By Juli Johnson
Autumn is a welcome change after the hot and humid days of summer. Cooler days and nights, leaves changing colors and falling from the trees, pumpkins, bonfires, hayrides, and flannel invite us to get cozy and enjoy the transition to winter. However, for the folks who suffer from seasonal allergies, autumn isn’t such a cozy time and winter can’t get here fast enough!
According to statistics from the Center for Disease Control, one in three U.S. adults and one in four U.S. children suffer from seasonal allergies. For them, the fall season is a time of misery. Achoo!
What are seasonal allergies? Seasonal allergies involve an immune reaction to substances found in the environment and occur at different times during the year. They occur most often during spring, summer and/or fall. While nearly anything can create an overreaction from our immune system, there seems to be some common environmental culprits with seasonal allergies. The two most common allergens of the fall season are mold and ragweed.
Mold can be a result of high humidity and rain from mid-summer to late fall. Outdoors, mold can be found in compost piles, rotting logs, mulch, wet and decaying leaves, grass, grains, outdoor furniture, fabrics, and clogged gutters—any damp place that doesn’t get a lot of air circulation or sunshine. Mold can be easy to spot on cement and fabrics. It comes in a variety of colors: black, gray, blue, and green. Sometimes a fuzzy white substance can be seen on decaying matter. The most common types of outdoor mold are Alternaria, Aspergillus, and Cladosporium. When the fall winds blow those leaves around, you can bet the mold spores are airborne too! All three of these molds cause respiratory discomfort.
Ragweed Pollen: Ragweed is the most common culprit of fall allergies.
Hay fever is a name given to ragweed allergy which is silly since ragweed has nothing to do with hay, nor does it cause a fever. What it does cause is a whole host of unpleasant respiratory symptoms! Ragweed is a weed that’s part of the daisy family, and has a leafy, ferny style appearance. Ragweed plants can be found in nearly all states and Canada but is most commonly found in the East and Midwestern states. Ragweed only lives for one season, but each plant produces up to one billion pollen grains per day. That’s a whole lot of pollen! When the nights start to get longer in late summer is when ragweed flowers mature and begin to release their pollen. The pollen is very light weight, so it travels through the air easily. The pollen release can continue until the first frost. For some, I’m sure, it feels like an eternity!
Both mold and ragweed sensitivities share the same symptoms: runny nose, stuffy nose, watery eyes, sneezing, wheezing, coughing, fatigue, itchy rashes, headache, dark circles under eyes, loss of taste and smell, and sometimes the worsening of asthma.
So, what’s a person to do with all this moldy, spore, ragweed-infested air swirling about? While living in a bubble might sound appealing, it isn’t a viable option for those of us who are busy living life! Traditional options would include the use of antihistamines and other drugs to suppress the body’s response to these triggers. Those can provide temporary, and sometimes needed relief, but what can one do for the long term? I’m glad you asked!
Tips for alleviating seasonal allergy symptoms:
Avoiding foods that tend to be high in mold and foods from the ragweed family is essential. Those foods you should avoid include bananas, cantaloupe, cucumber, honeydew, watermelon, white potato, zucchini, sunflower seeds, dairy products, mushrooms, alcohol and fermented foods, condiments and dressings, dried fruits, and leftover foods.
Remove your shoes when coming in from outdoors. You’d be surprised at how much we track inside just from our shoes.
Stay well hydrated! Drinking half your body weight in ounces of water is important for keeping mucous thin and easy to release.
Shower daily and be sure to rinse your hair.
Irrigate nose and throat with warm saline solution three to four times daily to wash away irritants.
Have a nebulizer on hand to nebulize colloidal silver or saline.
Use a weather tracker to follow pollen counts in your area. Try to stay indoors on days when it’s very high.
Consider an air filter for the room you spend the most time in or a whole house air cleaning system. Change your furnace filters monthly!
Think about pets! They’re bringing in pollen and mold if they spend time outdoors. Wipe their coat and feet off with a damp cloth when they come back inside. Have them bathed/groomed during the late summer and fall months.
The use of homeopathic remedies for allergies is an alternative option rather than antihistamines and the bonus is you won’t feel as though you’re in a fog. Quercetin has been used to control allergy symptoms successfully. Vitamin C, especially in a liposomal form, and one that is not derived from corn, may also be helpful.
Allergies are often related to poor gut health, leaky gut, and congested kidneys. Addressing underlying inflammation issues is key to overcoming and conquering seasonal allergies. The more inflamed a person is, the more sensitive they become to more things. Desensitization using natural modalities such as homeopathy, acupressure, and energy clearing, are typically very successful, much more comfortable, and less time consuming than traditional medical methods. I highly recommend meeting with a natural health practitioner for a personal assessment to address your unique needs.
Dr. Juli Johnson is a board-certified naturopathic doctor and owner of Back to Basics Holistic Health in South Lyon, MI. Johnson uses bioenergetic testing and has specialized software to assist with all natural health care needs. Specialties are SETDB (sensitivity elimination technique), breast implant recovery, detoxification, and general health support. Back to Basics offers near infrared sauna, ionic foot detox, VIBES bed sessions, nutritional supplements, homeopathy, 100s of organic herbs, teas, and healing crystals. Learn more at back2basicshealth.com or give Dr. Johnson a call at (248) 921-0586.
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