It’s that time of year again when many people begin to suffer from incessant sneezing, streaming or itchy eyes and sinus congestion, you guessed it – it’s hay fever season.
Hay Fever can however often strike people even earlier than May; it can occur from as early as January all the way to September depending on the type of allergy-inducing pollen in question. Tree pollen emerges in January, grass pollen is usually in abundance from May to July and wild plants such as Mugwort from July-September. If you’re tired of taking anti-histamine medication or want to try a more holistic approach there are a number of ways you can try to tackle the symptoms. Recent research has suggested a significant link between the diversity of our friendly gut-microbes and allergies such as hay fever. Some hay fever sufferers have found taking probiotic supplements and increasing the diversity of friendly bacteria in the gut, helpful in calming down these allergic responses. There are also a number of herbal medicines which may be able to help including Nettle, Plantain and Gingkgo. These plant-medicines have an anti-histamine-like effect and they should ideally be taken several times daily as a tea or a tincture* (liquid extract) for a number of weeks before and during the pollen season to help address unwanted symptoms. *When taking tinctures it’s preferable to consult a qualified herbalist.