So many of us suffer from allergies and may feel like our only resort is to down Claritin or Sudafed or other medications. These options can become expensive, and are likely to have negative side effects on our body, especially if they are taken long-term. For example, mild side effects from Sudafed can include insomnia, rash, and restlesness. Serious symptoms can include a pounding heartbeat, flu symptoms, severe dizziness and increased blood pressure. I don't know about you, but when I'm feeling terrible from my allergies, I don't want to end up feeling even worse from my medicine!
Luckily, medicine isn't our only option for allergy relief. Honey from local bees can help with your hay fever symptoms without the side effects and cost of medicine. How does this work? Your hay fever allergies are caused by pollen in your local area. The bees collect this pollen from the local plants, and small amounts of it are transfered to their honey. When you ingest this honey in small amounts, it works like a series of allergy shots, by slowly building up your tolerance to the allergen, and decreasing your allergy symptoms. The best way for this to work is to ingest 2-3 teaspoons of the honey daily for a few months before pollen season.
Honey can also help your allergies in the short term, as it is known to have an anti-inflammatory effect. Take a spoonful before outdoor activities and it might help with your allergies for the day.
Note: Raw honey should not be feed to children under the age of one. Honey normally cannot support bacteria, but one bacteria that can survive and is usually benign, C. botulinum, can be dangerous to infants. By the age of one, the immune system of most infants is developed enough to resist the bacteria.
Listed at Carnival of Green
Focus Organic is the main author on Focus Organic.com. Her real name is Stefanie, and she started Focus Organic to learn more about living green and to share what she learns with the site's readers.
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April 29th, 2008 at 2:55 pm
Hey awesome i'm so glad you finally got it up!
Quote This CommentMay 2nd, 2008 at 5:12 pm
I am about to buy honey from a local health food store that stocks local honey for the very reasons that you state in your article.
Quote This CommentMay 4th, 2008 at 10:27 am
Love this article and the good news you shared. My neighbor who makes natural honey and sells it has been telling me of its wonders for years. One important thing to note is that some store bought honey isn't 100% pure and can even have some very bad additives. Especially watch honey that is not completely made or processed in the USA.
Quote This CommentJune 9th, 2008 at 1:07 pm
Sorry, but isn't building up your immunity to the allergen what causes allergies in the first place? An allergic reaction is just a hyperactive immune response, so immunizing yourself with even MORE allergen would not be a good thing. This is why people who didn't previously have allergies develop them in the first place, and why they get worse over time in people who do have them. It's possible that continuous low exposure to an allergen would desensitize you over time as you develop immune tolerance, but that's the exact opposite of gaining immunity.
Quote This CommentJune 9th, 2008 at 1:10 pm
Max, Why do people get allergy shots then?
Quote This CommentJune 9th, 2008 at 6:46 pm
Max, as Loren mentioned allergy shots, the use of local honey is supposed to be a substitute for shots. Building up the allergen in your body slowly can allow for a tolerance to it, the same way the allergy shots work. Not to say that it will work for everyone, but it has been known to work for many.
Quote This CommentJune 10th, 2008 at 10:57 am
Yeah, sorry, I only really had a problem with your wording. Immunity is a bad thing in allergies, tolerance is a good thing. Autoimmune diseases like arthritis are cause by immunity to yourself, thus the name auto(self)immune, while most people display tolerance to themselves and don't have arthritis). Conversely, immunity would be a good thing in a disease like flu, while tolerance would be a bad thing.
Quote This CommentJune 10th, 2008 at 1:29 pm
Max, you're right. I edited the word "immunity" to say "tolerance" instead. It does make more sense that way
Quote This CommentJune 12th, 2008 at 2:02 am
I really will have to try this, as I currently HAVE to use Claritin to really survive the day. Our local farmers market always has a lot of local honey, so i will have to buy some next time I go, and stock up for next allergy season! It may even save me some good money because Claritin is expensive.
Quote This CommentJune 16th, 2008 at 8:21 pm
Aren't allergies caused by wind-born pollen (plants that reproduce by releasing their pollen to be picked up by winds) while bees collect pollen from plants that also use the bee to pollinate making that pollen non-airborn?
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