While some of us marvel at all the new flowers and trees in bloom, others suffer from hay fever—an allergic reaction to pollen and mold that flourishes with the arrival of spring, summer, and fall. Itchy eyes, a runny nose, sneezing, and other hay-fever symptoms may have you running to the drugstore for relief. But hay fever natural remedies and herbs can also offer some help.
Irrigate your nose
When you have an allergic reaction to something that you've inhaled, your immune system reacts much the same way it would if a virus had entered your body. One way to calm your system is to try to steer clear of pollen. Another way is to regularly flush it out of your nose with salt water.
There are different methods for clearing your nose with a nasal saline irrigation device. Nasal washes are available in over-the-counter squeeze bottles at drugstores. Another method uses a bulb syringe to push saline into the nostrils. And a third involves using a small pot to pour saline wash into one nostril and let it drain naturally through the other.
The effects of nasal irrigation may not last as long as over-the-counter and prescription allergy drugs like antihistamines or corticosteroid nasal sprays. And they aren't as effective as long-term treatments like allergy injections and a newer therapy called sublingual immunotherapy—a treatment that builds immunity to pollen and is similar in strategy to injections but uses drops placed under the tongue.
According to recent studies, however, people who use nasal irrigation for hay-fever symptoms do experience some relief and require lower doses of allergy medication. As an added benefit, a 2008 study of 401 children found that a nasal wash helped to treat cold and flu symptoms, and over the next three months the children had fewer nasal and cold symptoms and used fewer medications.
Nasal irrigation should help relieve some allergy symptoms and clear your nasal passages, but you may also need to use adjunct treatments, especially for symptoms unrelated to your nose, such as itchy eyes.
