Toronto-Centre Naturopathic Medicine is a Toronto naturopathic clinic dedicated to providing safe and effective treatment of a wide variety of health conditions using natural therapies and the principles of naturopathic medicine.
Hay fever (allergic rhinitis) is well treated using naturopathic medicine. Hay fever refers to a type of environmental allergy. In the course of normal immune system activity, your body produces antibodies that “attack” “foreign invaders” that may cause you harm (e.g., virus, bacteria). Allergies occur when your immune system misidentifies something benign (e.g., pollen, pet dander, dust mites) as harmful and mounts an attack against it. Allergy symptoms may involve your skin or digestive system, but hay fever primarily affects your sinuses and airways.
Seek emergency medical care if:
- You have an anaphylactic reaction to an allergen
Symptoms of hay fever
Possible symptoms of hay fever include:
- Congestion
- Sinus pressure and facial pain
- Itchy, watery or swollen eyes
- Itchy, runny nose
- Itchy mouth and throat
- Sneezing
- Cough
- Decreased sense of smell and taste
Hay fever treatment at Toronto-Centre Naturopathic Medicine
There is no known cure for hay fever. At Toronto-Centre Naturopathic Medicine, the goals of hay fever treatment are significant or complete allergy symptom reduction, and effective management and prevention of associated health conditions (e.g., sinusitis, ear infections, asthma, eczema).
Conventional treatment for hay fever may include a variety of medications, including antihistamines and decongestants, corticosteroids, leukotriene modifiers and injections of allergen extracts, which may have short- or long-term side effects. For this reason, you may choose to try natural treatment to possibly avoid use of conventional medications, or together with conventional medications in order to decrease dosages of conventional medications required to manage your hay fever symptoms.
Naturopathic treatment of any chronic health concern must be recognized as a process that involves identifying specific treatment goals, a thorough understanding by your naturopathic doctor of all factors affecting your health, including physical, psychological, emotional and lifestyle factors, development of a comprehensive treatment plan and execution of that plan through periodic monitoring and adjustment.
At Toronto-Centre Naturopathic Medicine a typical approach to treating hay fever is to first identify and address underlying factors in your lifestyle (e.g., indoor mold and pet dander exposure). Where appropriate, a number of therapeutic options are available, to be used alone, or more often in a complementary fashion, including:
- Acupuncture
- Nutritional supplements
- Botanical (herbal) medicines
- Homeopathic medicines
- Bowen Therapy
- Hydrotherapy
- Lifestyle counseling
Reference
Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research. Hay fever [Online]. [cited 2009 Feb 18]; Available from: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/hay-fever/DS00174