Mother nature is often unfairly blamed when it comes to allergies, yet there are many logical problems with the notion that pollen, and not some deeper internal imbalance, is making one ill. While pollens, danders, molds, mites, and other allergens found naturally occurring can certainly trigger symptoms, that these agents could be the true cause is difficult to reconcile with the fact that pollens have been releasing seasonally for a geological age, while allergies are on the rise. Is nature suddenly more out to get us now, or have we been disrupting our own immune systems into attacking harmless spores and pollen grains? Trees, flowers, and even molds do not want to disturb you when they’re trying to reproduce, and it is ironic that modern living has only decreased our exposure to the natural world while making us more sensitive to it. We know that getting increased exposure to nature is actually healthy, so suggesting that allergy sufferers avoid it is not ideal.
The conventional recommendations for managing allergic disorders rely primarily on hygiene measures, like keeping windows closed, washing bedding obsessively, and resorting to air purifiers. Some sources even go so far as to recommend people change and wash their clothes immediately after being outside, to prevent pollen that may have landed on them from being distributed throughout the home. It is frustrating to be clearly ill and told that the problem is an element of the natural environment that other people seem to handle just fine, and the solution requires the adoption of what would otherwise amount to obsessive-compulsive behaviors. Pollen is not to blame, although it may be involved; there is no way humans would have survived on the planet this long if a significant portion of us became clouded, congested, and unable to function clearly every spring and fall. This is especially hard to believe given the fact that wild animals don’t seem to have any problem with pollen in the air. Even birds migrating across the globe, regularly exposing themselves to new pollens to which they have not yet been sensitized, never seem to be troubled by what amounts to a seasonal scourge to humans. I can remember traveling to visit relatives who lived on a farm in another state, and developing horrendous allergies which I blamed on the abundance of strange plants in a rural area, as opposed to the urban environment I was used to. Yet it never occurred to me that my cousins lived and worked on that farm and never had allergies. Some might rationalize this by suggesting that they were desensitized to those plants for having lived there, while I was not, and I might be inclined to agree if not for the fact that after being treated for allergies, I’ve been able to travel anywhere at any time of year and have never since developed symptoms from pollen.
Furthermore, when I first began to experience severe seasonal allergies, I could distinctly remember a time when this problem did not affect me. For years, my body seemed immune to pollen, before seemingly out of nowhere, I began to get ill whenever I traveled or visited a stranger’s house. I began to experience violent allergies any time I visited a house with cats, whereas for years before this never troubled me. The fact that allergies can be acquired should be proof that elements of nature are not making us sick, but rather something is, something which alters the way one’s body reacts to harmless dust particles. While the true cause of this dysfunction remains mysterious, and may even vary between individuals, the treatment which worked for me and which I have seen work for others is known: homeopathy.
The homeopathic treatment of allergies is based on the notion that for some reason, and there may be numerous potential reasons, the body has been disturbed from a natural condition that could peacefully coexist with all manner of pollens, molds, and danders and other allergens. This is the natural condition that allows a healthy person to work at an animal shelter, or a plant nursery, or as a plumber constantly exposed to mold and mildew and not get sick. The cause may be different for different individuals: emotional issues may be altering the immune system through the psycho-neuro-endocrine axis, or the immune response may have become mistuned as a result of a past infection, or an individual may be born with an epigenetic susceptibility. In homeopathy, it has been noted that some allergies are more common in people whose ancestors had suffered tuberculosis, and that these inherited tendencies can be reversed through constitutional treatment. Even if one’s symptoms are stemming from a sick building syndrome, wherein excessive mold or other exposures are sufficient to sicken multiple people, a greater resistance to these triggers can be obtained through homeopathy. Certainly, there are some elements of nature that are quite toxic to us and no one can thrive in an environment subject to extremes of decay and bad hygiene, but in most cases it is the individual susceptibility that must be addressed.
There are three primary strategies to address allergies with homeopathy, and each has its own advantages. The first and perhaps the ideal way to support allergy sufferers is with constitutional treatment, wherein a single remedy is given based on the totality of the patient’s symptoms. This consideration is not limited to the patient’s allergy symptoms, which may even be of only minor significance. Elements of the patient’s physical constitution, past medical history, family history, and whole body symptoms, including mental and emotional symptoms, are used to inform a prescription aiming to remove the underlying tendency to allergies. Constitutional homeopathic remedies like Sulphur, Lycopodium, and Natrum Muriaticum can relieve allergic symptoms by treating the entire person.
Another approach is to treat allergy symptoms directly on the basis of like-cures-like. An oft-cited example is using onion (homeopathic Allium cepa) to treat watery eyes, given that onions can cause watery eyes in a healthy individual. Unlike constitutional treatment, which may take weeks or even months to show results, symptomatic relief can often be obtained more quickly with single or combination formulas containing allergy-specific remedies. In this capacity, some of the most frequently used are Euphrasia, Sabadilla, Wyethia, Arundo, Pulsatilla, and Ambrosia artemisiaefolia, otherwise known as ragweed.
Using ragweed as a homeopathic remedy to treat allergies makes intuitive sense, given that it is a common allergenic plant. What is interesting is that homeopathic dilutions of ragweed may be effective even if the patient is not allergic to ragweed specifically. Because homeopathy is based on the law of similars, it is not necessary to provide the specific antigen to which a patient is allergic, merely a substance which might trigger a similar effect. Nevertheless, good results can also be obtained through so-called allersode therapy, where a homeopathic dilution of an allergic substance is taken to help desensitize the body and decrease reactions to that substance over time. Anything capable of triggering an allergy, be it mold, pollen, dander, metal, or food, may be potentized into a homeopathic remedy and used to this effect. This method is especially useful in cases where a trigger can’t be avoided, or if constitutional treatment fails to provide meaningful relief.
One of the greatest advantages to using homeopathic treatment is the lack of harmful side effects. Because allergic symptoms are created by the activity of the immune system, the crudest allopathic approaches to treatment involve inhibiting immune function. Specifically, systemic steroids are used to basically turn down the immune system until it no longer responds to harmless environmental triggers, but this comes at the cost of maintaining adequate surveillance for actual threats. And if the immune system is overreacting to harmless things like pollen, this means it is likely underreacting in other capacities, a problem only compounded by treatments designed to decrease its activity. By dynamically treating the whole person, homeopathy does not cost the patient any immune function, but seeks to restore a balance consistent with a natural state of health.