Alternative allergy remedies

I suffer from pretty bad seasonal allergies ( jan-june here in Florida ) and I've tried all kinds of things over the years.  Pharmaceutical remedies tend to either not work for me or have such a bad side effect as to make them worthless.  So I thought I'd share what I've found that has helped me, and maybe some of you guys have some other solutions too.

DMG suppliment- while it doesn't actually stop an allergic reaction, it does help the severity of the reaction tremendously and prevents me from getting inflamed.

Steam inhaler - very useful when you're all clogged up

Oil Pulling - something I started recently but does seem to be helping, and it's good for your overal oral health as well.
(Holding oil in your mouth that absorbs toxins, which you then spit out)

These haven't eliminated allergies for me, but Im no longer the sneeziest person I know, and most of the time it only amounts to being somewhat stuffy. 

Have you tried shots?  It's not the easiest thing in the world (it's a long process, and scheduling time in your life to inject yourself is probably the hardest part), but it's often covered by insurance, which is nice.  Plus, just getting a scratch test can at least give you an idea of what you're allergic to--there might be some surprises in there.

As hodad mentioned... try immunotherapy. It is in two types: subcutaneous shots or sublingual (under the tongue... but not shots!). In the "season" time you can also try to take antihistamines regularly - twice a day. There  are different types of antihistamines... maybe there are some that doesn't cause too much side effects (have you tried desloratidine?).
I hope this helps a bit... 

What helped me a lot with my food allergy happend totally unplanned. Back when my daughter got cancer diagnosis we decided to change our food completely to organic in conjunction with a Dr Budwig diet. In fact that´s not a diet but a totally checked-out  health system. It took only a few days and I could eat all the fruits and nuts I couldn´t eat for >20yrs .

hodad & banco... I have considered shots, but haven't really explored it.... Perhaps I'll have to look into it more.  Would you say that your allergies are completely gone? Or just reduced by a large amount?

jensenmann:
I have gone more organic, and that has certainly helped, never heard of the budwig diet, but it looks interesting... Lots of flax seed,  I wonder if giving it a partial go would yield any benefits....

I´m pretty sure it will. One of the ideas behind this diet is to increase the omega-3 fatty acids which helps a lot in many ways.

Seeker said:

hodad & banco... I have considered shots, but haven't really explored it.... Perhaps I'll have to look into it more.  Would you say that your allergies are completely gone? Or just reduced by a large amount?

Click to expand...

gone.

What is better about the sublingual is that some doctors will add herbal tinctures as well, which you cannot do with the shots. 

I have horrible allergies and had to get rid of the pets, clutter, dust.  I had developed asthma and most docs would simply proscribe a suite of inhalers to use in different ways.  I finally went to a Chinese herbal doctor.  When seasonal bronchitis symptoms would appear twice a year I would take a two week course of herbal tea, gnarly at first but finally accepted as medicinal.  I did that for four or so seasons and then the next season I had no symptoms.  Now I have our outdoor cat in the house overnight because of the cold and I have been symptom free.

Biggest revelation was that over the counter remedies would actually make things worse.  If I visit my sister with 2 dogs and a cat I pop a benedryl once or twice a day, wash my hands often, and change clothes.  Survivable.
Mike

jensenmann's suggestion of the Budwig diet is excellent... the omega-3's in high quantities are excellent.

I had allergies from the time I was very young (got the scratch test for 200 some odd things when I was age four and registered being allergic to 95% of them)... also had asthma etc etc
and eliminated them entirely when I was in my thirties.

In any case, most modern medicine is symptom oriented rather than looking for causation... which is of course what you need to do in order to eliminate any dis-ease taking place in your body.

My recommendation is to find a copy of "the amazing liver and gallbladder flush" by Andreas Moritz... you can find a lot of info on the web in addition if you'd rather not get the book.  A lot of people believe that this is akin to voodoo... but I can personally attest that it works wonders when you clean out your liver.

Btw... I wouldn't personally recommend shots, I got them for years and they weren't that effective, plus now I've learned that they contain heavy metals, specifically mercury (I believe as preservative).... I'm not sure if this is still the case or not.

Cheers,
Dave

Davo said:

I had allergies from the time I was very young (got the scratch test for 200 some odd things when I was age four and registered being allergic to 95% of them)... also had asthma etc etc
and eliminated them entirely when I was in my thirties.

In any case, most modern medicine is symptom oriented rather than looking for causation... which is of course what you need to do in order to eliminate any dis-ease taking place in your body.

Click to expand...

Allergies and asthma are actually "diseases of the young" and they tend to wane in the adulthood (I said usually but not always).

The idea of immunotherapy is to make the body familiar with allergen so it doesn't react as it does.  You get very small amounts of allergen subcutaneous or sublingual… not treating the symptoms actually. I don't know about the mercury though. I our country it's forbidden.

For me, they didn't wane... for example, I could walk into a house that had cats... and my eyes would become puffy and swollen... nowadays, I can hold cats, whatever, no problem.

My understanding of what an allergy is has changed... I now see it in relation to the body's inner terrain.  When your immune system is overwhelmed (toxic material etc.) the body, in the case of an allergy, is over-reacting to a normally harmless substance in that environment.

I can only give my account, and whatever worked for you is excellent.... really the only thing that worked for me though was the cleaning out of that inner environment

Cheers

absolutely +1

Thanks for all the interesting info, I'm looking into some cleansing... The oil pulling is a minor form and already makes a difference,  looking forward to less and less sneezing.

Interesting, never heard of the oil pull... I thought it was castor oil packs (which I think is some way to draw out toxins)
At least you'll be used to the oil if you decide to do the cleanses 

I'd highly recommend picking up a copy of the book I mentioned earlier, it's a hell of a read! 

Cheers
Dave

Cut out processed food and starchy carbs.

Eat organic.

Juice lots of vegetables and fruit in a 80/20 ratio.

Eat medicinal mushroom extracts (Reishi, chaga, shiitake, maitake and cordyceps).

Go to the gym and do the compound lifts (deadlift, squat, benchpress, chins, dips, military press, hanging leg raises and rows, anything else is a waste of time).

Do cardio but in moderation.

Juice cannabis leaves.

Consume big doses of cannabis with at least 1:1 ratio of THC:CBD.

Start an intermittent fasting regime. Fast at least 16hrs straight every day.

Eat less acidic foods.

For me the worst thing is over clothing my self, I'm ok with a t-shirt down to ~15ºC depending on other wether variables. If I start putting on some more clothes when it's not really cold I start having  some problems. I always lived in places where humidity is quite hard, always over 95% at night, going to dry places only makes my allergies worse, I had a really bad time last trip to a dry zone.

I started with allergies some time after I broke my knee and stopped sailing, more than missing the physical activity I found missing the cold times was what makes me worse in this aspect, so just looking like a crazy person in the cold times helps a lot. In the summer I have problem with my eyes, but nothing a few eye lubricant drops and sunglasses wouldn't solve. As long as cats, I don't really like them but my ex-girlfriend have 2 of them and I could sleep right next to them all night with no problems. For dogs, my mother have a golden retriever and same thing, not a single problem with that either.. It's hair is quite annoying in the mouth but just that.

For me the solution for sneeze and cough is cold. I'm pretty confortable with that and I rarely get a cold, my roommate eats way better than me, he goes way more sheltered than me, and he gets one or two colds a year, I haven't in a few years. When he gets a cold is about 10 days of feeling bad, for me rarely more than 2 days. It always sound like crazy but it does works for me. The last winter I tried to use some more clothes on me I had a really bad time.

JS