6 ways to manage hay fever naturally
As a teenager, May to July was just miserable. I remember sniffling and sneezing my way through exams, staying indoors with the curtains drawn and putting bags of frozen peas on my eyes when the itching and redness got too much. Over the counter antihistamines made me feel anything from ‘drowsy’ to ‘complete zombie’.
I love the warm weather and there’s nothing that I love more than being outside in it, so the sneezing, fuzzy head and puffy eyes were not welcome.
Hay fever is such a bloody pain. Luckily I discovered that there were quite a few things that could be done to massively reduce symptoms and greatly improve the summertime. It’s all about the immune system.
With hay fever the body identifies pollen as a foreign invader and releases inflammatory chemicals such as histamine as an immune response. These chemicals are concentrated in the airways producing inflammation and attempting to expel this pathogen through sneezing, coughing and watering eyes.
There isn’t a conventional way of ‘curing’ hay fever but the symptoms are usually treated with nasal steroids and antihistamine medication which doesn’t agree with a lot of people,
and you might not want to be taking them for long periods of time.
As a naturopath, I am looking to get the immune system to respond in a more appropriate manner rather than to wait for, and mask, the symptoms. This takes a bit more time and you’ll need to be patient initially, but by playing the long game you’ll reap the benefits year after year.
Work on your immunity, work on your gut
Yes the gut again. But really, most of your immune cells are in your gut, it has a huge role in regulating immune response, so it’s a good place to start.
Be nice to your gut by giving it plenty of fibre to feast on. Lots of plants of different colours will provide your microbiome with a great diversity of nutrients. Eat plenty of oats to give your gut a treat. Get lots of vitamin A (red, orange and yellow fruits and vegetables, as well as fish and eggs) essential for Secretory IgA. This is the stuff which protects your gut wall, which is literally the barrier between pathogens coming in from the outside world, and the rest of the inside of the body. A massive screening centre where judgement calls are constantly being made about whether and what kind of immune response should be mounted.
Look after it by avoiding pro-inflammatory foods, e.g. refined sugars, ultra processed food (e.g. orange juice), red meat, anything deep fried etc.etc.
2. Remove any food intolerances and toxins and try cutting out dairy
If you know, or suspect that you have a food sensitivity it’s best to be a bit stricter to allow the immune system to calm down. It really doesn’t need confusing any further.
Likewise, don’t provoke your immune system with anything else which it might find a bit suspect. Everytime your body comes into contact with an outside substance it has to make a call as to how to respond, so try to reduce your toxic load on the body by gradually switching to natural cleaning and laundry products, as well as toiletries.
Dairy can be very mucus forming so if you are streaming and/or chesty and you are a dairy drinker, give it a bit of a rest and let your body calm down.
3 Reduce your histamine load
When we eat certain foods we are consuming histamine, if you are struggling with hay fever or other allergies then you probably want to think about reducing the amount of histamine in your diet.
For a more comprehensive guide to reducing histamine go to my blog post here. But generally speaking, anything aged or fermented has high levels of histamine this includes things like vinegar, tinned foods (including sardines/tuna etc.) chocolate and alcohol. I’m sorry! And of course all of the lovely ferments we usually recommend for your gut. Fresh food is your friend here, no leftovers.
4. Increase your Quercetin intake
Quercetin is an amazing polyphenol which is a natural antihistamine, as well as being an incredible anti-inflammatory, it’s brain protective, and an immune modulator, effective in auto-immunity and may also have anti cancer properties. You can find it in apples, onions, kale broccoli, green tea, blueberries, grapes and lots of other fruits and vegetables.
I supplement Quercetin during the summer months and I find it super-effective against hay fever. But you’ll need a few weeks for it to kick in so start now!
5. Create a barrier
It’s so simple but if you’re out and about in high pollen try to reduce the amount you come into contact with by wearing sunglasses and using a barrier balm on the nose. Give the body less to deal with. I like the beeswax barrier balms because your nose doesn’t look really shiny, you can use them for kids, and they smell nice too!
6. Antihistamine and anti-inflammatory herbs
There are plenty of common herbs and spices which can be really useful, e.g. turmeric (always add black pepper), echinacea, chamomile, nettle and lemon balm. All easily available and easily added to cooking and teas at this time of the year.
When it comes to hay fever, like everything else with the body, optimising base health, gut function, liver function and immunity will get you a long way. After that there are other nutrients which you can add in to help the body by targeting specific pathways. If you’re a hayfever sufferer it’s time to get going on this, and hopefully, at some point springtime will appear.
