
By Jodi Van Dyk. I recently had a run of sneezing fits, runny nose and itchy eyes. It came upon me one evening and I could not stop sneezing. So much so that I thought I had picked up a cold from someone. I had a crazy week and was finally getting some rest and I thought for sure everything was catching up with me. However it was gone the next morning but only to reappear sporadically over the next few days.
It was then that I realised it was more than likely an allergy and not a viral infection. Now, I’m not a big allergy sufferer. I get the occasional sniffle when exposed to a lot of dust or strong perfume, but it seems that something in the air was really irritating me. I speculated it was a change in weather! We have recently just gone from high humidity to cold, cold nights in a matter of days. The funny thing about this was that I caught up with family and friends over the weekend and many others were suffering from a bad attack of the sniffle and puffy-eyed monster. I was not alone.
It was great knowing I didn’t have a cold, however I still felt quite poorly with itchy dry eyes, red nose and generally feeling tired. Getting around to seeing my family and friends meant I couldn’t just collapse in a heap on the lounge, so I decided to take action. Many people take antihistamines for their allergy but I did not want to as they tend to make me quite drowsy. So I raided my well stocked herb and vitamin cupboard to see what I could find.
Here I found a few things that turned out to be helpful:
Allergies are no fun for anyone. If you get them often, having a few simple remedies in the cupboard may go a long way to helping those symptoms!
Jodi Van Dyk has been a fully qualified practicing naturopath for 2 years after completing her Bachelor of Health Science degree in Naturopathy in 2007. Prior to becoming a Naturopath she studied a Bachelor of Science at the University of Sydney and worked as a microbiologist in a large hospital pathology laboratory for 5 years. These days Jodi splits her time between working with patients on issues ranging from women’s health, hormonal imbalances, immunity and children’s health as well writing, teaching and researching within the natural health industry. As a Naturopath Jodi combines her science background and evidence based research with traditional knowledge of naturopathy. She is passionate about natural medicine and teaching those around her the benefits of approaching health from a perspective of prevention whilst using natural approaches.