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Top 10 Homeopathic Remedies for Hayfever
Discover 10 homeopathic remedies to alleviate hay fever symptoms and address underlying causes without resorting to antihistamines and steroid nasal sprays.
Marcus Fernandez RSHom FSHom
30 year Homeopathic practitioner & Founder of CHE
Homeopathic Remedies For Hay Fever
The intensity of hay fever symptoms varies from person to person. Still, if you or anyone you know suffers from hay fever, you’ll understand how miserable it can be – the sore red itchy eyes, runny nose, itchy throat and mouth, congestion, sneezing and sinus pain. Some people also get itchy skin rashes and hives.
Regardless of how intensely you feel it, hay fever can be a bit of a pain, to say the least, and some of us approach spring and summer with a tinge of dread as we size up to the inevitable discomfort of it all.
With this in mind, it’s easy to see why so many of us reach for antihistamines and steroid nasal sprays to relieve our symptoms.
The problem is that repeatedly suppressing these symptoms increases the risk of more severe illnesses like asthma or eczema. It also means that you may never resolve the hay fever as the underlying cause is not addressed.
But there are natural aids and solutions, including homeopathy, which can work both acutely and chronically (for long-term results, seek constitutional treatment with a qualified homeopath during the winter months).
Top 10 Homeopathic Remedies for Hayfever
Allium Cepa - Predominantly affects the nose with lots of watery catarrh and sneezing
Imagine what it’s like when you chop up an onion. It can feel like someone’s turned on a tap as your nose and eyes start to run with a thin, watery discharge. Your eyes sting, and you might sneeze a lot too. This is how you can feel if you need Allium Cepa, as it’s made from the onion. Take this remedy if you have a sore, raw, watery, runny nose that irritates the skin on your upper lip. You might have a dull, heavy, congested headache and feel sleepy and foggy. You might also feel better for open-air and worse in a warm room.
Allium Cepa Keynotes:
- Predominantly affects the nose
- Profuse watery, bland nasal discharge with sneezing
- Discharge can burn the nose and upper lip
- Sensation of rawness in the nose
- Head feels dull and bunged up
- Itching in the nose, at the back of the throat and roof of the mouth
- Eyes are red and sensitive to light with watery profuse tears that burn
- Worse from a warm room- Better cool open air
- Particularly sensitive to the skin of peaches and the odour of flowers
Arundo - Itching and burning
Arundo is a well-known hay fever remedy. Take it if your symptoms start with burning and annoying itching on the roof of your mouth, in your eyes, and nostrils. You may also have pain at the root of your nose with sneezing and clear mucus.
Arundo Keynotes:
- Hay-fever begins with burning and itching of palate and eyes
- Annoying itching in the nostrils and roof of the mouth (Wyethia)
- Pain at root of nose
- Loss of smell (Nat mur)
- Sneezing
- Itching of nostrils
Arsenicum - Sneezing, coughing and burning, stinging mucus
If you have burning eyes and red, sore skin around your nose from acidic, irritating mucus, try Arsenicum Album. You might sneeze and sneeze without much relief. The hay fever can make you cough, and you might get a tight, wheezy chest and have shortness of breath. Your symptoms can worsen around midnight, and you might feel chilly and anxious.
Arsenicum Keynotes:
- Much burning in the eyes and nose
- Nose constantly running with acrid watery discharge makes the skin around the nose sore and chapped
- Excoriating discharge from the nose with itching and burning
- Sneezing without relief
- Wheezing and short of breath, worse in mid-summer, worse midnight, better sitting up
- Worse outdoors, better indoors
- Coughing and wheezing can’t lie down and must sit up
- Sensitive to cold air, very chilly
Euphrasia - Sore, itchy, puffy, streaming, gritty eyes
Also known as Eyebright, this is the remedy for you if you have profusely watering eyes with stinging, burning tears and lots of runny mucus from your nose. Your sensitive eyes can water more in the sunlight, but you generally feel better after getting outside in the open air. Your nose runs during the day but gets blocked at night, and you suffer from headaches that feel like your head will burst.
Euphrasia Keynotes:
- Hay fever that predominantly affects the eyes
- Profuse watery tears eyes constantly water
- Sensation as if sand in the eyes
- Tears are acrid and burning but the nasal discharge is bland
- Eye’s water in sunlight and wind, but is better in open air, wiping the eyes, blinking
- Pressive pain across the forehead, headache as if it would burst
- Nose profuse running or dripping during the day but blocked up at night
Mixed Pollens - A great all-rounder - take it to reduce sensitivity
This combination remedy contains a mixture of grasses, cereals, blossoms, trees, weeds, and flowers. Take it once weekly in a 30c potency, a month or so before hay fever season kicks in. It may help desensitise you, and you’ll be pleasantly surprised by how much your symptoms have reduced. Consequently, acute remedies will work even more effectively.
Mixed Pollens Keynotes:
- Mixed Pollen contains a mixture of grasses, cereals, early and mid-blossom trees and weeds
- Can be taken a month before to lessen sensitivity hay fever symptoms and or along with other remedies for specific symptoms associated with hay fever
Natrum Mur - Lots of sneezing, loss of smell and taste, desire for salty foods
If the sunlight makes you sneeze and your eyes water, itch and burn, reach for Nat Mur. You’ll have lots of thin, watery catarrh like raw egg white if you need this remedy and a loss of smell and taste. You might also find it interesting that Natrum Mur is made from common salt, so if you want salty foods and this is your remedy, you’re craving what you need. Isn’t homeopathy wonderful?
Natrum Mur Keynotes:
- Hay fever with much sneezing
- Violent sneezing with runny nose discharge thin like egg white
- Eyes water easily, itch and burn worse from direct sunlight
- Photophobia and sneezing from looking at the sun
- Loss of smell and taste
- Desires salt
Nux Vomica - Like a bear with a sore head, cranky and impatient
If you need Nux Vomica, you might be feeling pretty grumpy and irritable. Your nose can get stuffed up, particularly at night and outdoors, and it can get blocked on one side. You’re more likely to have a runny nose during the day with a lot of sneezing, and you can feel wheezy. You might fancy spicy, strong flavoured foods but feel worse for overeating.
Nux Vomica Keynotes:
- Hay fever with stuffed up feelings in the nose
- Worse at night or outdoors
- Much sneezing with a running nose in the daytime and stuffed up at night, or blocked nose on one side
- May have wheezing that is worse from fullness in the stomach if eats too much, feels as if clothes are too tight
- Irritable and impatient
- Better for discharge
Pulsatilla - Thick, bland, yellow discharge
Take this if you feel better in the open air and worse in a stuffy room. You’ll have a thick, yellow discharge from your nose and maybe your eyes. Your eyes can get quite sticky, red and hot, and you may feel a bit emotional and need a hug.
Pulsatilla Keynotes:
- Hay fever with thick bland discharges
- Nose is stuffed up relief from being in open air or outside
- Worse in hot stuffy rooms
- Eyes itching and burning, eyelids inflamed, and eyes can water
- Eyelashes get stuck up with thick yellow mucus
- Much sneezing might have a loss of taste and or smell
Sabadilla - "Achoo, achoo, achoo, achoo, achoo"
Try Sabadilla if intense tingling in your nose triggers fits of loud, spasmodic sneezing, and you have never-ending watery mucus. Alternate sides of your nose get bunged up, moving from one nostril to another. Being anywhere near cut grass can aggravate your symptoms, and just thinking about flowers and grass can set them off. You can have red, sore, tearful eyes and feel better in a warm room. Interestingly, someone needing Sabadilla can have a parched mouth but not feel thirsty.
Sabadilla Keynotes:
- Spasmodic, loud sneezing with a running nose
- Copious, watery nasal discharge
- Itching and tingling in nose and soft palate, redness burning in eyes with lots of tears, severe frontal pains
- Dry mouth but thirstless
- Better for a warm room and being wrapped up and being indoor
- Nose blocked, changes side right to left, then left to right
- Sensitive smell, coryza from the odour of flowers even thinking about them!
- Aggravated by newly cut grass or the smell of garlic
- Worse cold air, better open air, and heat
Wyethia - A sensation like something's stuck in your throat and sinuses.
If you have a dry, swollen throat and feel like there’s something in it that you’re constantly trying to clear, Wyethia could be just what you need. The same goes for your sinuses, which feel prickly, dry, swollen, and like something is stuck in there. You can also have an incredibly itchy nose, throat and mouth and might feel irritable and depressed.
Wyethia Keynotes:
- Itching of nose, throat and especially roof of mouth
- Sneezing with runny nose, sneezing, etc.
- Throat feels dry and swollen with difficulty in swallowing
- Constant desire to clear the throat
- Pricking or dry sensation in the sinuses or something in the nasal passages
- Can have an irritable dry cough
Next time you're struggling with hay fever, give homeopathy a try
Before you take antihistamines, try these remedies. Homeopathy can effectively ease hay fever symptoms so much that many people who try it rarely reach for conventional medications again.
If your symptoms are intense, try taking the indicated remedy in a 30c potency three times a day. Once you get relief, stop the remedy and repeat it if or when you need to.
Disclaimer
The information contained herein should not be used as a substitute for the advice of an appropriately qualified and licensed healthcare physician or other healthcare providers. The information provided here is for informational purposes only. The views, positions and opinions expressed in this presentation are those of the presenter and do not necessarily reflect the views of CHE or affiliated organisations.
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