Whole Health Medicine: Homeopathy for Seasonal Allergies

As cooler winter days give way to warmer weather and spring blooms, it is a good time to step out of the house for long walks or even open doors and windows to let in fresh air. However, if you have spring allergies or hay fever or allergic rhinitis, this can be a very difficult time.

Homeopathic remedies are very useful in treating seasonal allergies without causing drowsiness or creating drug-dependance, which are the major side-effects of using conventional medicines for this ailment.

The best way to deal with allergies is to consult a homeopathic practitioner for a customized remedy, which is called constitutional therapy in homeopathy. Constitutional therapy stimulates your immune system and reduces the incidence of allergies over the long term, allowing the body to heal itself so that you are finally rid of allergy symptoms. However, if your allergies have progressed to a severe state, and if you have been taking conventional drugs for a long time to control your symptoms, then it will take a while for your body to wean itself from the bad effects of conventional drugs and get used to homeopathic therapy. Positive results are certainly possible with homeopathic treatment, as long one is patient and continues the regimen as recommended.

Common symptoms of hay fever

Sneezing
Itchy and watery eyes
Clear watery nasal discharge
Redness of face or rashes
Mood changes, anger, and irritability
Headache
Nasal congestion and sinusitis
Swelling of nasal turbinates causing nose block
Disturbed sleep due to obstructed nostrils
Snoring

Apart from constitutional therapy for long-term healing, there are some remedies which can be used to relieve acute allergy symptoms.

Homeopathic remedies for hay fever

Allium cepa or Red onion

1. Allium cepa: A person needing this remedy will have watery eyes and clear nasal discharge that burns the upper lip. They are worse indoors in a warm room and feel better in open air.

2. Arsenicum album: This is useful for constant sneezing with burning nasal discharge. Feels thirsty frequently. Worse in open air and feels better indoors.

3. Euphrasia: Burning and constant watering of the eyes with profuse nasal discharge. Frontal headache. Worse in sunlight and outdoors, feels better indoors.

4. Nux vomica: Constant sneezing spells soon after waking up in the morning. Nose feels stuffed up, difficulty in breathing through the nose. Nasal obstruction prevents sleep at night. Itching in the throat with post-nasal drip. Irritability and anger. Associated with gastric complaints. Better from rest, warm drinks, and moist weather conditions.

5. Gelsimium: Sudden violent sneezing episodes, dull headache in the back of the head that is worse from sunlight. Soreness of the whole body, tired and fatigued.

6. Natrum mur: Heavy, thick nasal discharge that looks like egg white. Sneezing episodes with throbbing headache. Worse from sun and heat.

7. Sabadilla: Useful for treating allergy symptoms in people who are very sensitive to smells and cold weather.

8. Histaminum: This is a specific remedy that is given in acute allergic conditions. It acts by reducing the levels of histamine in the body, thereby reducing the allergy symptoms.

There are many other remedies like Arum, Sanguinaria, Dulcamara, Aralea, Pulsatilla that are all useful in seasonal allergies. The correct remedy and dosage should be determined by a homeopath, to suit your symptoms.

Advantages of homeopathic remedies in seasonal allergies

1. They are gentle and do not cause drug dependance.

Conventional allergy medications cause drug dependance which means that your body gets used to a particular dosage easily and you need to keep increasing the dosage in order to get relief. The more you increase the dosage, the more you become dependent on the drug, causing further side-effects.

2. Homeopathic remedies do not cause drowsiness so your daily activities are not affected. They are also safe to use in children for this reason.

Even the non-drowsy allergy medications can cause drowsiness in some people.

3. Homeopathic remedies are safe to use over a long period according to the recommendations of a homeopath.

Steroids are sometimes used in the conventional medical treatment of seasonal allergies. Though these are not supposed to be used for more than 3-5 days at a time, due to drug dependance, they are often used for longer periods, resulting in side effects like loss of smell and taste. Also, allergy medications containing decongestants cause hyperactivity in some children. Over the long term, this may be mistaken for ADD or ADHD.

4. Homeopathic remedies are safe to use for the whole family, including persons who have high blood pressure, in pregnant and nursing women, in infants and little children.

So now you have better options for troublesome seasonal allergies, you too can look forward to enjoying nature this spring season!

Please note: It is not my intention to debate the advantages of homeopathy over other systems of medicine through this post; however, it is absolutely imperative that anyone who uses any kind of drug should be aware of any and all possible side-effects, and especially so in the case of children who depend on adults to make informed decisions for their well-being.