Are you concerned about hay fever or seasonal allergies?

Seasonal Allergies in Spring!

Spring is one of my favourite seasons!  The days become longer and the weather warms up.  I love seeing the plant life grow all around us.  Unfortunately, many people get hit hard with seasonal allergies during this time.  During the allergy season, pollen circulates in our environment.  When sensitive individuals breathe in the pollen, it causes their white blood cells to release histamines.  These histamines cause itchy eyes, runny nose, sneezing, etc.  Taking “anti-histamines” will help the body get rid of the histamines and provide relief from allergy symptoms.  However, prolonged use of anti-histamine drugs results in decreased effectiveness, so that over time, you will need to take more and more of the drug to control your symptoms.  Eventually they can stop working altogether.

Years ago, I personally suffered from terrible symptoms of itchy eyes, runny nose and constant sneezing.  One of the key things I did to overcome my allergies was to properly “tune” my immune system.

What does it mean to “tune” your immune system?

According to Chinese Medicine, tuning your immune system involves “turning down” the hyperactivity of your immune cells by using herbal medicine, acupuncture and nutrients.  Acupuncture and herbal medicine can be very effective at enabling your immune system to adapt to the environment.  Patients who follow our allergy protocol have far less allergy symptoms and can decrease their dependence on anti-histamines and other allergy medication!  At Brio Integrative Health Centre, we recommend patients do a combination of acupuncture, herbal medicine and Intravenous I.V. Nutrient Therapy.

What is Intravenous Nutrient Therapy?

Intravenous (I.V.) Nutrient Therapy is the delivery of high doses of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants directly into the bloodstream.  This is, by far, the most efficient method of providing the body with therapeutic levels of nutrients to treat a wide array of conditions and illnesses.

How does I.V. Therapy help in controlling seasonal allergies?

I.V. Nutrient Therapy at Brio Integrative Health Centre

One of the ways we approach seasonal allergies is by using high dose Intravenous Vitamin C.  Histamines are contained in white blood cells called mast cells.  Vitamin C along with other nutrients help stabilize the mast cells so that they don’t easily release the histamine content.  By stabilizing the white blood cells, our immune system is far less hyperactive to the allergens floating around in the air.  Some patients respond in as little as a few sessions, while others may need this supportive therapy for the entire season.  In conjunction with “Seasonal Balance” acupuncture treatments, we can greatly reduce the recurrence of allergy symptoms for future seasons.

Seasonal Allergy Case Study:

To elaborate further, here is a case study from Dr. Alan Gaby’s review article from the Alternative Medicine Review, Vol 7, #5

“Seasonal Allergic Rhinitis Case #8: A 38-year-old man had a long history of seasonal allergic rhinitis, occurring each spring and lasting about a month. Symptoms included nasal congestion, itchy eyes, and fatigue. During a symptomatic period, an IV infusion of 12 mL vitamin C, 3 mL magnesium, and 1 mL each of B12, B6, B5, and B complex provided rapid relief. This treatment was repeated as needed during the hay fever season (once weekly or less) and successfully controlled his symptoms. In subsequent years he began the IVs shortly before, and repeated them periodically during, the hay fever season; this approach prevented the development of symptoms. ”

For more information about I.V. Therapy, Acupuncture or Naturopathic Medicine, please call us at 604-271-9355.