During allergy seasons, we commonly see people coming in for allergy treatments with symptoms below:

Runny nose, itchy eyes, sneezing, hives, post nasal drip cough, or even wheezing.

It’s very common for allergy patients to also have symptoms of malaise, headache, sleep disruption and even depression. 

Allergies symptoms indicate underlying inflammation. This chronic inflammation increases the burden on our immune system, which can lead to an increase in defensive response. Therefore, we often see patients who are suffering from allergy to also have chronic sinusitis, chronic bronchitis, or even repeated skin or lung infections.

Although leukotriene inhibitors can be effective in allergy symptoms management, such as antihistamine, steroids, and nasal spray, we often see patients growing tolerance when they need to be on these medications for a long time. There are also studies showing that anticholinergics, such as antihistamine, can lead to an increase of dementia if used chronically. (2.) 

Quercetin and Vitamin C can be good natural supplements to combat overproduction of histamine in the case of allergies. They can be found in natural food sources such as onions and oranges.

Keeping a good level of vitamin D can also be a good way to stabilize mast cells from activating and releasing histamine. It’s also interesting to see the correlation between sun exposure and Vitamin D, because in TCM, one of the ways of treating allergy is to fortify defense Qi. Other than acupuncture and herbs, we often prescribe “Vitamin Sun” to increase our Qi and resilience.