10 Antihistamine Strategies
Here are ten strategies for seasonal allergies or indoor IgE reactions like dust mites etc. Let’s talk about the plants, bacteria and other elements that can calm the mast cells or reduce histamine in the body.
Here are three antihistamine strategies that really don’t work for me:
1. Eating pollen. Not joking. Some folks recommended it and I tried it and I have to say um, no, not working.
2. Lemon, lavender and peppermint essential oils. Cleared my sinuses but no, kept sneezing. Also peppermint and anything with menthol has been shown to just make it FEEL like we are breathing better (and smell good) but not actually increase oxygen or decrease congestion.
3. Acupuncture. I wish this worked but it just didn’t 🙁 I will keep trying!
OK now onto what DOES work.
We must go deeper to the root cause.
If you are having springtime or full-time environmental allergies it is important to figure out why. So before getting into ten easy strategies for allergies that are already taking place I want to talk about an overarching plan. Taking away as many distractions for the immune system and then balancing it and removing the offending allergen are really all that are needed.
Taking away immune distractions means dealing with gut infections, sinus infections, tooth infections. It may mean doing a liver cleanse or a water fast to help with detoxifying or reducing those foods that can distract the immune system. This step may mean dealing with yeasts in the body. Even if you are a practitioner it can be very helpful to work with someone who can help you trouble shoot this systematically.
Balancing the immune system means communicating with the two main branches of immunity, the swat team and the pencil pushers as I like to call them, tH1 and tH2 immunity. These branches of the immune system usually come into balance after long term infections and irritants are resolved but if not then the careful use of some herbs can be helpful. For example mangosteen, cardamom, moringa, watercress, nettle and so on.
If allergies catch you by surprise here are ten useful strategies:
- Netipot – about five times daily. This may not be for everyone but lessens the symptoms to some degree. When I have the schedule to be extremely vigilant with this I feel better.
- Vitamin C – liposomal, 1 gram five times per day three days per week and then back down to 1 gram three times per day for the rest of the week (doing too much for too long is not helpful to the body for how it uses vitamin C)
- Quercetin – at least 500 mg daily, I like 500 mg 3x per day. Did you know onion skins are a great source of quercetin? You’d have to tincture them…
- Plant resins and essential oils as a throat spray – I have thyme, savory, black spruce and lemon mixed with black cumin oil in a spray bottle
- Nettle tincture – Click HERE for the Wild & Grounded Green Smoothie Recipe is good but you will be getting more of the antihistamine properties and less of the histamine itself if you are using a tincture of nettle instead. I take dropperfulls throughout the day in springtime. This has to be nettle LEAF tincture and the amounts to take are actually quite substantial.
- Having someone else clean my house for me – I’ll admit this agrees with me on so many levels however I have yet to find a really positive way to sell the benefits of this to my family who should do the cleaning. If I stir up dust in the springtime it’s not pretty. The same goes for mowing the lawn… I couldn’t afford to hire outright so I am doing a trade and it works for me. Do whatever you need to do to keep yourself away from the dust/cat/grass that is bothering you.
- Bai Hua oil – a mixture of essential oils from China (literally means white flower) but I don’t know exactly what is in there. This is helpful to me when I rub it directly under my nose. It can be a bit stingy though so watch out. Don’t put something on your face without first testing it to see if it irritates the eyes or skin.
- Hard core 100% raw foods diet – Honestly this was the only thing that ever completely stopped my allergies. I know it’s not for everyone but I have to admit I notice the difference even between mostly raw and totally raw in my seasonal allergies depending on what I am doing with my food. It may be the lectins, fats or just the grains consumed otherwise. If you can figure out what diet is the most anti-inflammatory for YOU then stick to it. And you can’t know until you’ve tried them all. You may feel good but not know that there is an opportunity to feel better.
- Watercress, moringa and lotus daily – These do seem to make a tangible difference to me
- Cleansing yeasts – Candida, Penicillium, Brewers’ Yeast and others. Yeasts are big producers and releasers of histamine so they can exacerbate if not directly cause this issue.
Thanks, Steph! That is a very useful and informative article!
Thank you Glenn! Good to hear from you 🙂
Steph, it is good to hear you address the issue of how long juice can be kept at home. It is confusing to me because some juices are made fresh in stores and kept for days. I have always wondered how much nutrition you are getting on that last expiration date stamped on their bottle of juice?
Hi Pat,
So the storebought juices are pretty stable even beyond the expiry because they have been pasturized but it is important for them to put a date on legally… Juices made at home don’t last as long for sure. The most heat sensitive vitamins like C are the most at risk of being lost in the juices from stores. I am excited about that new CO2 juice preserving that some companies are doing but don’t know enough about it to really speak to the nutrients, the companies sure say it’s good of course. We bought an orange juice the other day that literally had 8 or 9 ingredients in it, that was really disturbing but I know they do it so that they can be sure of the nutrients in the juice and preserve it 🙁 We don’t always have time to juice at home so I just try to make the best decision I can 🙁