Hey friends, It’s that time of year again. Are you ready to talk about spring allergies? If you have them you are most definitely wondering how to stop allergies immediately. Today I am going to do you one better, and also tell you how to get rid of allergies forever.

Things are starting to green up, and temps are rising if you are in the northern hemispheres. When spring (or fall) is in the air - so are spring allergies. I am beginning to get those questions about what can be done about my allergies or what can my kids take for their allergies. Especially when every cough or sniffle gets them pushed out of school for 10 days.

So today, we are diving deep into spring allergies! 

• What are the root causes of spring allergies?
• What to do when you don’t like allergy medication
• How to stop allergies immediately
• How to get rid of seasonal allergies forever

You will find all the links on the show notes page at audreychristie.com/149

Intro

Welcome if this is your first time listening  - I’m Audrey Christie - I’m a functional and integrative nurse nutritionist and energy medicine practitioner. I help women start their very own Autoimmune Revolution so you can stop chasing symptoms and learn how to heal your body from autoimmune disease.

Allergies Truthbombs

To lead off today, I have a few truth bombs for ya…ready? Allergies are common but they aren’t normal. They fall into that category like PMS and teenage acne and heartburn and getting the stomach bug because everyone else had it. Common, yes. Normal, not even close. They are a symptom, a warning flag that something is wrong in your body.

For the longest time, my entire conventional medical career, I thought that seasonal allergies were normal. Something everyone has, just a part of life. Nope. Not even close.

Truthbomb number 2, allergy medication is not for long-term or frequent use. Nope, even says so right on the box, but I can’t tell you how many times people tell me they have been taking an over-the-counter or prescription medication for allergies for YEARS. YEARS!

Truthbomb number 3, there are big unintended consequences that come with allergy med usage. Some are obvious, that feeling of being on something - some people are tweaked up and some are groggy but there is also the dizziness, blurred vision, sleep disruption, prostate issues, yeast infection issues, ulcers, delayed growth in children, blood sugar fluctuations, hormone disruptions.

I for one have seen people follow a dangerous trajectory. Women start with seasonal allergies as kids, they may or may not have had tubes, or tonsils/adenoids removed, then acne as a teen, sometimes there is some spurts of asthma or chronic asthma thrown in, as adults trouble getting pregnant, and then often acne in their 30s or 40s out of the blue. Then comes the chronic illness diagnosis or autoimmune diagnosis.

The good news is - it sure doesn’t have to be this way.

Story Time

It’s kind of interesting, often people don’t see another way out, other than taking medication or giving medication to their kid’s long term. In fact, I often get some form of the message: I absolutely need allergy relief, but I don't want to be doped up on allergy medication because it makes me sleepy or maybe that's your kids right so maybe you know your kiddos got the itchy, watery eyes and the runny nose, but they don't want to be doped up, or you don't want them to be jumped up on the medication. I don't blame you at all there are some natural ways to get allergy relief but we need to take a two-pronged approach to this by addressing the now without causing further damage AND addressing the root causes so that you don’t have to have this battle every time the weather changes.

What are seasonal allergies?

Seasonal allergies are an IgE-mediated inflammatory response. So what happens is you encounter something like dust, mold, pollen and your body reacts by releasing truckloads of IgE antibodies. This sets off a cascade response that leads to the runny nose, watery eyes, clogged ears that you feel. Part of this reaction is called a histamine release - which is why you hear allergy meds sometimes categorized as “antihistamines.” Histamines make everything run to try and get the allergen out of your body.

In the short term, you have coughing, sneezing, runny nose, watery eyes, but in the long term, you also have overall increased inflammation in the body and specifically landing in your mucous membranes. Mucous membranes line many different body cavities.

What is the root cause of seasonal allergies?

As I mentioned, allergies are a sign that something is wrong in your body. They are a warning sign if you will. Which means they are a symptom NOT a root cause. 

That means that your allergies - just like a bigger diagnosis - have many roots, you know my tree analogy right?  Most often one of its roots is in the digestive tract, and that is what we will focus on today. But other possibilities include mold toxicity, food allergies/sensitivities that are being ignored (we will touch on that too), suppressed grief or rage, parasites (if you think you don’t have them - you probably do), viral infections, Lyme, co-infections, heavy metal toxicity, poor drainage pathways...the list is long.As I mentioned, allergies are a sign that something is wrong in your body. They are a warning sign if you will. Which means they are a symptom NOT a root cause.

How to get rid of seasonal allergies forever?

One of the big roots that I see in most people is in your digestive tract, so I am going to focus on that today for the long-term healing strategy. It seems odd, but the digestive system is where the immune system lives and it is also the primary gateway of things entering your body and blood. This is one of those chicken or the egg situations - but many believe the digestive issues or leaky gut comes first - either when an infant is weened to cows milk or it could be earlier if they were consuming cow’s milk containing formula.

In a leaky gut, the gut lining becomes permeable meaning things pass through it more easily. This permeability allows food, toxins, and all sorts of things to leak through the intestines and the immune system does its job and starts the attack. 

Most of the time, healing the gut reduces inflammation in the body - heals allergies for good. But healing the gut is the trickiest part.

How to Stop Allergies Immediately (Naturally, too)

I’m going to give you the supplements sometimes also called micronutrients, but I want you to understand that you really can’t heal the body with supplements right? You can’t out supplement a bad lifestyle and diet BUT in the case of seasonal allergies, you really need to address the short-term symptoms naturally while working to not need even the natural allergy remedies right. So these supplements will help with symptoms but not heal the cause of your allergies. You can find quality versions here (under Allergies).

Quercetin with Bromelain - this is an extract from plant foods and it works to calm the immune system. You can find this both in the chewable for kids or in a capsule for adults. If you go to audreychristie.com/fullscript you can get authentic formulations in kids or adults. Full transparency, on my healing journey I really liked the kid’s versions.

Butterbur - Butterbur is an herb - you can do butterbur either in a tea, or you can get it in a pill form. They call it butterbur but there's nothing buttery about it. Fun history note, they call it butterbur because they used to wrap butter in it, in the old wild west days. The extracts are really great for relieving fever, nasal allergies, headaches, and it works like anti-histamine without that drowsy side effect, or that speed side effect.

Stinging Nettle - if this grows natively where you are - it can really benefit you. Its really cool how that works. Caution with this herb - it can make some people’s allergies worse and you only want to use it for 8 weeks at a time. This is also available in a tea or pill form.

Additional things that you can take to help your gut are the things I recommend all the time - Vitamin D3+K2, a healthy dose of Omega 3s BUT if you are looking at really healing, this is just the tip of the iceberg.

Nutrition for Spring Allergies

Sometimes supplements can be cost-prohibitive, and again - you can’t out supplement a bad diet, right? So let’s talk about doing this with food alone. This is also critical to follow if you are taking the natural remedies and energy work because this sets the stage for long-term healing.

1. Say no to dairy.
2. Eat foods that contain quercetin lots more onions, apples, tea, berries, buckwheat, and citrus fruit, include fresh pineapple to enhance absorption for bromelain
3. Eat more vitamin C - red bell peppers are a great source of this in addition to your citrus fruits.
4. Get your food sensitivities checked. You can follow any diet on the planet that is low histamine or gut safe or whole30 but the bottom line is that we are all different and what works for you will not work for your neighbor MOST of the time. I recommend that well people get their food sensitivities checked 1x per year and people on a wellness journey (even weight loss journeys) get theirs checked a little more frequently if needed (maybe 2-4 times per year). You can find a link for the lowest priced one you will find on my website and you can do the test right at home

To wrap this up...

To wrap this up - allergies are miserable, they just aren’t any fun at all.. I hope that through this episode you have learned some easy ways that you can stop your spring allergies immediately and also work on stopping spring allergies forever.

If you want to learn more about me, about how to implement these things into your life to feel better in simple practical, and sustainable ways - head over to AudreyChristie.com there’s free downloads, online courses, programs, and tons of resources to help you create your own health and wellness revolution.

Remember that I am always rooting for you friend and I am so grateful for you listening! See you next time!

Be well,