Allergies – and how the nose knows.

When you are healthy, you are not even aware of the amount of mucus your body makes every day.  It takes 2 quarts just to keep your nose and throat from drying out.  The mucus also shields your lungs from outside pollutants like cigarette smoke, dust, viruses and allergens. 

But when you are sick, it is a whole different ball game.  The mucus thickens. It becomes harder to clear and tends to stick, which is what makes us feel so miserable. It can also change color.  Green or yellow mucus is a sign that your body’s immune system is working overtime. The color comes from a type of infection-fighting white blood cell.

So, what about allergies?  They are not a virus or bacteria.  They are just microscopic things you’ve inhaled and now your immune system is all haywire and instead of 2 quarts of mucus your body is making 6.  You feel miserable, look miserable and nobody wants to be around you for fear you’re contagious.  What the heck is going on?

Your nose knows!  And it’s rhinitis – which is simply inflammation of the nose.   It’s your body’s way of flushing out all the allergens irritating the tissues lining your nose, eyes and throat.   Your body is trying to wash away the pollen, dust mite poop, mold spores, perfume scents or whatever is causing this disruption in the force like a spring rain. 

The best thing you can do is drink plenty of water to keep the rain falling.  Eat healthy and build your immune system up with a natural remedy so that you can fight the allergens and viruses that bring on the down pours.

How Do Homeopathic Allergy Remedies Work? 

Very simply. You would start either with a private practitioner for a classical remedy prescription based on a comprehensive constitutional assessment orbyou could choose an allergy remedy over the counter like Allergena which is prepared for use by region. When using combination remedies like Allergena, the process usually involves taking the remedy repeatedly over a course of weeks. For severe and long-term allergy sufferers, manufacturers recommend that you begin two weeks prior to allergy season taking 15 drops under the tongue, three times a day. Two weeks after the season has ended, they recommend reducing intake to15 drops under the tongue, twice daily. (FOR HOW LONG????) The allergy remedy, chosen properly for your region and needs, should begin to show results fairly quickly. For some extreme sufferers, a heightened allergic response may immediately ensue following administration of the product. Manufacturers and practitioners of combination homeopathic remedies assure users that the response can be expectable and that there is no reason to be alarmed. If a person experiences a headache after taking an Allergena allergy remedy, he may reduce his dose to a tolerable level (fewer drops, fewer times given over the course of the day), then slowly increase over a period of a couple of weeks. It's always advisable to read the label carefully and remember that tinctures contain alcohol.  

Kids and Allergies

Why are so many kids suffering from allergies?

40 percent of the children in the America suffer from stuffy noses, itchy, watery eyes and chronic headaches.  That is a lot of tissues and allergy meds!

Did you know that kid’s immune systems don’t fully develop until they are 7 or 8 years old?  And according to the “hygiene hypothesis”, hay fever, mold allergies and asthma are all being fueled because kids very rarely play in mud, jump through puddles or have household pets.  Plus, the continuous rounds of medications like antibiotics and allergy medications makes them weak and their immune system even weaker.

Airborne allergens seem to be one of the biggest culprits for allergies in kids. These allergens are inhaled through the nose, eyes and ears.  They are split into two types – seasonal and perennial.  Seasonal is normally spring and fall, when the wind pollinated plants are in full bloom.  On windy days it is best to keep kids inside. If your child suffers year-round, it is not so easy to avoid the allergens from pollens, dust mites, molds and other particles your child is sensitive to.

Another form of allergies or chronic respiratory illness is called allergic rhinitis.   This is a condition when your child’s immune system mistakes airborne particles as bad guys and sends out a full blown army to attack. 

Seasonal allergic rhinitis is brought about by outdoor contaminants and it is often referred to as hay fever – though hay really has nothing to do with it.  Interior allergic rhinitis is activated by allergens like dust mites, mold and animal dander.

Understanding allergies and why they affect our children can help us figure out ways to stop them before they start and/or lessen the symptoms.  No parent likes to see their child suffer.  So, every once in a while help your child build up his full immune system by letting them get dirty!

Read what ABC is saying about allergy drops and why more doctors are prescribing them for allergy treatments. 

And for all your allergy remedies visit allergena.com. 

Don’t Blame your Allergies on the Cottonwood's Summer Snow

Don’t blame your allergies on the Cottonwood's summer snow from the female tree.

As the fluffy snow-white seed hairs of the Cottonwood starts to fly, covering the ground and plugging window screens and just about everything else, many people blame the trees for the on-set of their allergy symptoms.

Although the start of the sneezing, stuffy nose and watery eyes seems to coincide with “summer-time snow," it is not the offender.  Pollen counts for male cottonwoods spike several weeks before female cottonwoods cast their seed pods – and all that white hair.  The male pollen is a yellow-greenish powder that can cause a major overload on your immune systems.  By the time the females are letting their seeds fly the male’s pollen is spent. 

The sad thing about this whole affair is that the female cottonwoods get blamed for the pollen from the male trees and then people chop them down.  But in truth, female trees are great air cleaners.  So for every female tree that is cut down it makes the air around you that much more allergenic.

Fireweed is another shrub that blooms around the same time as the Cottonwood and is often wrongly accused as well.  The Fireweed's pollen is sticky and travels on the legs of honeybees.  It is not airborne.

In North America and worldwide, allergy seasons are starting sooner and lasting longer.  The pollen cycles of trees and grasses are overlapping more and more.

But don’t blame the Cottonwood’s white hair as it floats by.  In rule of thumb, if you can see the pollen it’s not the culprit causing your allergy symptoms.  It’s more of a nuisance that is clogging up your filters and screens but keeping the air free washed!

For all the trees and grasses that do cause your immune systems to go haywire don't wait to start taking Allergena's new Seasonal Allergy Tabs.  Get a jump on allergy season before your symptoms start. 

Allergena is a Homeopathic Sublingual Immunotherapy that reduces the body's negative reaction to allergens. The  allergy drops build immunity by exposing your body in micro doses to whatever it is that you are allergic to. This way, the body becomes safely conditioned to tolerate the allergens that previously brought on allergic reactions, and ultimately reduce allergic symptoms. 

Summer Allergies

How to survive summer allergies without living in a bubble.

All across the country weather alerts are reporting record-breaking pollen counts.  And on top of that, there are 14 wild fires raging throughout 8 states with temperatures across the mid-west way above average. 

It’s no wonder our immune systems have become trigger happy, jumping at every little foreign body they sense.  I thought my son’s thumbs moved at lightning speed on his game controller when he played a shot’em up video but they have nothing on our immune systems power to attack and destroy.

 In fact, many individuals who have never had allergies find that they are suddenly developing them. Children seem to be the biggest sufferers.  Asthma is on the rise and no one is without a tissue or bottle of eye drops.

So, besides living in a bubble what’s an allergy sufferer to do?

Minimize the allergens in your house by keeping doors and windows closed.  Regularly clean the AC filters and duct system.  A professional air duct cleaning company can also spray an anti-allergen agent in your ducts to kill any lurking allergens or molds.  Vacuum and dust several times a week. Leave your shoes at the door so you are not tracking in pollen.  We even had friends install a simple outdoor shower so that they could wash off any allergens from their persons as well. 

Change your bedding often or at least your pillow cases.  

On days when the pollen counts are high or it is windy, stay indoors.  Allergy Tracker can help you follow the pollen counts in your area.
 

Hire someone to cut your grass.  When you go out don a hat and large sunglasses. Just take them off if you are going into the bank!  

Use a cold, wet wash cloth to help with irritated eyes or even a slice of cucumber can work miracles.

Keep your rain stick handy and use it often.  Nature is a wondrous cleaner.

Nature is also a great provider for natural remedies.  Meditrend has developed Seasonal Tabs, using nature’s ingredients to form this new, sublingual, chewable allergy tabs which contain antigens of over 140 different trees, weed and grasses.

So, see, you don’t have to live in a bubble, just be a little more clean, stay indoors when the pollen count is sky high and take Season Tabs!

Red Cedar - What is Cedar Fever?

Red Cedar - What is Cedar Fever?

FEELS LIKE YOU HAVE A FEVER!

Eastern Red Cedar, aka Red Cedar; Eastern Juniper; Red Juniper; Pencil Cedar; Aromatic Cedar; Call it whichever you wish, symptoms from this allergic reaction feel like a fever.

This beautiful tree, used often as a Christmas tree, is a terrible culprit of Cedar Fever.  Symptoms may include sinus congestion, sneezing, coughing, irritated eyes and low-grade fever. Often the you seek a remedy that reduces these symptoms but they do not reduce your allergy to Cedar. 

Allergena - Texas Trees

Allergena - Texas Trees for kids

is a Homeopathic Sublingual Immunotherapy that reduces the body's negative reaction to allergens. Our homeopathic allergy drops build immunity by exposing your body in micro doses to whatever it is that you are allergic to. 

Try Allergena, offering Homeopathic Sublingual Immunotherapy in Zone 5 (Texas and Oklahoma.) Survive the holiday season without the use of heavy antihistamines and cold medications.

Red Eyes During Allergy Season

What causes red eyes during allergy season and is there hope?

It doesn’t take more than 5 minutes to be ambushed by pollen and mold spores once you close your front door.  It is an endless battle and why over 5 million people despise allergy season. 

Between the already pollen-laden air and lawn mowers and weed eaters blasting loathsome grass pollen and mold spores in a 360 degree arc it is no wonder our eyes glow red and swell like ripe melons.  And one has to wonder why even after drops and cold compresses our eyes continue to feel raw and packed with sand.

As with all people who have allergies, your immune system suffers from a deplorable lack of self-control.  At one point a single allergen entered your body and your immune system mistook it for evil and set off a chain of events that would eventually cause you major despair.  And now, even the tiniest particle of benign pollen can cause the apocalypse of all allergy attacks.
 

The attack triggers the release of histamines. As they are released into your system, they cause the tissue in your body to swell so that immune cells can enter and fight to the death all invaders.  The reason for the itchy red eyes is the immune cells don’t just enter into your body, they also leak out of your body, hence the vampire eyes.

And though turning your eyes and nose into a working faucet help flush out the pollen, it can also lead to a dreadful time outside.  Luckily, there is hope. 

Sublingual Immunotherapy is a method of allergy treatment that uses an allergen solution given under the tongue. Over time, sensitivity to allergens are reduced. In 1998 the World Health Organization concluded that Sublingual Immunotherapy was a viable alternative to the injection route and that its use in clinical practice is justified.

Allergena has developed allergy relief for where youlive.  Each formula is geographically zoned for the specific trees and grasses known to cause allergy symptoms.

Allergies

Allergies and hidden factors that might be making you sick!

To date, 2017 has been the worst season for allergies on record.  There are crazy amounts of pollen and ragweed in the air and now a days every family has some sort of pet or multiples of them.  So, when your itches eyes, sniffles and coughing attacks flare up it’s easy to blame your surroundings.

But are there other factors at play?  Have you been gaining weight, having trouble sleeping, experience headaches, anxiety or digestive issues? Did you know allergies could be causing all of those issues?

Leo Galland, MD, of integrative medicine, states in his new book, The Allergy Solution: The Surprising, Hidden Truth about Why You Are Sick and How to Get Well, that there is an epidemic of allergies sweeping the nation, with more than a billion people reporting symptoms.

In his book, Dr. Galland talks about allergies and genetics.  It has always been believed that allergies were genetic, but if that is the case why are so many more people suffering now than in past decades?  50 years ago there were few people with allergies.  100 years go there were hardly any.

So, why the huge increase in the last 100 years?  Researchers are starting to link factors such as the food we eat, products in our homes and outdoor pollutions to the massive allergy outbreak.

Being overloaded with allergies can certainly bring about conditions like anxiety, sleeplessness, weight gain and headaches.  Unknowingly, you may be causing your own issues.  The good news is, you can fix it!

Think of it this way…if something is undoubtedly environmental, you can either eliminate it or change it.

For a start – let’s talk about a healthy gut.

What we eat can have major effects on our body.  More and more it is becoming evident that the key to being healthy is in your gut.  Your gut helps your body get the nutrients is needs while reducing the levels of bad bacteria in your system.  A diet of sugars, processed foods and saturated fats is not going to promote a healthy gut.  In fact, it will work the opposite.

If you are not eating a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables and a diet rich in fiber change it!!!  Now!!

Next – let’s clean house.

Changing your diet might not be enough to stave off those headaches and runny noses.  Your home can be a major trigger as well. 

1.       Do a mold check.  Mold is a huge factor in allergies and can make you very, very sick.  Look for leaky pipes, storm damage or leaky roofs that can let water puddle and form mold.  Keep basements and garages dry with a dehumidifier.

2.       Dust mites are another great champion of allergies.  Wash bedding, drapes, throw rugs and stuffed animals in hot water and dry on hot heat.

3.       Change your cleaning products.  If you can’t afford to “go green” there are several great homemade recipes using non-toxic ingredients or heavy perfumes.

If your allergies persist find a specialist who can test you for foods, molds, dust mites and outside  allergens.  Once you know what is causing your symptoms, changing your diet and cleaning up your house will help get your immune system back on track and your allergies under control.