Hay Fever (March 11, 2014)
Specifically, it’s allergic inflammation of the nasal airways (or “allergic rhinitis”) due to grass pollen. Conventional prevention measures consist of various maneuvers to avoid pollen (good luck) and allergy shots (which do not work any better than placebos). When all that has inevitably failed and you are suffering hay fever, your instructions are to continue to avoid pollen and now anything else you are allergic to as well (put Scout and Fluffy outside), and start using over-the-counter or prescription medications. And – well, that’s about it for conventional prevention and therapy.
Alternatively, I have heard for many years that eating one to three teaspoons of local honey daily in the weeks leading up to allergy season is a preventive measure for hay fever. Probiotic therapy should also be of some help in prevention because of the large role that intestinal bacteria play in allergies and the immune system. Neither of those measures have any real science to support them yet, but some people swear by them and they aren’t going to get you into any trouble if they don't work.
Acupuncture does have considerable scientific validation as a treatment for allergic rhinitis (not only the hay fever variant of it, but all forms of allergic rhinitis), and I recommend trying it if your allergic rhinitis ever becomes more than a minor nuisance to you. In milder cases, using a neti pot or otherwise irrigating the nasal passages with a saline solution is a treatment for hay fever that many people find very valuable. I believe that there’s a Waterpik attachment that is designed for this purpose.
--dr. diane holmes
Copyright © 2014
Specifically, it’s allergic inflammation of the nasal airways (or “allergic rhinitis”) due to grass pollen. Conventional prevention measures consist of various maneuvers to avoid pollen (good luck) and allergy shots (which do not work any better than placebos). When all that has inevitably failed and you are suffering hay fever, your instructions are to continue to avoid pollen and now anything else you are allergic to as well (put Scout and Fluffy outside), and start using over-the-counter or prescription medications. And – well, that’s about it for conventional prevention and therapy.
Alternatively, I have heard for many years that eating one to three teaspoons of local honey daily in the weeks leading up to allergy season is a preventive measure for hay fever. Probiotic therapy should also be of some help in prevention because of the large role that intestinal bacteria play in allergies and the immune system. Neither of those measures have any real science to support them yet, but some people swear by them and they aren’t going to get you into any trouble if they don't work.
Acupuncture does have considerable scientific validation as a treatment for allergic rhinitis (not only the hay fever variant of it, but all forms of allergic rhinitis), and I recommend trying it if your allergic rhinitis ever becomes more than a minor nuisance to you. In milder cases, using a neti pot or otherwise irrigating the nasal passages with a saline solution is a treatment for hay fever that many people find very valuable. I believe that there’s a Waterpik attachment that is designed for this purpose.
--dr. diane holmes
Copyright © 2014