“The long-term benefit of homeopathy to the patient is that it not only alleviates the presenting symptoms but it re-establishes internal order at the deepest levels and thereby provides a lasting cure.”
George Vithoulkas Founder and Director of the International Academy of Classical Homeopathy.
Homeopathy is a wholistic medicine but it seems to be very effective in the treatment of hay fever and allergy reactions. There are enormous amounts of clinical and empirical evidence (across 200 years) for its good use in these conditions and more recently high quality double blind trials have backed the validity of this long term empirical evidence. A recent four year research project from Italy is just one of many studies to confirm the beneficial effects of homeopathy for the treatment of allergic reactions.
When treating hay fever and allergies I aim to ameliorate the debilitating acute symptoms as quickly as possible. This often quite quickly frees the person up - after a short period of taking a good homeopathic remedy people often report that their acute symptoms are much better and most importantly, they have reduced or stopped the need for antihistamines, steroids or nasal sprays. Their head becomes clearer and they report an increase in concentration and general wellbeing.
That is just the first part of the treatment. Desensitisation of the allergen might be needed. There have been recent studies published about giving "tiny" doses of an allergen that help to desensitise from allergies. Homeopathy has been doing this for 200 years. The infinitesimal dose of homeopathy seems to be way more effective than the "tiny" dose of allergen treatment options.
The real aim is to get rid of the allergic reactions altogether. Constitutional homeopathic treatment alongside acute allergy treatment helps not only to stop the allergy reactions, but to stop the constitutional predisposition to the reactions.
Michelle 32 Sydney
I suffered from hayfever since I was 12. Often it was so bad that I had to take time off work, especially in spring. I would also get skin rashes. I had tried many things including diet eliminations. I started Homeopathy and immediately noticed the change. Within two weeks I was down from taking one or two Zyrtecs every day, to one or two a week. That first spring was great. Instead of getting worse it was actually getting better. Now one year on, and only two more consultations with Kylie I would rate my hayfever as over 90% better. I don’t take anti-histamines at all. I still occasionally get the odd episode - which I notice starts when I am run down and then exposed to triggers and a few doses of my homeopathic remedy clears it quickly. I mean in a hour or two. No more days off work.
Margot 41 Sydney
I woke up one morning and just started sneezing and getting runny eyes out of the blue. I had no idea why. It would get better through the day, and then the next morning [it would] be back. Nothing had changed in my life that I could work out what was causing it. This went on for about three weeks every day. I was starting to panic that it was not going to disappear, and I visited Kylie. The next day when I woke up I started to sneeze. I took a dose of the medicine, and the sneezing just stopped. The following morning, the sneezing started again. I took another dose, and again it just stopped straight away. The next day I woke up and felt normal – no sneezing, no runny eyes. It has never returned. I still have the bottle there just in case, but I feel like I won’t need it again.
Watch YouTube video Homeopathy Works (for Hayfever).
Common culprits in allergic reaction are dust mites, dust, pollens, and chemical irritants (for example, perfume). Wheat (gluten) and dairy are also known causes.
One of the major causes for many symptoms in hayfever and allergic reactions is a substance produced by certain cells in the body, as part of the immune reaction, called Histamine.
Medical treatment deals with the symptoms of hayfever and allergy by “switching off” or suppressing histamine production, – by the use of “anti histamine” drugs. Common ones in Australia are Claratyne, Telfast and Zyrtec.
Some issues I have with this are:
- The drugs are actually switching off a natural response to disease.
- They are suppressing natural reactions.
- They do not address the underlying factors, and people have to stay on them forever.
- They do not reduce the occurrence of the symptoms, or the cause.
- In fact, some people may develop a (tolerance) to the medicines where they need to take more and more, in higher doses, to get the results.
- The medicines come with other health side effects, and the more you take, the worse or more likely the side effects.
- One such side effect is that it has long been known that thyroid problems can become worse when taking antihistamines. But now a new evidence has implicated anti histamines in the causes of thyroid disorder.
By working with the natural responses of the body, Homeopathy is not suppressive. It has no side effects and it is non-toxic. The aim of Homeopathic treatment is not to take more and more, but less and less.
Homeopathy has a very good track record in treating these symptoms. In fact, many people who have had successful Homeopathic treatment for hayfever and allergies have not only treated the episodes successfully without antihistamines, but have eradicated the condition from their lives.
Trials
Reilly and colleagues have conducted a series of trials in patients with hayfever, asthma and perennial rhinitis. Patients were given skin tests, and remedies were chosen on the basis of reactivity. This design allowed individualization whilst avoiding the issue of case taking, and the effect that this has on the process. The results demonstrate a significant difference between the placebo and homeopathic groups which is reproducible.
Taylor MA, Reilly D, Llewellyn-Jones, RH, McSharry C, Aitchison T, Lancaster T, Vickers A. Randomised controlled trials of homeopathy versus placebo in perennial allergic rhinitis with overview of four series. British Medical Journal 2000; 321: 471-476
Double blind clinical trial comparing homeopathic preparations from common allergens (tree, grass, weed) with placebo. 40 patients diagnosed with moderate to severe seasonal allergic rhinitis were treated over a 4 week period. Results show significant positive changes in the homeopathy group compared with the placebo group. (p<0.05). No adverse effects were reported.
Treatment of Seasonal Allergic Rhinitis Using Homeopathic Preparation of Common Allergens in the Southwest Region of the US: A Randomised, Controlled Clinical Trial. Annals Pharmacotherapy 2005 Apr; 39(4): 617-624