. Any allergy website can give you the details.

So allergies are a genetic predisposition. They are inherited and can be passed on. Aside from poverty, which tends to spoil romantic possibilities, I sometimes wonder if that is a reason why I've not organized my life to be able to have and support children. I certainly don't want to be responsible for anyone else suffering like I have!

One interesting thing about stressors. You have a limit which if the stressors in your environment stay below, your system can handle them. Once that limit is exceeded, then relatively small amounts of the stressor, amounts which you could have tolerated before your limit was reached, can re-trigger the reaction.

Up to your limit threshold, you're fine. Once over the threshold, you're screwed until your system has time to recover and reestablish the threshold. What happens in the biannual pollen sprees is that the amounts are enough to breach the threshold and keep the reactions coming, even after the pollen levels start to go down.


Good luck to all. There are solutions. The ones that worked for me are not easy but they work. Biggest mistake I made in the mid-eighties (besides going to a grad school where it turns out I couldn't find anyone to work with me on my chosen subject area) was to drop my maintenance level shots just because they weren't cheap anymore. You can learn from my mistakes!

"Mad" Miles

P.S. None of what I've written above should be considered medical advice. It is a brief account of my personal experiences. See a doctor, that's why they get the big bucks, they're licensed to practice medicine and I'm not.

I am using a homeopathic remedy called Allergiemittel AllerAide by BT. I get it at Whole Foods. Working SO WELL and works FAST!!!! As it is a homopathic, you take a tablet and let it disolve under your tongue. A few hours later you might start to have symptoms again, if so put another one under your tongue.

I just bought two more boxes yesterday. This stuff is saving me from so much misery I don't want to be caught without it.
V

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Posted in reply to the post by Veronica:

I am using a homeopathic remedy called Allergiemittel AllerAide by BT. I get it at Whole Foods. Working SO WELL and works FAST!!!!

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Cool! What are you allergic to?

Dear Barry and all allergy relief seekers;

NLP is very effective at relieving all kinds of allergies. You will have a hard time finding an NLP person who has any allergies because by the end of our training we have all resolved any allergies that we may have had before the training.

I do not specialize in treating allergies in my practice, but every client who I have helped with this problem has had remarkable and complete results. I haven't worked with very many people on this problem but so far my success rate is 100%. I just recently helped someone with the same type of allergy symptoms that you described and she is now free of those symptoms. I only spent a half of a session on this with her because she was so uncomfortable so that we could go back to working on the bigger issue that she came to me with.

There are NLP practitioners who specialize in working with allergies and I would gladly refer anyone to an NLP specialist if my work was not successful with someone. So far I haven't had to do that.

There is an NLP allergy specialist who is coming to the San Francisco area in October. I am planning to set up appointments and possibly a clinic for him while he is here. I will make an announcement on this bulletin board to give everyone who has an allergy a chance to work with my friend and colleague from London. In the meantime I am happy to help anyone who wishes to contact me for work on allergies. My friend in London might also be available prior to visiting here by telephone. I can find out if he does telephone sessions if anyone wishes to work with the specialist.

I'm sorry that you are having such an uncomfortable response to your own picnic! What happens with allergies, all allergies, is that there is a confusion in the body. The body will respond to safe and normal stimuli as if there is a dangerous or toxic substance being presented to it. With some allergies this response is learned as a result of a simple trauma. In the case with most animal allergies, cat allergies being the most common, there is usually a very early childhood experience where the person had a bad experience where they were either scratched or frightened by a cat. When we go back using an NLP regressive technique and resolve that early trauma the allergy is usually gone completely.

In the case of a grass allergy, another common one, it is usually the result of the person being overly-exposed to pollution or airborne toxins causing the body to over-react to stimuli that are not dangerous. It's like the body can't handle any more stimuli, even if it is not dangerous. It is fairly easy to re-educate the body about this confusion. A negative response to pollution is not an allergy. It's like saying that I am allergic to arsenic. That would not be an allergy; that would be a healthy response to poison. However, if I began exposing my body to small amounts of arsenic I might have a minimal response to it but begin having negative responses to something else such as strawberries. This will be especially true if the strawberries have pesticides or fungicides on them. The body reaches a point where it can't handle any more toxins.

One of the things that I teach people to do is to effectively communicate with their body. I do this with whatever health problem they are having. I don't specialize specifically with allergy problems, but I do specialize in working with every kind of health problem such as migraines, hormone imbalances, cancer, chronic pain, fertility etc. I am trained in all of the health applications of NLP. Most people who come to me with health problems come with these as a secondary issue. I usually work on general life issues that encompass all areas of a person's life and help people to achieve the life that they wish to have in every area. I work with every kind of issue and problem and help people with whatever they come to me with. With health problems I especially enjoy teaching people how to do their own work to direct their own healing.

I would be happy to help you if you would like to arrange an appointment. I would also be happy to refer you to the NLP allergy specialist I know in London.

For more information about NLP and my work with it you can go to my web site at https://www.nlpPati.com . I am posting my reply to the board instead of to you privately to offer my help to as many people as possible who are suffering with allergies or any other kind of problem.

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions or if you would like to make an appointment.
Sincerely,
Pati

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Cool! What are you allergic to?

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My first though when I read your post was SPRING! I don't know what specific items I am triggered by. This year has been quite intense. Thankfully I found the Allergiemittel!

V

I've suffered from allergies all my life, and have had lots of conversations about allergies from fellow sufferers. It does seem that there are things that help some folks and not others.

I took allergy shots - actually gave them to myself - for a few years. When I quit them, I was fine for a few years and then some of my allergies returned, and some did not. I lost my allergy to cats entirely, for example. But after awhile, I had to go back to medical remedies.

I tried the usual drugs for the time. Seldane didn't work well for me - actually nothing in pill form did. Then I started Flonase. I have no allery symptoms anymore, except for itchy eyes for a few days in the spring. Been on it for maybe 10 years now, with no problems.

In reply to grass pollen allergy: vitamin C megadoses have helped me for the last 12 years. I now take 9000 to 10,000 mg per day in allergy season, and about 7000 per day the rest of the year. It keeps the symptoms down to a minor irritation level, rather than major agrivation. I do have to avoid large plots of grass blowin' in the wind. Most of the time my symptoms are minimal: a few sneezes and sometimes itchy eyes, mostly when driving through grassy areas.

18 years ago, when my experience with seasonal allergies began, I was miserable: congested, fatigued, and felt like I was sick all through May and June. I did the allergy shots for 2 years, which helped somewhat. I quit using antihistamines on the advice of a chiropractor. They typically stopped working after a few months anyway. Nasal rinses gave very temporary relief. I ran out of the resources necessary to support the allergy shot routine, so out of desperation I tried megadoses of vitamin C, even though current medical advice cautions against taking more than 2000 mg per day. It has worked for me, and also seems to help keep me from catching every cold and virus that comes along. I take time-release, which is easier on the stomach.

I realize everyone has their pet remedy, but I hope this is helpful to someone.

Dear wacco folks,
After years of suffering and ALWAYS ending up with severe sinus infections due to allergies, I have finally gotten relief by eating at least a tablespoon of local wildflower honey daily. I've been doing this for almost 2 years and it's amazing! I have also used bee pollen which is more intense and I think works faster but I just enjoy eating the honey! The principle is homeopathic. By introducing a small amount of the allergen into your system via the local honey, your body eventually stops reacting to what you are allergic to. I buy honey and pollen from Kathy Cox (Bloomfield Bees). She is one of the few beekeepers in Sonoma county who uses no chemicals. Her honey is exquisite! She has a stand at 1295 Bloomfield Road that is open daily until dark. She is also at the farmers market in Sebastopol on Sunday and I believe that she will be at the Harmony Festival. She also sells bees, flowers, eggs, beeswax candles, soaps, salves- all kinds of good stuff. She know almost everything there is to know about bees and could give you much more info than I can on how the immunity thing works as well as other medicinal properties of bee products. Her propolis (natural antibiotic ) saved my Indian ring-necked parakeet's life after he was attacked by dogs- but that's another story. She has lots of interesting bee info on her Website: www.bloomfieldbeeshoney.com 823-8849. Anyhow, no more pills or shots needed!!
A Very happy sneeze-free customer
Deb :thumbsup:

I am quite happy taking freeze dried nettles which you can get at Rosemary's Garden, Community Market or a natural food store. It may take a week or so to kick in and it gets even better over time. I take it year round - in my smoothie.

Dr. Andrew Weil, www.drweil.com, highly recommends them. I can't find the lengthly reference I found a few years ago but nettles are popular on his web site. I remember hims saying they are an upper respiratory super food and a good source of minerals. It may also make your hair grow and, at first, increase your dream memory.

Portia

NasalCrom spray is the best bet! We now have our relief, free to
breathe, no asthma due to this natural substance. Use it daily a few
times, read all the info. Over the Counter. Also use Opcon-A or other
antihistamine eye drops for those itchy eyes! Next time you go to Rite-Aid or other drug store, read the labels.

When I got what I call '20 sneezes' I used a homeopathic medicine I found at Whole Foods called simply No. California Mix (Dolisos). Sneezes usually stopped instantly with one application (10 drops under the tongue) or at most twice.

When my eyes are too irritated I used GenTeal (Novartis) eye drops (from the drug store) which are very thick and seem to solve any eye irritation no matter what cause and quickly.

But I also suffer from mold allergies and I found if I take the medicines for that, it helps to clear up other allergies as well. My main medicines for mold, recommended by my naturopath, were 3 tinctures: Usnea lichen (the most important ingredient), Oregon grape root, and Echinacea. Currently I buy these online. This has taken me from being very ill and thinking I was getting asthma to feeling quite fine.

Also certain foods are irritants for allergy like carbonated beverages and refined sugars which made me think twice about birthday cake! :wink:
Hope this helps.
CA

For Spring/Outdoor allergies I recommend that you buy honey from local growers. Since local bees pollinate local plants eating locally made honey daily will help to combat this type of allergy.

I also recommend that you visit Dr. Cindy Zafis Chiropractic. She specializes in Allergy Elimination, and guarantees it! Here is her info:

Dr. Cindy Zafis
707-527-7710
3450 Mendocino Ave. #A
Santa Rosa, CA 95403
[email protected]
https://www.vitality-plus.org

Also I find that taking Seasilver helps to balance my body enough to help with more minor allergies.

https://www.seasilver.com/solar

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Posted in reply to the post by Carolyn Andrews:

When I got what I call '20 sneezes' I used a homeopathic medicine I found at Whole Foods called simply No. California Mix (Dolisos). Sneezes usually stopped instantly with one application (10 drops under the tongue) or at most twice.

When my eyes are too irritated I used GenTeal (Novartis) eye drops (from the drug store) which are very thick and seem to solve any eye irritation no matter what cause and quickly.

But I also suffer from mold allergies and I found if I take the medicines for that, it helps to clear up other allergies as well. My main medicines for mold, recommended by my naturopath, were 3 tinctures: Usnea lichen (the most important ingredient), Oregon grape root, and Echinacea. Currently I buy these online. This has taken me from being very ill and thinking I was getting asthma to feeling quite fine.

Also certain foods are irritants for allergy like carbonated beverages and refined sugars which made me think twice about birthday cake! :wink:
Hope this helps.
CA

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Well it's that time of year again - Allergy Season! :pullshair:

How is it for you this year so far? I'm mostly down in Marin where it isn't to bad, but when I come up to Sonoma County I get clobbered!

What's helping you? I've been doing a nasal rinse plus Zyrtec and Alaway eye drops, all of which help, but sometimes not enough.

I've noticed Casad Chiropratic is offering a treatment that uses acupressure. Has anybody tried that? I use a similar NAET treatment for food allergies that was amazingly effective, but it was not effective for my hayfever.

So what's working for you??

Barry

High doses of vit B5- aka pantothenic acid. And by high I mean up to 6000 mg a day , 3000 2x a day. Take along with a b complex. If you look at a b complex you usually get maybe 25 or 50 mg. B5 is a natural antihistamine. Maybe 35 years ago I did that for a month or two and my hayfever has never come back like it was, and I had it bad. I might get a reaction to something once in a while and take a bunch just for that day. This seems to work for some and not all people. Good luck. Vitamin Shoppe has it the most reasonably priced .
Joy

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Posted in reply to the post by Barry:

Well it's that time of year again - Allergy Season! :pullshair:

How is it for you this year so far? I'm mostly down in Marin where it isn't to bad, but when I come up to Sonoma County I get clobbered!

What's helping you? I've been doing a nasal rinse plus Zyrtec and Alaway eye drops, all of which help, but sometimes not enough.

I've noticed Casad Chiropratic is offering a treatment that uses acupressure. Has anybody tried that? I use a similar NAET treatment for food allergies that was amazingly effective, but it was not effective for my hayfever.

So what's working for you??

Barry

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I use Vitex tincture.

Sealwatcher- it's B5 not B6 .
good luck darling

Here's the PD's annual article about the impending allergy season, and it says its going to be a doozy! It apparently has already started. After working in my garden for 15 minutes I was sneezing up a storm! Oy!

Check out the earlier posts in this thread from comments from our members from years past, and please post any new ideas or testimonials for what has worked for you.

Barry :waccosun:


http://www.waccobb.net/forums/waccob...4_15-56-29.png
Allergy alert: Historic levels of grass pollen headed this way
AUSTIN MURPHY
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT April 25, 2019, 6:31AM

excerpt:

Things are about to get much busier here and at allergists’ offices across the North Bay. A combination of the extremely wet rainy season and the current stretch of sunny, warm weather is producing a bumper crop of grass pollen.

“I think it’s going to be historically heavy, based on the growth I’ve seen,” said Dr. Josh Jacobs of the Allergy & Asthma Group of the Bay Area. “Grass follows the rainfall of the same year. If we’ve had a lot of rainfall, we’re going to have a lot of grass.”

For people who are “grass allergic,” Jacobs said, the upcoming season is shaping up to be “full-on brutal, probably the worst I’ve seen in 10 years.”

Recent rains helped “pound the pollen down out of the air,” said Dr. Maria Petrick, who practices at FamilyCare Allergy & Asthma, “but now it’s just going to town.”

See full article here

Used to sniffle, sneeze, have itchy eyes... then I found A to Z Allergy pills - AT THE DOLLAR STORE.
Teeny pink pills with NO side effects, work perfectly for 12 hours each.
You're welcome, Jude

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Posted in reply to the post by Barry:

Here's the PD's annual article about the impending allergy season, and it says its going to be a doozy! It apparently has already started. After working in my garden for 15 minutes I was sneezing up a storm! Oy!

Check out the earlier posts in this thread from comments from our members from years past, and please post any new ideas or testimonials for what has worked for you.

Barry :waccosun:


http://www.waccobb.net/forums/waccob...4_15-56-29.png
Allergy alert: Historic levels of grass pollen headed this way
AUSTIN MURPHY
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT April 25, 2019, 6:31AM

excerpt:

Things are about to get much busier here and at allergists’ offices across the North Bay. A combination of the extremely wet rainy season and the current stretch of sunny, warm weather is producing a bumper crop of grass pollen.

“I think it’s going to be historically heavy, based on the growth I’ve seen,” said Dr. Josh Jacobs of the Allergy & Asthma Group of the Bay Area. “Grass follows the rainfall of the same year. If we’ve had a lot of rainfall, we’re going to have a lot of grass.”

For people who are “grass allergic,” Jacobs said, the upcoming season is shaping up to be “full-on brutal, probably the worst I’ve seen in 10 years.”

Recent rains helped “pound the pollen down out of the air,” said Dr. Maria Petrick, who practices at FamilyCare Allergy & Asthma, “but now it’s just going to town.”

See full article here

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I looked at the ingredients, and they have red #40 dye in them to make them pink. Red 40 is a certified color that comes frompetroleum distillates or coal tars. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) mandates that it has to be listed by name on food and product labels.

I try to avoid anything that has unhealthy dyes.

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Posted in reply to the post by Jude Iam:

Used to sniffle, sneeze, have itchy eyes... then I found A to Z Allergy pills - AT THE DOLLAR STORE.
Teeny pink pills with NO side effects, work perfectly for 12 hours each.
You're welcome, Jude

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