When your immune system sees ordinarily harmless things like pollen and mold as harmful invaders, things can get a bit crazy.
First, your immune system produces antibodies in response to the perceived threat. That process causes immune cells in your body to produce histamine, an inflammatory chemical that helps eliminate the invader.
Unfortunately, the “help” doesn’t feel that helpful!
The histamine is what causes all your pesky allergy symptoms. All that itching, swelling, nasal congestion, sneezing, and sore throat is an inflammatory overload of your mucous membranes! It’s also why you might take an antihistamine to help relieve those symptoms.
But Why ME?
At this point, you may be wondering, “But why me? My friend doesn’t have seasonal allergies!”
Right you are. Some people are indeed more susceptible than others. And if you are one of those lucky people (hmmm), our approach is always to try to prevent allergies if we can. That means we want to find and address the cause of the immune overreaction while we’re helping with the symptoms.
The Indoor Air Quality Connection
In addition to working on your digestive health and using one of our favourite allergy tools, IV Vitamin C, you might be surprised to know that your indoor air quality can also have a significant impact on seasonal allergy symptoms.
Not only can pollens and mold spores make their way indoors, but indoor pollutants can make matters worse–things like dust, pet dander, particulate matter, and chemicals.
- Regular cleaning with a HEPA filter vacuum
- Using a HEPA air filter, particularly in your sleeping space
- Using fragrance-free products. (Many fragrances contain volatile organic compounds, or VOCs. These chemicals are irritating to the mucous membranes in our respiratory systems, causing irritation or inflammation. That just adds fuel to the fire!)
If you want to go fragrance-free and help the planet, we love The Keep Refillery in Creemore, Meaford, and Toronto. They have unscented cleaning and personal care products, and you can refill your existing containers.
And if you really love scented things? Try adding essential oils to your unscented products. You may still be aggravated by essential oil scents, but generally, they are very well tolerated. Some, like lavender, eucalyptus, peppermint, and lemon, may even help!