What is pollen?
Pollen is a very fine powder produced by trees, flowers, grasses, and weeds to fertilize other plants of the same species. Pollen that is small, light, dry, and light weight, can easily become airborne, and therefore dispersed by the wind.
You may have noticed this powdery, yellow substance coating your car, especially during spring, summer, and fall.
Some people have allergy symptoms year round, while others only have them during certain times of the year. For example, people who are sensitive to birch pollen usually have increased symptoms during the spring when birch trees are in bloom. Similarly, those with ragweed allergies are most affected during the early fall.
Susceptibility to a Pollen Allergy:
Many people wonder if pollen allergies are genetic. Researchers are still studying this question, but studies suggest that yes, a hereditary component is involved. Having a blood relative with allergies or asthma increases your risk of having one or more allergies, though the specific type is not passed down, just the increased odds. To complicate the matter further, prolonged exposure to the allergen also plays a role in whether or not you develop allergies. Even if you have a genetic susceptibility, you may not develop a problem if you mostly avoid the allergen. Having asthma, atopic dermatitis, and/or allergies to other triggers can also increase your risk of allergies.
Pollen allergy symptoms typically flare up when it is hot, dry, and windy outside.
Symptoms:
If you have a pollen allergy and go outside on a day when it’s flying around, your body will react as if it’s being invaded. Your immune system will make a lot of something called histamine to fight it back. When this happens, you can have symptoms like:
Eyes: Itching, redness, watering
Nose: Itching, stuffiness, Sneezing
Respiratory tract: Itching of throat, wheezing, cough
Skin: Redness, itching, rashes.
Lifestyle changes to reduce the risk of your allergy symptoms and signs (allergens):
Stay indoors on dry, windy days. The best time to go outside is after a good rain, which helps clear pollen from the air.
Avoid lawn mowing, weed pulling, and other gardening chores that stir up allergens.
Remove clothes you've worn outside and take a shower to rinse pollen from your skin and hair.
Don't hang laundry outside—pollen can stick to sheets and towels.
Wear a face mask if you do outside chores.
Take extra steps when pollen counts are high:
Seasonal allergy signs and symptoms can flare up when there's a lot of pollen in the air. These steps can help you reduce your exposure:
Check your local TV or radio station, your local newspaper, weather app, or the internet for pollen forecasts and current pollen levels.
If forecast suggests high pollen counts, start taking allergy medications before your symptoms start.
Keep doors and windows closed, especially when pollen counts are high.
Avoid outdoor activity in the early morning when pollen counts are the highest.
Use high grade filters for your home HVAC and car to prevent exposure to pollen while you are indoors
Homoeopathic approach for pollen allergy:
Every year, people who suffer from pollen allergies try to find different ways to fight back the tiny entities! People spend lots of money on over-the-counter medications, treatments, and allergy shots to get rid of these allergic conditions, but all of these only helps manage the symptoms; but do not provide permanent relief, and besides that, all of these have lots of side effects like dry mouth, drowsiness, and nausea. Homoeopathic medicines are the best to fight allergies and get permanent relief from the symptoms.
In conventional medicine, all the people suffering from allergies receive the same treatment, but homoeopathic medicines are selected based on individualization. Which means even though some symptoms of Allergy are same but some of them differ person to person like one person has itching in the nose and throat with runny nose, thin acrid discharge from nose while other has thick yellowish discharge which is bland, one person gets better by warm room other in open air. Allium cepa is the right medicine for one person, while another one will improve with Pulsatilla. Your homeopathy specialist can work with you to find the best treatment for YOU!
In the acute phase, a homoeopath suggests medicine by carefully studying the entire symptom picture of the person. And it is not necessary to take medicine for a seasonal allergy throughout the year. Homoeopathic medicines, if taken at the beginning of the season, can work for weeks or months depending upon the person's energy. Few people, depending upon their energy and susceptibility, need few doses, while some of them need more. In the acute phase Homoeopathic medicine works as fast as conventional medicine or sometimes even faster.
To get rid of allergies permanently, a Homoeopath chooses Constitutional medicine based on the complete history of a person's mental, emotional, and physical health. Homoeopathic medicines gradually help to calm down the over-active immune system so that the body does not battle against the substance that is totally harmless, such as pollen.
Refrences:
Organon of Medicine By Dr. Samual Hahnemann