Words: Dr Miranda CASTRO
The primary symptoms of seasonal allergies, or hay fever, are runny, itchy eyes, a runny and/or stuffed up nose — and, sneezing. Homeopathy can help.
I adore sneezing. It is a thrilling experience for the body, but as a child I puzzled over why I had to say ‘bless you’ when someone sneezed and was tickled to discover that it came out of the notion that your soul escapes when you sneeze, which is how the custom to say ‘bless you’ apparently developed — to bring your soul back, of course.
In this country it is also common to hear gesundheit, the German equivalent of ‘bless you.’ Gesundheit means, literally, ‘to your health’ — a more sensible response to a sneeze, wishing the ‘sneezer’ to stay healthy, and acknowledging a sneeze’s potential to develop into an illness, like a cold or flu.
The trouble with hay fever is this — if you are sneezing 10, 15, 20, or 30 times, in a row, it isn’t fun anymore. If your sneezes are violent they become downright unpleasant and can be painful.
In the US allergies are the 6th leading cause of chronic illness with more than 50 million Americans suffering from seasonal, or perennial [year-round] allergies each year.
Sensible Precautions
Here are a few common sense suggestions to keep your mucous membranes free of extra allergens during the hay fever season:
- Where possible avoid pollen: don’t do unnecessary gardening/go for long [or, even short] walks in flower gardens, or meadows, etc
- Keep dust levels low in the home: you might want to invest in a vacuum cleaner with a special filter for allergy sufferers
- Use pillows and duvets filled with synthetic fibres and clean them regularly.
- Don’t cycle, or take long walks in busy streets, or in the country where crops have been recently sprayed
- Avoid all household, or garden sprays for anything, including cleaners, cosmetics, hair sprays, perfumes, antiperspirants, etc., because the particles will irritate your inflamed nasal tissues further
- Avoid nasal decongestant sprays unless really necessary [a job interview, or a flight] as they suppress the body’s natural defences and commonly cause a rebound effect so that the symptoms return more fiercely once you stop taking them
- Consider investing in an air purifier
Homeopathic Treatment
Homeopathy has a proven track record with seasonal allergies. There are a number of studies demonstrating their efficacy. There are a number of remedies for acute hay fever which can alleviate symptoms. Homeopathic remedies are safe for anyone to take, including children and pregnant women and they do not have the side-effects that some antihistamines are famous for.
If you recognise your particular collection of symptoms [or, those of someone close to you] in one of the descriptions below, then you can use the remedy, provided you follow the general dosage guidelines.
Remedies For Hay Fever
Allium cepa. Eyes and nose stream. Eyes stream with watery, non-irritating discharge. Nose streams with a discharge that burns. Frequent, violent sneezing. Throat may be sore. Hay fever typically aggravated by flower pollen and during the month of August. Symptoms are worse in a stuffy room and better for fresh air.
Arsenicum album. Eyes are dry and burn. Nose streams, nasal discharge burns and makes the area under the nostrils red and sore. Frequent, violent sneezing. Lips are cracked. Feels thirsty, but only for sips of warm drinks. Generally restless and anxious.
Arundo. Sneezing without a discharge. Everything itches — the roof of mouth, especially the soft palate, the ears, the Eustachian tubes, and the nostrils. Sense of smell is lost. Hay fever typically comes on early in the spring.
Euphrasia. Eyes and nose stream [like Allium cepa] but nasal catarrh is non-irritating and discharge from eyes burns [opposite of Allium cepa] and leaves marks on the face. Eyes are sore, red and very sensitive to light, especially sunlight. Compelled to blink eyes constantly.
Natrum muriaticum. Eyes and nose stream after sneezing. Discharge from the eyes is watery and profuse. Eyes itch and burn. Nasal discharge is profuse and resembles raw egg white and alternates with a blocked up nose. Sense of smell and taste are both lost. Hay fever which is generally worse for the hot weather and often accompanied by cold sores around the mouth and/or nose.
Nux vomica. Eyes water. Nose runs in the day [with burning, watery catarrh] and is blocked at night — on the side lain on. Frequent violent sneezing. Hay fever is often accompanied by a sore throat and/or headache. Generally irritable.
Pulsatilla. Nasal discharge is thick, yellow-green and bland [non-irritating] and watery in the fresh air. Sense of smell and taste are lost. Generally worse in stuffy hot atmospheres and better for fresh [cool] air.
Sabadilla. Persistent, violent sneezing with great itching in nose. Eyes are red, and they water and burn. Hay fever which is greatly aggravated by flower pollen.
Sulphur. Nose is dry and itchy. Frequent sneezing. Eyes itch and burn, are sensitive to light, and feel gritty. Eyelids are red and itchy; they water [mostly in the daytime] and are glued together in the morning. Generally thirsty and worse in the hot weather.
Dosage Guidelines
- Take your chosen remedy in a low potency: 6X, 6C, or 12X ideally.
- Take it according to the severity of your symptoms: every 2-3 hours for the first day, or two.
- As improvement begins, reduce the frequency to every 4-8 times daily.
- Stop once you are feeling much better. People typically forget to take a remedy that has helped and that’s the right thing to do.
- If the symptoms return, you can repeat the same remedy, stopping and starting as long as it helps each time.
- If you are no better after a week, it’s likely that the remedy is incorrect. Choose another one, or seek professional advice. If self-prescribing doesn’t help you, or if your symptoms are severe, seek the advice of a professional homeopath.
The presence of allergies indicates an underlying weakness that ideally needs constitutional treatment from a homeopathic practitioner. There is often a family history of allergies — a parent, or grandparent, with asthma, eczema, or hay fever. Homeopaths prefer to treat a hay fever sufferer through the winter months to strengthen their resistance to pollen and other allergens and deal with the underlying allergic disposition, and find that it takes several years for symptoms of allergy to gradually abate.
