Do relentless sneezing fits leave you desperate to alleviate the misery? First: See your doctor. He or she will likely suggest an antihistamine, nasal spray, or decongestant. That should stop sneezing fits.  If you’re concerned about drowsiness or nasal irritation, or if typical remedies don’t put a dent in your suffering, these alternatives are worth trying.

Reduce irritation in your nose

• Apply petroleum jelly
  To relieve the irritation in your nose, apply petroleum jelly inside your nose or inhale chamomile vapors by boiling it in water.

• Rinse your nose with salt water
  By rinsing your nose with salt water each day, you may be able to ward off allergy symptoms.  It’s another way to remove allergens from your nostrils.

Use a Neti-pot, a pot that looks like a genie lamp with warm salt water.  Stand over a sink with your head tilted sideways, and slowly pour the liquid into one nostril.  It streams out the other.  Then reverse sides.  We’ve been told it’s not uncomfortable, but we don’t have allergies so we haven’t tried it.  See more written instructions at Natural Nirvana.

For a video demonstration on use of the Neti-pot from the Himalayan Institute, click on You Tube.  Saline sprays also help (as measured by a test called — in what must have been one of the lighter moments in the lab — the SNOT-20), but not as much.

Nutritional remedies

As well as conventional remedies for hay fever, according to essortment.com there are also some very effective nutritional alternatives that have proved successful in controlling hay fever.

Nutritionists take the approach that hay fever is an indication that the immune system is not working properly and the digestive system is failing to absorb nutrients effectively. Nutritional suggestions include:

• Avoid caffeine, dairy, and sugar
  Avoid caffeine, dairy products, and if you can manage, refined sugar from your diet for one month. If that helps your allergies, it’s a loud clear message.  If not, gradually reintroduce the substances.

• Avoid wheat products
  Some hay fever sufferers have also benefited from cutting back on wheat products.

• Broccoli sprouts
  A compound called sulforaphane in broccoli sprouts and other cruciferous vegetables may ease the inflammation that leads to asthma and seasonal allergies.  Grow your own sprouts from seeds or shop for broccoli sprouts at grocery stores like Fresh Market, like kale and cauliflower (researchers say eating those regularly could also lead to allergy-blocking benefits.

• Butterbur extract
  This is an herbal remedy.  “German and Swiss researchers found this to be as effective at reducing allergy symptoms as a prescription antihistamine.”  It’s also available in health food stores.  Recommended dosage is 50 mg Petadolex (butterbur extract supplement); follow label directions.

• Calcium
  Step up your intake of calcium rich foods such as dark green leafy vegetables, live organic yogurt and soy milk.

• Garlic
  Add extra garlic to your food or take a daily garlic capsule.

• Honey, unfiltered and natural
  Eating one teaspoonful of freshly produced unfiltered honey a day, before the hay fever season starts, and afterwards, can be an effective in reducing those unpleasant symptoms.
  ‘Local’ honey works better for you, because sometimes you might buy honey that comes from another region, and the flowers (etc…) that it is made from are not indigenes to the state you are in where you are experiencing the hay fever….so it might not be as affective to ingest honey made from another region vs. where one is experiencing hay fever. The flowers etc. do not contain the same pollen content.

• Honey and acid concoction
  Drink a homemade concoction of honey and boiled grapefruit and lemon three times a day.

• Horse-radish and honey
  Mix a tablespoon of horse-radish with a bit of honey, then down the concoction.  Both ingredients will kill bacteria, while the horseradish will break up mucus and force your sinuses open.

• Nettle
  This is another herbal remedy.  “Studies show that it limits the release of inflammation-causing compounds that your body pumps out when you’re exposed to an allergen.”  It is available in health food stores.  Recommended dosage is 500 mg freeze-dried nettle capsules, three times a day.

• Vitamin C
  Vitamin C has antihistamine properties, so increase your intake to at least 500-1000mg per day.

• Yogurt with probiotics
  Yogurt with probiotics cut hay fever in an Italian study.  Children who ate 3.5 ounces of yogurt containing the bacteria L. casei a day for a year had fewer attacks.  Moms who ate probiotics found in yogurt from the eighth month of pregnancy had babies who were less prone to allergies.

Naturopathic recommendations from Sheila Kingsbury

(ND, assistant professor, botanical medicine, Bastyr University)

• Butterbur: “German and Swiss researchers found this to be as effective at reducing allergy symptoms as a prescription antihistamine.”

• Nettle: “Studies show that it limits the release of inflammation-causing compounds that your body pumps out when you’re exposed to an allergen.”

• Natural Rx Both supplements are available in health food stores.
  • 500 mg freeze-dried nettle capsules, three times a day.
  • 50 mg Petadolex (butterbur extract supplement); follow label directions.

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