Alternative Medicine for Allergy Season

Seasonal allergies can create havoc on people's lives. Every spring and fall during the season change, it seems like many of us become afflicted with seasonal allergies. I see people sneezing, wheezing, coughing, and having runny noses, for starters. What do seasonal allergies do? Basically, a seasonal allergy is one that only comes about during a certain time of the year. You may have spring seasonal allergies, fall seasonal allergies, or both. The allergies cause anywhere from one to a multitude of problems for the person.

One symptom that starts is watery eyes. For me, this was always the worst thing. You can often stop your nose from running, or hide the red nose with makeup. However, watery eyes are going to make it hard for you to maintain eye contact at work with others, and to see while driving. Watery eyes also get worse when you rub them, and sometimes the symptoms can last for hours.

As a natural remedy for watery eyes, I'll do a few things. The first remedy is not to touch your eyes. This often can help the source of the allergy go away. If you rub it, it's almost as if the allergen reaches the inside of the eye and makes it worse. Otherwise, a cool wet towel over the eye seems to help. This seems to calm the eye and the irritant. You can also splash water in the eye, which make help to get the allergen out of the eye.

The next symptom is a runny nose. I see so many people with this seasonal allergy symptom. I find that for a runny nose, I can do many different things. First, try eating some chicken soup. Something about the chicken property in the soup seems to calm the symptoms of an allergy. For a runny nose, I also take a nap. It's as if whatever allergen was bothering me seems to go away as I sleep. I also find that often I am more sensitive to seasonal allergens if I haven't gotten enough sleep. For a runny nose, mentholated smells help. Try smelling a fresh mint plant, or putting a mint scent on a towel and holding it up to your nose. I find these methods preferable to conventional cold medicine. Cold medicine tends to dry me out, then making me more sensitive to another trigger of the allergen.

Coughing is a third seasonal allergy symptom. It's usually a dry cough. To get rid of a cough, I use honey and lemon in hot water, with some type of antioxidant or natural decaffeinated tea. This seems to calm the throat, alleviating the need to cough. Drinking alot of water can also help, or drinking something syrupy. Cough drops, the conventional treatment, do work, but you have to keep using them over and over again. If you take a cough medicine, it will usually have a narcotic such as codeine that will prevent you from being able to drive or work properly.

The headache is a classic seasonal allergy symptom. I try massaging my temples to help with this one. Interestingly enough, I also try relaxing other muscles in my body. I think they must all somehow be associated with each other.

To prevent seasonal allergies, I have a course of action I try to follow. I build up my immune system leading up to the target weeks for the allergens. In the fall, for example, the weeks right around Labor Day are generally awful for allergy sufferers. I try to increase my Vitamin A, C and E intake, and get some exercising in. It's good to exercise before the allergy weeks, because you'll be more sensitive outdoors if you do it during the allergen peak. Then, I try and get as much rest as possible. Being well rested seems to make allergens less likely to cause a reaction for me.

Eating well is also important, accompanied by plenty of liquids. I try to drink alot of hot liquids in the morning when I first wake, because I tend to be more sensitive during the morning to fall seasonal allergens. Also, drink as much water as possible. Because the nights get cold but it is still warm during the day, the temperature change can make me sensitive to allergens. So, I'll put the heat on in my house at night, not really high but enough to prevent it from going down below 70 degrees Fahrenheit at night to keep consistency for the whole 24 hour period.