Seasonal Allergies

[Scott Free]

Usually by this time every year, I'd have already been taking Claritin-D for two months (but still suffering at least a bit from allergies.) This year, though, things are different. No Claritin and no allergies. This past January I started taking Stinging Nettle Root capsules for other reasons. Mostly because it lowers estrogen and increases free testosterone. One of the other benefits of stinging nettle root is that it's supposed to help with seasonal allergies. In fact, at least for me, it has completely stopped them. No issues at all. In the past, I'd be miserable even with the allergy medicine.

Here's what I don't know, though... Since I'd been taking the capsules long before allergy season started, I don't know if it's something that has to build up in your system, or whether they start helping immediately. In any case, if you're already suffering, it might be worth giving it a shot.

 

[ColeKiraKnives]

I've spent thousands on doctor visits, inhalers, nasal sprays and OTC medications. Nothing works for me! I drink lots of tea with honey, fresh ginger, cinnamon, and cloves to soothe my throat and for anti-inflammatory (epididymitis). Looks like I have something new to try. I've got rock solid abs from all the coughing I do.

 

[PirateSeulb]

I'm not much for these sort of holistic/natural remedies that claim to be such a cure all but not bad thing to try after little extra bit of reading I did on it. Doesn't seem to be a bad thing to try and since nothing really works for my allergies it could be time for something new to test.

 

[10fingers]

I have had spring allergies since i was a kid to a point i get flu like symptoms (terrible sinus infection) this spring is the first i have enjoyed in over 15 years all due to eating local honey starting around October. Thanks for the heads up OP. If the honey ever fails me i am now armed with this info

 

[PirateSeulb]

So far everything has failed me I used to take Allegra back before you could get generic and it worked after generic came out it just didn't cut it.

 

[theobetts]

Had allergy issues for the first time ever in 30 plus years this spring. A neti pot type nasal wash 2 times a day was a godsend.

 

[gonebad395]

All my life I've had allergies as a kid I had to get shots just so I could play outside without my eyes swelling shut. As I grew up I grew out a lot of them but beginning of summer and beginning of fall still bother me. For years I eat local honey and put local bee pollen in my yogurt and I am almost allergie free.

 

[zzyzzogeton]

The honey deal works BUT....

The key factor is "LOCAL HONEY", but just because the label says "local", you have to be careful. As a beekeeper, the only definition I accept is that to be local honey, the honey MUST be produced within 50 miles of the consumer.

Local honey isn't always local honey.

Sometimes a COMMERCIAL beekeeper will label his/her honey as local even when it came from a hive 100 or more miles away from the sales site. But at least the seller is "local to where the honey is being sold.

And sometimes the location of the sale may be within 50 miles of where the honey was produced but then the buyer lives sufficiently far away in a direction away from the production site, so that the distance is greater (sometimes much greater than) 50 miles. Example - I live 47 miles, straight line from the Texas State Capitol building. Let's say I have a customer who lives 26 miles on the other side of the Capitol.

If I take my honey to a Farmer's Market in an intervening town 24 miles or more closer to downtown Austin, if he purchases honey from me there, he MIGHT assume that it was "local honey", re: allergies. In reality, he is 73 miles from my hives when he eats it. He MAY see some beneficial results from consuming my honey, BUT he is exposed to pollens that my bees don't incorporate in their honey. Sniffle city. The further away a consumer is from the place of production, the less effective the honey will be.

How do I ascertain whether the honey I'm selling is "local" to the consumer?? I have a laminated map with a 50 mile radius circle drawn on it centered 1 mile from my hives. I then ask the customer to point to where they live on my map. If they point to a position within the circle, I will slap a "local honey" label on it.

Safety hint - NEVER tell anyone exactly where your hives are unless your hives are in your backyard behind a fence. There are "honey hive rustlers" that show up in the middle of the night to abscond with your hives.

Eating "brand name honey" will never produce allergy relief. Those honeys have 2 things going against them.

1 - they are mixtures of bought honeys from where ever. As an example, I've seen them with labels that have multiple origins listed, such as "Contains honey from Poland, Argentina, USA, and/or Mexico. Some of them even include sugar water.

2 - the second reason is that commercial honeys have virtually no pollen in them and no real flavor other than "sweet". Commercial bottlers heat the honey so that it flows through their machinery quickly to allow for faster filtering and bottling. This filtering removes virtually all pollen (and legs and wings and antennae) from the honey to reduce crystalization. The heating causes the volatile flower esters from the flower nectar the bees collect for honey production to escape, leaving a honey that is sweet with no character or aroma or flavor.