So, I’ve been committed to getting rid of my allergies for the past two weeks, and here’s what I’ve come up with. I decided the best approach to take care of something is to do the burning head approach. (Think of a person with their hair on fire, they’ll do whatever it takes to put the flame out–so that’s how I attacked my allergies.) I tried out a Neti Pot, EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) Acupuncture, increased Vitamin-C, new hypoallergenic pillow and a new allergen remover/air purifier.
(I’ll break down each technique and then let you know what worked, didn’t work, how it may help you, and how my allergies are now doing.)
Neti Pot: A salt water mixture that you pour down your nose that’s supposed to clear up your sinuses.
Everyone talks about how great the Neti Pots are. Although I wasn’t excited about pouring water down my nose, I figured I’d give anything a shot. For the first few days the Neti Pot worked great and whenever I wanted to clean my nose (right when I woke up and right before bed) I would use half a packet of Neti Solution. The Neti pot helped me clean out my nose when I was really stuffed… However, after a few days, my nose started to feel really weird and I felt as though I were getting a sinus infection–once I stopped using the Neti Pot, the feeling went away. I haven’t used one since.
Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT): A technique where an EFT trained practitioner taps Meridian Points throughout your body and asks you to say things, and think things, while they tap the points.
This technique did not work for my allergies, at all; however, it did work really well for a spout of writers block that I was experiencing–seriously, it works great for writers block. I’d give this a shot again. Maybe not for allergies, but for other issues like procrastination, etc.
Accupuncture: A trained practitioner sticks needles on different Meridian Points throughout the body.
I was debating on whether or not to do acupuncture considering that the first session, on average, cost $150.00–that seemed like a pretty steep price considering that I had no idea if it’d work or not, and considering that most acupuncturists said that things like allergies would take multiples session, and even after multiple sessions it could still not work. Finally, though, I found an acupuncturist who offered a trial session for $50.00. The woman stuck needles in my hands and feet (none of them hurt except for one in my hand) and then I sat on a table and slept for a half hour. The session was pretty relaxing, but it didn’t help my allergies.
Increased Vitamin-C: Helps with your immune system.
I’ve read a lot of research about how Vitamin-C is one of those miracle vitamins that taken in hair dosages can help cure a whole spectrum of illnesses (since it’s water soluble you don’t have to worry about taking too much as long as you’re drinking water). I started taking 1,000mg of Vitamin-C, a day, and so far it’s working really well. I used to have to take medicine every day for my allergies (Claritin, Zyrtex, Allegra, etc) and now I don’t need any thing, I just make sure I take plenty of Vitamin-C. Even with my increased Vitamin-C, though, I still do sneeze a lot and occasionally I still get watery and itchy eyes (occasionally versus I used to get it every day) but for the most part there is a drastic reduction in symptoms.
Hepa Allergen Air Purifier: Helps clean pollen, dust and allergy related particles from the air.
It’s hard to tell what”s having the biggest improvement on my allergies, either the increased Vitamin-C or my new air purifier. Although, I don’t use the air purifier every day (I find its not necessary every day) on the days that I do use it, I can definitely feel the difference and it definitely helps me sleep better at night.
Conclusion: In the past two weeks I’ve had a significant reduction in my allergy symptoms, one I’ve never seen since I’ve had them (ever since I got back from Iraq) and I credit an increased about of Vitamin-C and a good air purifier.
It’s important to remember, though, that different things work for different people. Acupuncture, Neti Pots, and EFT didn’t seem to work for me, but they might work for someone else. What I would recommend is giving everything a try. Again, imagine a person with their hair on fire, they’re going to do whatever they can to put the fire out; to get rid of allergies you/we need to do the same thing. Try everything (within safe bounds) and anything to get rid of these damn allergies.
So…although I still have allergies, my symptoms have severely decreased.
Michael Anthony is an Iraq War Veteran and is the Author of: Mass Casualties: A Young Medic’s True Story of Death, Destruction, and Dishonor in Iraq.