Thursday, March 22, 2007

It's Spring (Are You Sneezing Yet?)

Being that it is "officially" spring, you can bet your bippie that some folks will soon be cursing the blooming flora (between sneezes), tearing into box after box of aloe-coated Kleenex, wondering when the spores, pollen and other airborne irritants will stop tap dancing on their sinuses.

Well, it's a real problem.

A few things I would like to pass along that might just save you a few weeks of feeling like a cross between Jimmy Durante and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.

First off, invest in a Neti Pot. This is a small, genie-lamp looking device, in either porcelain or plastic, that holds about 4 ounces of salt-water, which you mix to a ration perfectly suited to match your body's salinity. The Neti Pots come with usage and mixing directions, so there's no need to get into that here.

What the Neti Pot does: it allows you to pour salt water into your sinus cavities, via your nostrils, and it effectively flushes out pollens and allergens that stick to your mucous membranes and lodge in the sinuses, causing irritation. They work great for colds, too, and cost around $20.00.

Another tip: acupuncture (no pun intended). I see acupuncture work very well clinically to support a person's tolerance to allergens, improve immune function and open sinus congestion. If you are looking for an acupuncturist in your area, make sure-sure-sure that the person is a "Licensed Acupuncturist". Many states allow other health professionals, with very little training, to perform acupuncture, which most often includes Chiropractors and MD's.

If you are going to a DC or MD, make sure that person is also Licensed (not "credentialed") in acupuncture.

And yet another tip: herbal supplements. I have a herbal blend I like to use for allergy support that I sell via my own herbal product line (Miley Labs "Aller-7 Plus"). It is a good choice for people interested in a standardized-potency herbal solution to over-the-counter (OTC) or prescription medication.

The supplement I use is blend of herbs traditionally used in Indo-Chino, that span pharmacopoeia of both Ayurvedic and Chinese Herbal Medicine.

If you are interested in this type of product, it is best to take it a couple weeks before you normally begin to suffer allergies, which may be around mid-April in my home state of Minnesota. Then, you should continue to take the supplements until the pollen counts simmer down, which might be toward the later part of May, around here.

If you want me to ship a one-month supply of our supplement out to you, just give me a call at my office and we'll take care of that for you (Acupuncture&Natural Health, 1-888-656-1515 toll free), and for about $1.00 per day, you could see significant relief from your itchy eyes and runy nose this allergy season.

You repeat this same process again in the autumn, when leaves fall, molds form, and some of the late bloomers bloom.

Quick and Dirty Bonus Tip: Find a local honey producer, one that sells unheated, "raw" honey gathered from an area within a 25 mile radius from your home, and take about 2 Tablespoons of this daily, starting about one month ahead of "allergy season".

Why do this? Bees gather nectar to condense into honey, and in the process, pick up pollen that sticks to their legs and bodies, which is how they pollinate other flowers. Some of the pollen from their legs gets mixed into the nectar, and eventually winds up in your honey.

Raw honey, from a local producer, therefore, contains small amount of pollen that you can eat, which exposes your body to the allergens. Over time, and via repeated exposure, you will increase your tolerance to the allergens/pollens in your honey. When you encounter these allergens in the spring, you will have increased your resistance to them, and should have a reduced allergic response.

This concept follows the same ideas as homeopathic medicine, FYI.

Here's a link to an article about how allergies can be mitigated with natural medicine.

Happy reading.


Alternative medicine helps with allergies - USATODAY.com

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