Did you know that when your liver is sluggish or otherwise underperforming it makes your seasonal allergies worse? It’s TRUE! When you have allergy symptoms, a messenger called histamine is released from your mast cells and travels through the body, causing symptoms like itchy eyes, watery eyes, sneezing, redness, swelling…. Your liver is a body superhero, one of the liver’s jobs is to clear unneeded histamine from the bloodstream. When your liver is healthy, you have fewer seasonal allergy symptoms.
Seasonal allergy symptoms can be reduced with appropriate treatment! We will support your immune system and make it easier for your body to clear excess histamine. It’s ideal to start treating BEFORE your allergy symptoms start! Come in and we can set up a treatment plan that supports you during allergy season and beyond.
Treat your liver to a cocktail… of healthy behaviors. Happy liver = fewer seasonal allergy symptoms!
It can take a while to nourish your liver back to health. It’s busy every minute of every day, detoxifying substances for you. Often people think that you need to “detox” with a liver cleanse, however, what most people need to do is to support their liver and reduce the amount of work it needs to do.
In general, most “liver cleanse” supplements don’t really help the liver and are overly expensive for what you get out of them. We don’t routinely recommend any “cleanses” as we find it more effective to support liver health all the time, not just for a month every once in a while! Here’s what you should do instead!
- Eat lots of fresh produce.
- Limit white or starchy carbs
- Reduce household chemical use, try safer, cheaper alternatives
- Limit or eliminate alcoholic beverages
- Stay hydrated with water and electrolytes
- Exercise regularly and moderately
- Keep your bowels moving regularly
- Eat liver supportive foods like artichokes, beets, carrots, dandelion roots, turmeric, nettles.
- Take a liver supportive supplement (not a “cleanse”) containing nutrients like B vitamins, choline, methionine, dandelion root, beet root, milk thistle, artichoke, and turmeric.
What if treating my liver like a king isn’t enough? What else can do for my seasonal allergies?
Not a problem! At Qwibil we love to use nutrients to support mast cell function for seasonal allergies. It can be hard to eat enough of these to reduce symptoms during allergy season, but if your symptoms are mild this might be all you need. Supplements are reasonable since it can be challenging to eat these regularly, and in large enough quantities to get a therapeutic dose. It’s best to start treating at a lower dose about a month before your seasonal allergies usually kick in and then increase your dose when your allergen is present. Ask your doctor if you aren’t sure of how much to use of any supplement.
- Nettles are a fantastic option during allergy season and they are found in nature in spring, right when they’re needed! Freeze dried nettles are also available.
- Quercetin is found in foods like apples and onions but you can also supplement with it.
- Bromelain is found in the core of pineapples, it causes that “prickly” feeling in your mouth when you eat pineapple– that’s the bromelain digesting your mouth a tiny bit- weirdly interesting and true!
- Vitamin C is found in all fruits and vegetables.
All the foods and supplements mentioned above are safe to take along with antihistamine medications if you need a bit more help with your seasonal allergies! Many people find they can reduce their antihistamine use, especially over time with good liver support. I had a patient using 3 24-hour Claritin daily and after a year of liver support and appropriate nutrients, they were able to stop taking Claritin!
If you have questions or concerns about finding the right dose and dosing schedule for you, the doctors at Qwibil are happy to help you.
Qwibil Natural Healing Clinic
Tacoma Naturopathic Medicine
Nature Plus Pharmacy
Meet Our Naturopaths
Follow us on Facebook and Instagram