Herbs That Can Help You

      If you don't have high blood pressure, the Chinese herb Ma huang (ephedra vulgaris) may be helpful. The active ingredient in most commercial allergy preparations made from herbs, Ma huang or Chinese ephedra is a powerful decongestant. It clears bronchial passageways, dries sinuses, helps relieve sneezing and makes breathing easier. It also speeds the pulse, raises blood pressure, makes it difficult to relax and feels like caffeine. The more you take, the more dramatic these side effects, so start with a small amount, don't take Ma huang in the evening (it may keep you awake) and, if brewing a tea with this herb, make a weak infusion to start.

      Nettle (Urtica dioica) may sting when you touch it, but nettle tea soothes the system. In "A Randomized Double-Blind Study of Freeze-Dried Urtica dioica in the Treatment of Allergic Rhinitis," published in the journal Planta Medica (February 1990), P. Mittman reported significant hay fever relief from capsules containing freeze-dried nettle. The therapy had few side effects and improvement came within a week for those who found the treatment effective. Andrew Weil, M.D., author of Spontaneous Healing, controls his own hay fever with this therapy. Nettle tea and fresh nettle juice are used in Europe for a variety of conditions, including several respiratory problems.

      Echinacea and goldenseal are a favorite combination for hay fever therapy. In fact, many herbalists consider goldenseal the most effective botanical treatment for acute sinus infections because it fights bacteria and viruses while soothing mucous membranes. Both herbs support the immune system. Teas and tinctures made with red clover, sage, burdock root or licorice root are often recommended for hay fever prevention and treatment and all have much to recommend them.

     Gail Ulrich, herbalist and director of the Blazing Star Herbal School recommends an infusion of dried mullein leaf (2 tablespoons or 1 ounce by volume of the dried herb per quart of boiling water) steeped 2 to 4 hours and given in [1/2] cup doses 4 times daily for 6 weeks to eliminate allergies to pet dander and relieve other allergy symptoms.

     Rosemary Gladstar has an unusual recipe for garlic-ginger syrup that helps prevent allergies and hay fevers.

Homeopathy

      The bee pollen approach to hay fever resembles homeopathy, for both strategies introduce small amounts of allergenic substances in hopes that the body will respond and overcome the illness. The difference is in the dosage. Homeopathic hay fever preparations are extremely dilute solutions of the yeasts, molds, grasses, tree pollens, fungi, animal dander, dust mites and other airborne allergens that typically cause reactions. Respiratory illnesses such as hay fever are among the conditions homeopathy is best known for treating.

      A similar strategy is used by people who take rag weed tincture in the spring and early summer, before this plant flowers. The Heritage Store in Virginia sells products recommended by Edgar Cayce, the American psychic whose well documented medical insights cured thousands during the 1930s and '40s. Edgar Cayce recommended rag weed to over a hundred individuals as a liver tonic and nonhabit-forming laxative and prescribed it to help desensitize pollen-sensitive systems when taken ahead of pollen season. Users have reported relief from other allergies after taking rag weed tincture for several weeks.

      The Heritage Store's product contains only rag weed and grain alcohol. Inspired when I read this at the peak of rag weed season as I was sneezing my head off, I gathered blossoms from the inconspicuous common rag weed (Artemesia artemisifolia) and the tree-tall great or giant ragweed (A. trifida), covered the pollen-rich flowers with vodka and made my own tincture. The following spring I began taking half a dropperful daily. All through ragweed season, which lasts to the end of October, I continued the ragweed experiment and seldom sneezed, even when pollen counts hit record highs.

Honey and Bee Pollen.

      Honey contains pollen, and some hay fever sufferers swear by honey from local bees. Their strategy is to eat comb honey or raw, unheated, unrefined, unfiltered honey from local bees in three-day cycles for several weeks before hay fever season. This exposure acts like a vaccination and makes the local pollens less irritating.
     Bee pollen is a popular food supplement, but I have misgivings about recommending it to those who have hay fever. Some seriously adverse reactions have been reported among people with severe allergies who took bee pollen, probably because the dose is so concentrated compared to what you would ingest in a spoonful of honey. A better approach is to start with a single grain per day three to four months before hay fever season and slowly increase the dosage, adding one grain every three days.
Discontinue if you experience any adverse symptoms, such as sinus congestion, throat irritation, fatigue, headaches, nausea, abdominal pain, diarrhea, itchy skin or memory problems, all of which may occur when someone allergic to pollen takes bee pollen capsules daily for several weeks. The physician who reported these symptoms noted that bee pollen capsules, despite manufacturer's claims, do not contain only pollen from plants that are pollinated by bees but also contain allergenic airborne pollens such as ragweed. For best results, never experiment with more than a single grain of bee pollen or a tiny amount of raw honey if you are trying this approach for the first time. Of course, for honey "vaccinations" to work, the raw honey or bee pollen must come from local hives and contain local pollens.

Allergies and Hay Fever

    The word "allergy" did not exist in Shakespeare's time or even a hundred years ago. It's a modern term for a modern illnessor, more accurately, an assortment of illnesses. Allergy is a catchall word for a variety of reactions made by the body when it detects something foreign. The offending substances may be foods, animal dander, house dust, pollens, mold, smoke, air pollution, medicines or chemicals. The ability of the immune system to identify individual substances and react to them is crucial, but overreaction creates uncomfortable symptoms such as sneezing, sinus congestion, itching or watery eyes, headaches, indigestion, skin rashes, hives and other symptoms.

     At any time of year, it can be hard to tell the difference between allergies and cold symptoms. Either can produce sneezes, a runny nose, nasal congestion, an itchy throat and irritated cough. If a "cold" lasts for several weeks, and if your symptoms seem more severe in certain locations (less intense outdoors in winter, for example, and worse in certain rooms or buildings), it's probably hay fever.

    According to allergy researchers, indoor or year-round allergies are almost always due to three sources of irritation: the droppings of microscopic dust mites that live in house dust, mold spores and animal dander. In many households, the causes may also include cockroach parts, rodent urine or the smoke from a wood-burning stove or fireplace. All of these irritants are associated with asthma as well. 
    The orthodox treatment of allergies includes the use of decongestants, antihistamines and steroid drugs. Some allergists specialize in desensitization shots, in which small quantities of allergenic substances are injected into the body over a period of time. Desensitization therapy for bee stings and other insect venoms is generally effective, according to Philip S. Norman in his 1980 overview of immunotherapy published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, while scientific studies on the effectiveness of desensitization to pollen, molds, house dust and animal danders are "generally inconclusive or lacking."
     The link between diet and allergies is important, and anyone hoping to relieve hay fever symptoms and allergic reactions to dust mites, pet dander and other common irritants will do well to explore food sensitivities.

Stop Smoking

      For many Americans, this is easier said than done. Smoking is a chemical addiction that those who don't smoke find incomprehensible. It takes more than will power, resolutions, good intentions, pleas from friends and relatives, public ordinances, medical problems and high cigarette prices to stop smoking.

     If you have a respiratory illness, smoking will make it worse. If you live with someone who does, secondhand smoke will do the same. People still argue about the links between smoking and heart disease or breast cancer, but the links between smoking and emphysema, asthma, lung cancer and other respiratory problems are well-documented. Chewing tobacco, which has gained in popularity in recent years, has its own adverse side effects, including cancers of the mouth and throat.
    Of all the approaches to quitting, and there are many, two of the most effective may be acupuncture and orthomolecular medicine. Acupuncture has an impressive record in treating all kinds of addictions, not just smoking, as does orthomolecular medicine, which treats illness with nutritional supplements.

      In the Winter 1993 issue of The Herb Quarterly, herbalist Elizabeth Phillips reviewed plants that help smokers quit. "These herbs will regulate a smoker's mood (no more irritability)," she wrote, "and the accompanying urge to overeat as nicotine intake stops, and they will cleanse the system of nicotine and the lungs of tar sediment. And they will do all that simply, easily and safely."

      The herbs in Phillips's program are the sedative herbs valerian root, chamomile and skullcap; licorice root and comfrey, which reduce the symptoms of drug withdrawal; black cohosh, burdock root and red clover for blood cleansing; slippery elm bark and fenugreek, which help remove mucus from the lungs; catnip, magnolia and peppermint, which aid the smoker in quitting; and echinacea to support the immune system. These herbs are alternated during the program so you use slightly different combinations every day.

       To brew each tea, bring 1/2 cup water to a boil in a small, pan (the recipes are for 4-ounce teacups), add the required amount of dry herbs, cover and let stand for 10 minutes. Strain and serve.

    Phillips advised starting the day with a 4-ounce cup of tea made with 1/2 teaspoon each of chamomile (or scullcap) and valerian root. At mid-morning, mix 1/2 teaspoon licorice root with 1/2 teaspoon comfrey leaf. At noon, brew 1/2 teaspoon black cohosh with 1/2 teaspoon burdock root or red clover. In the early afternoon, combine 1/2 teaspoon slippery elm bark with 1/2 teaspoon fenugreek. Discontinue this tea when you stop coughing up mucus. In the late afternoon, mix 1/2 teaspoon magnolia with 1/2 teaspoon peppermint or catnip. Just before dinner, brew a cup of echinacea tea using 1 teaspoon echinacea leaf. Sweeten any of these teas with honey or add a pinch of the herb stevia, a popular alternative to sugar. In addition, Phillips recommended taking 500 mg of vitamin C, a vitamin E capsule and one tablet of goldenseal root daily, although goldenseal, like untreated licorice root, is not recommended for those with heart disease.
     Since Phillips's article was published, comfrey has been removed from many health food stores because of its alleged toxicity (see page 65). I would not hesitate to take the small amount of comfrey called for here, but you should study the evidence and make your own decision. If you decide not to use comfrey, substitute burdock root or red clover.

    In addition to the herbs recommended above, here are three that can be real friends to anyone who is trying to quit smoking. The first is lobelia or Indian tobacco; the second is calamus root. Because both of these herbs come with FDA warnings, please read their descriptions carefully before using. The third helpful herb is oat grass or oatstraw, a tonic for the nerves.

    It is easy to become discouraged if you try to quit smoking and fail. But there are so many approaches to this project that if you really want to stop, you will find one that works.

Use Unrefined Salt

Americans are so used to hearing physicians' warnings against salt that Dr. Batmanghelidj's advice to increase salt consumption sounds strange. But he's right. While refined table salt causes serious problems, natural salt improves every body function.

All popular brands of table salt have been bleached, then treated with stabilizing agents and dehydrating chemicals. Whether coarse or finely ground, this salt is between 98 and 99 percent pure sodium chloride (NaCl), and it was dried at temperatures high enough to change its crystalline structure. Its structural changes, nutrient stripping and added chemicals make table salt difficult for the body to assimilate, contributing to electrolyte imbalances, trace mineral deficiencies, digestive problems, fluid retention and high blood pressure. The sodium content of nearly every processed food derives from refined salt.

Unfortunately, nearly all brands of sea salt have been refined. Most sea salt is 98 to 99 percent pure sodium chloride and, like table salt, it contains no trace minerals, only the residue of processing chemicals. Let appearance and flavor guide you. If a salt is bright white (unrefined rock salt or mined salt is beige in color, unrefined sea salt is gray), if it is iodized (iodine added), if its crystals are large like kosher salt prior to grinding, if it pours easily in humid conditions and if it has the sharp, familiar taste of table salt, it's best avoided.

Natural salt is of special interest to herbalists. Traditionally, herbal teas were served salted to enhance the healing properties of ''simples'' and blends. A pinch of unrefined salt added to a glass of water or pot of tea helps balance the body's electrolytes and provides trace minerals often lacking in the food we eat. For a more effective alternative to commercial sports beverages, add a pinch of unrefined sea salt to water and a splash of juice for flavor.

Remember Dr. Batmanghelidj's advice to hold a pinch of salt on the tongue after drinking water for relief from respiratory congestion and to increase salt consumption in general if you suffer from asthma or allergies.

Support Therapies for all Respiratory Conditions

Drink More Water

In his book, Your Body's Many Cries for Water, F. Batmanghelidj, M.D., explained that many symptoms of major and minor illnesses are caused not by disease but by dehydration. "You are not sick," he wrote, "you are thirsty!" Your Body's Many Cries for Water is widely recommended by medical doctors and health care professionals because it offers a simple, inexpensive, often dramatically effective cure for indigestion, intestinal problems, rheumatoid arthritis pain, stress, depression, high blood pressure, overweight, asthma, allergies and other disorders.

At the first sign of symptoms, drink an 8-ounce glass of water. After 15 to 20 minutes, drink another. Continue drinking plain water throughout the day and do so every day so that the body is properly hydrated. In adults, this may be a gallon of water daily. Tea, coffee, cola beverages, soft drinks and juices don't count; what matters is plain water. In addition, Dr. Batmanghelidj recommends a small amount of unrefined sea salt daily, especially in cases of asthma, which he believes is not a disease but rather a physiological adaptation of the body to dehydration and an insufficiency of salt. Salt is a natural decongestant. "A pinch of salt on the tongue after drinking water fools the brain into thinking a lot of salt has arrived in the body," he wrote. "It is then that the brain begins to relax the bronchioles. People with asthma should slightly increase their salt intake."

No discussion of water would be complete without a caution regarding American tap water, which has received much negative publicity in recent years. Concerns over water safety have made bottled spring water a growth industry along with home water filters and distillers. Whatever you can do to improve the quality of the water you drink will help improve your health.

Breastfeed Your Baby

       The evidence for this health benefit is overwhelming. Breastfeeding protects children from all kinds of respiratory infections, ear infections, allergies and asthma. Many pediatricians trace their patients' allergies and ear infections to exposure to cow's milk in infant formulas. If a breastfed baby experiences colic or allergic symptoms, it is often because the mother ate something that disagreed with her own physiology as well as her baby's. In fact, the mother's diet is the most important factor in breastfeeding. According to pediatrician Lendon Smith, an expert on nutrition and the author of several books on children's health, milk, soy, corn, wheat and eggs are frequent offenders, while a baby's colic can be caused by the mother eating garlic, onion, beans or cabbage. Dr. Smith recommends that nursing mothers avoid these foods.

       Saying that a nursing mother should avoid dairy products goes against everything we are taught by physicians and the dairy industry's ad campaigns, but stop and think. Do you really need milk to produce milk? Cows don't drink milk and neither do other milk-producing animals. Millions of women around the world drink no milk at all and nurse their babies successfully. Only in the U.S., Canada and parts of Europe do people assume that successful nursing requires a diet rich in dairy products.


       If the indirect consumption of dairy products creates problems for infants, their direct consumption creates more. Raw, unpasteurized, unhomogenized cow's milk is the ideal food for baby calves. Pasteurized, homogenized cow's milk is far from ideal for calves and even farther from ideal for human babies. According to Dr. Smith, cow's milk formulas such as SMA, Similac and Enfamil may precipitate colic, diarrhea, rashes, ear infections, asthma and other conditions in up to 50 percent of the infants who drink them.

Long-term nursing has been shown to provide the maximum lifelong health benefits, but nursing remains unfashionable in the U.S. and new mothers are often pressured to switch from breast to bottle.

Consider Nutritional Supplements

     Vitamins and minerals have been used to treat illnesses other than obvious nutritional deficiencies for over 70 years.

    Jonathan Wright, M.D., treated a child who suffered from chronic nasal congestion and who had been repeatedly admitted to hospital emergency rooms for wheezing. Antihistamine medication failed to improve his condition. Wright diagnosed the boy's problem as an inability to digest and absorb nutrients, and he prescribed vitamin B12 injections, digestive supplements, magnesium and other minerals. The patient's health improved quickly and he has had no further wheezing attacks.


     Not all of the dosages used in orthomolecular medicine are in the megavitamin category, but some are dramatic multiples of the standard daily recommendations. To reduce hay fever or asthma symptoms, a physician might recommend 5 to 20 grams of powdered ascorbic acid (vitamin C) to be taken in small doses with water over a 24-hour period. A mild cold may be prevented by taking 30 to 60 grams, influenza with 100 to 150 grams and viral pneumonia with dosages up to 200 grams in 24 hours. Considering that a 500 mg tablet (1/2 gram) is considered a high dose of vitamin C, these recommendations are unusual and they should not be taken without supervision. This treatment for the prevention of an acute infection lasts for several days or until all symptoms disappear. The dosage remains high until the body indicates its vitamin C saturation point by developing loose bowels, a signal to reduce the amount. Many orthomolecular physicians have found that taking vitamin C to bowel tolerance (the diarrhea point) effectively treats colds, flu, infections, allergies, burns, viral pneumonia and autoimmune disorders.


    In general, those with respiratory infections or illnesses benefit from the daily use of a well-balanced multiple vitamin and mineral supplement and additional trace minerals.

Avoid Sulfites and Other Additives

       People with asthma or allergies may find their symptoms alleviated by the simple strategy of avoiding chemical preservatives and artificial coloring. Sulfur dioxide, sodium bisulfite and sulfites are used to prevent dryness, stiffening and discoloration in dried fruits, frozen potatoes, shrimp, avocado dips, salads, vegetables, wine, beer and other foods.

     According to Michael Murray, N.D., and Joseph Pizzorno, N.D., in their Encyclopedia of Natural Medicine, a restaurant customer can easily ingest up to 100 mg of metabisulphite in a single meal. Asthma attacks can be triggered by exposure to sulfites, tartrazine (an orange food dye) and benzoates (preservatives), and at least four deaths caused by sulfites have been reported to the Food and Drug Administration. Always check labels for additives and, in general, try to avoid processed foods that contain chemicals.


      How can you tell if the food in a restaurant or supermarket has been treated with sulfites? If the management displays a sign claiming "no sulfites," it's probably true. In 1986, the FDA made the use of sulfites on fresh produce illegal, so salad bars are less a hazard than they used to be. Still, prepared foods may contain sulfites and it's best to be sure. The demand for a simple way of determining sulfite content inspired the development of sulfite test strips, which can be dipped into any food. The strips turn red, revealing the presence of sulfites, or green, showing that the food is sulfite-free.