COVID-19 has most of the world feeling a bit on edge. You may feel ready to diagnose potential infection at the first sign of a symptom. However, don’t panic at that first sneeze. If you don’t have a fever, don’t have body aches, and don’t have shortness of breath, you can relax – you may be experiencing seasonal allergies.
Seasonal allergy symptoms include:
Runny nose
Sneezing
Watery eyes
Nasal congestion
Mild sinus headache
What causes allergies?
Allergies are caused by exposure to an allergen, such as pollen or dust. The body reacts by overproducing histamine. Histamine is a substance produced by certain immune cells in the body. When too much histamine is released, it leads to those yucky symptoms you know.
Seasonal allergy symptoms show up the most in the spring and summer months. That’s because of the high levels of pollen, plus the wind to spread it around.
Allergy symptoms that appear year-round could be from a year-long allergen, such as dust mites. Season allergies are specifically tied to pollen. However, it could also indicate that your body is failing to degrade histamine properly.
There is no shortage of allergy symptom relievers in the drug stores. Unfortunately, these “anti-histamine” medications only masks your symptoms. It’s like putting a bandaid on. They don’t regulate histamine production or treat the cause.
On top of that, they often cause unpleasant side-effects:
drowsiness
dizziness
dry mouth
blurred vision
There’s a better way.
Instead, you could deal with your allergies by giving your body the optimal chance to regulate your histamine production.
Three Functional Medicine Strategies to Regulate Your Allergies
Make sure you have the proper nutrients in your diet. Certain vitamins and antioxidants—like vitamin C and bromelain—trigger the release of enzymes that break down histamine.
Reduce your stress levels. The pandemic is not making this easier, but find what helps you to reduce your stress. Stress can affect your cortisol levels. These in turn hamper your immune system’s ability to respond appropriately to allergic triggers. Try out meditation, yoga, or daily walks. Take the time to call a friend, or paint something beautiful. Figure out what helps you manage your stress levels, and do it regularly.
Manage your gut health. Inflammation in the gut may reduce your body’s ability to break down histamine. Work with a dedicated functional medicine specialist to help you develop a treatment program that addresses gut health.
If you’re looking for a telemedicine doctor during these uncertain times, visit our appointment page. We’d love to work with you.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Cookie settingsACCEPT
Privacy & Cookies Policy
Privacy Overview
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.