Published in Vista Magazine, Mar/Apr 2009 -- Canada's Favorite Health Magazine

Natural Ways You Can Decrease Allergy Symptoms

by Robbin Coedy MSc

Here we go again: it’s allergy season! For most people, spring means the return of longer days, enjoying the outdoors, and watching as nature comes back to life. But for millions of Canadians, spring also brings the return of allergy season. Seasonal allergies – with symptoms including swollen eyes, wheezing, sneezing and itchy skin – can last from early spring through the end of August.

Most people understand that allergies are the immune system’s over-reaction to a foreign substance. With seasonal allergies, airborne particles such as pollen enter the eyes, nose and lungs and cause an immune reaction. But what is that reaction called an “allergy”, anyway? Understanding this can help you understand what treatments can work best for you.

Why Does the Body Overreact?

When an allergen – something foreign which causes a reaction in the body – is encountered for the first time, a special type of white blood cell will produce certain messengers. These messengers tell a second type of white blood cell to make antibodies. Antibodies are usually very useful: they allow the body to raise a quicker immune response the next time the same foreign entity is encountered. That’s why you generally don’t get the same exact illness twice. This is essential when you are trying to protect against bacteria and viruses – however, it gets much more annoying when you get this response to dog hair or tree pollen.

With allergies, the white blood cells make a specific antibody called IgE, which helps to train the immune ystem to recognize these allergens the next time they arrive. But this isn’t necessarily a good thing: it’s what starts an allergic reaction.

When the allergen enters the body the next time, IgE will bind to it. Then IgE “tells” special cells called mast cells that the foreign allergen is present and the body needs to mount an immune attack. The mast cells then release messenger chemicals into the area around them, including one notorious to most allergy sufferers: histamine. Histamine works throughout the body and causes a cascade of reactions such as itching, congestion, runny nose, etc. A sudden overload of all these chemical messengers, including histamine, causes the symptoms seen in severe allergies: an anaphylactic reaction.

Anti-histamines – your over-the-counter allergy medications – work by blocking the effect of histamine. Everything else still happens: there’s still an overblown immune reaction to the allergen, mast cells still release histamine – but the medications block histamine’s effects on the body, thus reducing the symptoms. Of course, anti-histamines don’t just affect the parts of the body involved in allergies: that’s why drowsiness, headache, and other side effects may occur.

What are Some Natural Solutions for Allergies?

Is there a way to make the body less reactive to allergens in the first place? Certainly, and this should be your first goal. In almost every case, allergies stem from some sort of immune disorder in the gut. Inflammation, overrun of bad bacteria or yeast, or improper digestive function in the gut can lead to the whole body being more reactive to allergens – even as far away as the nose! Improving gut function (by using probiotics, prebiotics, and improving digestion by supporting the pancreas) can certainly help decrease the severity of allergy reactions as the immune system will then react properly. Additionally, removing pathogenic bacteria or yeast (such as candida) is very important to restoring immune function.

The next most important thing you can do is alkalinize. For most people, simply increasing their intake of greens is not enough: a supplement which includes both sodium bicarbonate and potassium bicarbonate is essential for proper alkalinization. Balancing your body’s pH results in mast cells being less likely to release histamine, thus decreasing the likelihood of a reaction occurring.

Quercetin – a bioflavonoid found in apples, tea, broccoli and aronia berries – shows promise as an added treatment for allergy sufferers due to antihistamine effects. Vitamin C too has a good effect, as it can act as a partial antihistamine while also helping the immune system.

Both of these can be helpful in addition to a clinically-proven natural therapy such as PASCALLERG®.

Homeopathic medicines can be extremely effective for treating allergies. Remedies containing more than one low-potency homeopathic – complex homeopathics – such as PASCALLERG® are very safe and can be used by allergy sufferers of all ages. Clinical studies have shown that PASCALLERG® can completely eliminate allergy symptoms even in those who have been suffering for years.

There are proven natural alternatives which will allow you to be closer to nature this allergy season; your health care practitioner or local health food store should be able to provide a safe and effective solution that works for you.