Effective treatment of allergies goes beyond using antihistamine drugs, which provide only symptomatic relief. If you want to finally be allergy-free, there’s a bit more work to be done.
How do I find out what I’m allergic to?
You can take an allergy test to find out if you have an immediate reaction or a delayed reaction to dietary or environmental triggers. Depending on which type of test you need, allergy tests can take the form of blood tests or finger prick (spot card) tests.
Identification and avoidance of allergens is not a solution; it’s only a first step while we are setting up the body for healing.
What causes allergies?
In allergy, the natural barriers that the body has in place to stop allergens from irritating you have been compromised.
Because your first defence is down (e.g. skin, nasopharangeal mucosa, gastric mucosa), irritants are getting to second base where they are causing an immune reaction, which results in inflammation in the body.
Irritated mucous membranes (eyes, nose, throat, lungs), congestion (sinus, lung), skin reactions (hives, eczema, dermatitis), digestive problems (bloating, pain, diarrhoea) can all result from inflammation caused by allergy.
How can allergies be reduced naturally?
Regardless of what type of allergy you have, the naturopathic approach to allergies involves the following strategies:
Boosting the body’s resources to help break down and clear histamine effectively in the body;
Repairing the gut barrier to prevent further provocation of the immune system;
Dialing down the inflammatory response to reduce symptom intensity;
Fortifying immune defences, especially in those areas afffected by symptoms (e.g. sinus, upper respiratory, GIT, lungs, skin);
Desensitizing the system to allergens.
When you are seeking long term improvement for your allergies
Corticosteroid drugs may reduce the inflammatory response in the immediate time-frame, but they don’t do anything to improve the body’s ability to become less reactive overall in the future, which is the ideal we should be aiming for.
Natural reduction in allergies can be achieved using carefully selected vitamins, probiotics and homeopathics. We can also substitute, in the short term, natural alternatives to antihistamine drugs, which will reduce the burden on the liver and be a step closer to a more holistic solution.
Contact cyena@highervibration.com.au if would like to try allergy testing and discuss natural alternatives to allergy reduction with an experienced Naturopath.
“I haven’t needed to give him a single antihistamine since we started!”
– M.S. (Forster); Client
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