Alastair Hay BSc (Hons) LCH RSHom | M: 07940 525495 | E: al@homeopathical.com
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Surviving Hay Fever

9/6/2014

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I understand hay fever to be an allergic response to pollen, centred especially in the eyes and nose, but can also affect the throat, chest, ears and skin. In general, we are likely to feel tired, as if fighting a cold, or even ‘flu.

Our immune system, or ‘defence’, is behaving as if attacked, by pollen. The response, our defence, is an inflammatory one, utilised to inactivate the ‘invader’, in this instance, pollen.

There are in essence, 3 ways in which this inappropriate allergic response can be managed.
  1. Reduce exposure to pollen
  2. Reduce immune response
  3. Balance the person's reaction to pollen

Reducing the exposure to pollen

Physical barriers such as sunglasses or indeed regular glasses will impede the physical exposure of your eyes to pollen. Larger glasses are obviously better for this, but functionality and fashion may clash here, use your discretion!

To reduce pollen exposure in your nose, you can coat the inside of your nostrils with Vaseline (white petroleum jelly) or an unscented vegetable-oil / beeswax based lip balm. This has the effect of catching pollen in the external part of your nostrils.

Pollen is most prevalent where there are flowering plants. As well as flowers, this can be tree blossom, grasses and reeds. You may have a reaction to all of the above, or more likely, some of them. Please see this chart from The Met Office that shows when the pollen is at its peak. - More information about The Pollen Count from The Met Office (where you find the chart below a lot bigger!)

My personal feeling is that the ‘pollen count’ can be misleading since it is thetotal pollen. You may still be experiencing significant symptoms in a low pollen count if the majority of that count contains the one you’re most allergic to. Nevertheless, the chart is useful.



The University of Worcester that is home to the National Pollen and Aerobiology Research Unit gives a more accurate breakdown of the airborne pollen.

Current Pollen Forecast - from University of Worcester

Some people report keeping doors and windows shut whilst indoors improves their symptoms. Most modern cars with air-conditioning also have a pollen filter. It’s important that this is clean and isn’t harbouring mould-spores since this may add to your symptoms! Paradoxically, I also know clients that will insist that going outdoors improves their symptoms, finding indoors ‘stuffy’.

As night draws in, pollen tends to drop and settle, so dusk can be a particularly prevalent hay fever time.

Pollen will adhere to your clothes, skin and hair. So, drying your clothes on a washing line at dusk, may not be ideal…

Pollen will actually irritate more when the pollen spores are broken. Blowing your nose hard, and rubbing your eyes will encourage the pollen spores to rupture, and will exacerbate your reaction to it. It is prudent to be gentle when dealing with your symptoms, despite how irritating hay fever can be.

Also bear in mind that air-borne pollutants, such as exhaust fumes, that may not normally irritate you, may now exacerbate your hay fever symptoms due to already sensitised mucus membranes from prior inflammation.

Reducing the immune response.

Anti-histamines, as the name suggests, reduce the release of histamine in your body. Histamine is released by our bodies as part of our defence mechanism and is associated with inflammation. Although it may be hard to comprehend, this is a protective response, but in the instance of hay fever, it is somewhat misaligned!

NHS overview of antihistamines

Antihistamines are nearly always the first line of conventional therapy for dealing with hay fever. They can be very effective when used in conjunction with some of the ‘pollen avoiding’ protocols, above.

Some people have such severe symptoms as to be prescribed steroid-based medications in addition to antihistamines. These aren’t the same sort of ‘steroids’ that a body-builder may abuse, but are a particular type of steroid called ‘corticosteroids’. These reduce the immune response in a more generalised manner than antihistamines, but will take a few days to reach their peak effect.

NHS - Hay Fever, your options

Sadly, homeopathy isn't listed as an NHS option in the link despite it being available on the NHS (at the point of writing this!) and their being evidence to support its efficacy, but that rant's for another blog...

Antihistamines and steroid-based medications don’t suit everyone. Anti-histamines, especially, the first generation ones such as Piriton (chlorphenamine maleate) are associated with drowsiness, more modern ones are less associated with this. Some people may report that they are drowsy whilst taking modern antihistamines too. This may indeed be their anithistamines, or perhaps even the hay fever itself is persisting in producing drowsiness.

You may find that as the years go by, your symptoms improve, may be having good and bad years. If your symptoms are increasing with every year, you may wish to either supplement your medications with other approaches (complementary) or seek a different (alternative) approach to managing your hay fever.

This may be your first year of hay fever and you would like to try an alternative to conventional medications as your first resort.

Some conventional medications for hay fever are not recommended if you are pregnant, or trying to conceive, and some may interact with other medications you may already be taking. Do consult with the person who’s prescribed your medications before taking additional ones, whether conventional, or otherwise. Furthermore, some medications, whether conventional or herbally derived are banned by The International Olympic Committee (IOC), so alternatives may need to be sought.

Comprehensive list of banned substances in sport from WADA

UK Anti-Doping website

Balance the person

Fundamentally, there’s two ways you can overcome symptoms, work against them with medications such as anti-histamines (and indeed anti-biotics, anti-hypertensives, anti-emetics, anti-convulsants and so on…) or strengthen the person.

On a basic level, if you suffer with hay fever, your immune system believes that pollen is attacking you! Pollen is a protein-based structure that in hay fever sufferers, actives an immune, or defence response. For some people, it’s dog hair or horse hair or dust or peanuts or mushrooms or latex… For most people, they’re likely to be allergic to more than one thing. So, do you suppress it, or balance it, or perhaps a bit of both?

The health-promoting programmes I feel may help include

1.                  Homeopathy
2.                  Herbalism
3.                  Acupuncture
4.                  NLP (Neuro-linguistic programming)
5.                  Nutrition including dietary programmes

Homeopathy is very much a person, rather than complaint-driven treatment – So, if you choose a homeopathic approach, the ‘individuality’ of your symptoms will play a major role. For instance, if you feel your hay fever symptoms are better outdoors, as discussed earlier, you are more likely to benefit from Pulsatilla than Allium cepa. There are some great books and websites that help you differentiate between homeopathic medicines to help you with your hay fever symptoms, however, to get the best from homeopathy you’d be wise to seek a homeopath. Homeopathy can work wonders if self-prescribed but some find that self-prescribed medications don’t work as well as those prescribed after a professional consultation. If you’re already taking medications, I’d pretty much insist on it!  Personally, I’d find it pretty difficult to self-prescribe with a streaming nose, red eyes and sneezing my head of…

Homeopathy is safe during pregnancy, fine with the IOC (International Olympic Committee), 
The Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) and WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency), safe for children (tastes nice too!) and non-drowsy.

I buy in my homeopathic medicines from either Helios Homeopathic Pharmacy or Ainsworths Homeopathic Pharmacy

Did you know that only a pharmacist is legally allowed to manufacture homeopathic medicines?

Herbalism – somewhat more ‘material’ and tangible compared to homeopathy and just as effective. Being more ‘material’ is has a greater ability to interact with other medications. Some herbs may be contraindicated in pregnancy, some herbs taste pretty grim and can be a palaver to prepare. That aside, there’s some great individual, and mixed blends of herbs, again, best focussed on your symptoms rather than just ‘hay fever’ in general. For instance, you may be ‘bunged up’ or ‘itchy’, or have a ‘runny nose’ or be ‘perpetually sneezing’. Your symptoms will, to a large extent, dictate what’s most appropriate for you to try. I’m a fan of ‘tinctures’. These are herbs that have been prepared in alcohol solutions. They are relatively easy to carry around and prepare, with a pretty good ‘shelf-life’ – not far off being an ‘instant’ herb tea. I nearly always get my herbal tinctures from Neal’s Yard Remedies. They have great reference books my particular favourites are:

Bartram's Encyclopedia of Herbal Medicine

David Hoffman's Holistic Herbal

Neal's Yard Remedies - Store Finder UK

I would also consider looking at Aromatherapy, in the sense that there are essential oils, plant-based distillates, that when diluted can be inhaled to relieve the symptoms of hay fever.

I know some great herbalists if you’d like to consult with one.

Acupuncture - Now, I don’t profess to know much about acupuncture, although I know a few acupuncturists! I do know hay fever sufferers that have been relieved with the help of acupuncture. They may also offer you Chinese herbs depending on their training. When considering an acupuncturist, and all other complementary therapists, for that matter, do check their qualifications and credentials.

NLP - yes, NLP! Neuro-linguistic programming. My first experience with NLP was when I was suffering rather badly with hay fever myself – rather embarrassing for a homeopath, I know, but I’m human too, luckily I’ve pretty much overcome it now (the hay fever, not the being human!) In my session, in a café in Covent Garden, my practitioner asked me to imagine someone walking out of the lift, covered in pollen and wafting it everywhere as they walked by… I sneezed. Amazing what the mind can do isn’t it? So, we then explored a pollen-free arena within the depths of my mind and I felt somewhat better. It helped for quite a while too.

Nutrition - Foods (and other potential allergens) that we may not normally have a reaction to, become apparent when we have hay fever. It’s like a threshold of tolerance has been broken. Foods that may not normally aggravate, but may during the hay fever season include wheat (including beer – boo!) dairy products (including milk chocolate – double boo!)

You may wish to experiment with avoiding these foods, or at least reducing them to see if your hay fever is affected. I feel this is best carried out under the supervision and direction of a nutritionist.

Depending on where you live, I can put you in touch with some good ones.

Supplements… There’s a myriad of supplements out there, some people find one thing beneficial, and someone else, another. I have personally found local honey and quercetin beneficial. This is not the case for everyone.

I use Cytoplan products since they manufacture their products in a manner that makes them ‘bio-available’ in a ‘food-state’ form and therefore nearer to nature, so your body absorbs most, if not all of the product. They are also very reasonably priced!

Conclusion


  1. Safe
  2. Effective
  3. Permanent
 
  1. Safe - It’s vital that what you choose to do regarding your hay fever management is safe. – The safest way of doing this is to seek the advice of a professional. If you’re already taking prescribed medication, and that includes the contraceptive pill, I would seek the advice of the professional that prescribed it. There is a mistaken belief that ‘natural’ = ‘safe’… but natural can certainly be effective…
  2. Effective – There’s no point spending a significant amount of money aiming to allay your symptoms only to find it doesn’t work. The hay fever solutions, especially when being used for its acute phase, whether conventional or otherwise need to lead to significant improvement quickly. What may work for your friend, or the lady in the newspaper, may not suit you. I would also encourage you to try and stick to one or two therapies at a time. More than that can create confusion both for your body, and your practitioners!
  3. Permanent – My feeling is that it’s important that what we do to deal with our symptoms makes a lasting difference. My belief is that using products such as antihistamines, although they have their place, and can precipitate rapid relief, do not address the deeper issue of why our immune system is over-reactive, with the potential that if we suppress our immune system long-term, its likely result are deeper symptoms and disorders.

I’d like to leave you with this…

I was having a chat with a friend of mine about his hay fever, it wasn’t a formal consultation as such, but it was very apparent that he was suffering. I explained to him my viewpoint of the over-active immune system and he pondered… and he pondered… and he pondered. He then said, or words to this effect… “That’s it, you’re right! …I over-react to everything. I come from a family of ‘over-reactors’, I don’t just sneeze, I ‘very’ sneeze. I don’t just get cross, I get ‘very’ cross. My immune system is just reflecting this isn’t it?!”

Now this guy is a salesman, not a fluffy hippee. He decided there and then, to stop over-reacting (ironic in some respects since that, in itself, seemed like an over-reaction!) and his hay fever stopped. Yes, stopped! It has never returned.

Amazing what the mind can do isn’t it?

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the myth-selling of herd immunity

23/10/2013

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This blog has been inspired by a recent Facebook post I read from a well-educated member of NHS staff citing 'herd immunity' and those now shunning the MMR vaccine as the reason she may now be susceptible if exposed to rubella virus that could affect her unborn child’s development.

‘Herd immunity’ is the protective effect that occurs when a population contracts and recovers naturally from an infection.




The phrase ‘herd immunity’ was originally coined in 1933 by epidemiological research from A W Hedrich (1). He studied measles patterns in the US between 1900 and 1931, before the introduction of a measles vaccine. His observation was that measles epidemics only occurred when >68% of children had developed natural immunity to it. This is based on the principle that people build their own immunity after suffering with, or being exposed to the disease. Therefore, if at least 68% of the population were allowed to build their own natural defence, there would be no epidemic, there would literally be ‘herd immunity’.

However, ‘herd immunity’ is a term that has been applied to vaccine-induced immunity without scientific basis.

Have you read that vaccination uptake needs to be 95% for it to be effective and protect the rest of the ‘herd’? Where does this information come from? I can’t find any scientific data that justifies or explains the extrapolation of 68% of a population being naturally immune to 95% of a population being vaccinated to produce ‘herd immunity’ within that population. It appears that Henrich’s data has been manipulated to suit a vaccination agenda.

When vaccines were first introduced, their proponents asserted that they provided a ‘life-long’ immunity in the same way as natural immunity. This was shown not to be the case, hence the introduction of ‘booster shots’ at intervals between 2 and 10 years. Furthermore, outbreaks still occur in groups where vaccination uptake is 100% even having had booster shots. (2, 3)

Herd immunity is based on an active disease and not based on mimicking the disease with a vaccination. A vaccine isn't nature, it's manufactured to challenge the immune system to produce antibodies to a pathogen. We cannot apply the same model of herd immunity in a natural disease to vaccination policy, yet we do... falsely.

and finally...

Whether I’m immune or not, does not determine whether I carry a virus (or a bacteria for that matter), so it’s nonsensical to deduce that a child vaccinated with pertussis (whooping cough) vaccine for instance, somehow stops carrying pertussis bacteria in their lungs simply because they have been vaccinated. Furthermore, it won’t prevent the vaccinated children from spreading the bacteria either. The vaccine is, however, designed to modulate the vaccinated individual’s response to the exposure of the bacteria. Vaccination rates for whooping cough have no impact on whether pertussis bacteria is in the air, or whether they breathe them in. Should you choose to vaccinate, there is no need to worry about unvaccinated individuals - a non-vaccinated child is no better at transmitting pertussis than a vaccinated one.

We have been led to believe that vaccination will stop you carrying a virus or bacteria... it won’t.

However, it's likely to modify your reaction to the bacteria or virus.

My Summary:


  • Unvaccinated individuals are no more disease vectors than vaccinated individuals.
  • Do not choose, or be coerced into vaccinating solely on the basis of herd immunity. 
References:

  1. Monthly estimates of the child population “susceptible” to measles, 1900–1931, Baltimore,Maryland. Am J Hyg 1933;17:613-636.
  2. Measles outbreak in a fully immunized secondary-school population.
  3. Failure to Reach the Goal of Measles Elimination - Apparent Paradox of Measles Infections in Immunized Persons.

Further reading:

           Evolution of Measles Elimination Strategies in the United States.

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Immunisation anomalies

19/8/2013

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Vaccination theory v Vaccination reality

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Some of you may already know that I’m of scientific stock and assess problems from an analytical point of view. It’s taken a while for me to incorporate my intuition and hunches into my practice and indeed my everyday life.

Vaccination theory and our immunisation programme are alleged to be based on sound scientific evidence. However, some of the theory and execution of the programme does appear to have gaping holes in it…


  • When a child is given a series of vaccination injections it is expected that the child will produce a mild fever as a sign of an appropriate response of their immune system. So, why is Calpol routinely recommended to be administered to reduce the expected response? Does it reduce the ‘favourable’ effect of the vaccination? Or worse still, does it increase the likelihood of an unfavourable outcome? As far as I understand, this has never been tested.
  • Although this isn’t an anomaly, I find it just rude… Vaccination comes from the word vaccinia, which is Latin for cow. This stems from Edward Jenner’s use of cowpox to deal with smallpox. But don’t you think that referring to mass immunisation of people as herd immunity is taking it a little too far? Furthermore, 'herd immunity' is not effective in a vaccinated population, only an unvaccinated community.
  • Smallpox is quite an interesting one actually… Have you heard anyone say “… well, vaccines have eradicated smallpox”? In England, free smallpox vaccines were introduced in 1840 and made compulsory in 1853. Between 1857 and 1859 there were 14,244 deaths from smallpox. After a population rise of 7%, the death rate rose by 40.8% to 20,059 between 1863 and 1865. In 1867, evaders of the vaccine were prosecuted, so very few were unvaccinated. After a population rise of 9%, the death rate rose by 123% to 44, 840 between 1870 and 1872. So, this evidence indicates that the smallpox vaccine increased the severity and incidence of smallpox when all other illness (that at the time had no vaccine) were on the decline.
  • Ever heard of scarlet fever? Ever seen any one with it? At the beginning of the 1900s, scarlet fever accounted for the most deaths amongst the childhood diseases, and yet this disease declined in the same manner as measles, whooping cough, tetanus, diphtheria and TB. Ever heard of a scarlet fever vaccine? There isn’t one. If one had been introduced, would we still be using it?
  • Tetanus is virtually unheard of in developed countries. It is estimated that 40% of the UK population doesn’t have an up-to-date vaccine of tetanus. In the building industry, where one may expect the incidence of tetanus to be higher due to nature of injuries sustained at work, there is no tetanus. Isn’t it plausible that we may actually have natural immunity that prevents such an illness from taking hold?
  • As a physiologist, I learned that about 80% of immune system is on the outside. Very crudely, we are a hollow tube from mouth to… the other end. Our lungs and skin are also ‘outside’ (in the sense that they directly touch the outside world). Our body keeps things out it doesn’t want and utilises the things it does want. So, when we are naturally dealing with immunological challenges, we first deal with it at this level… So why do we by-pass all this part of our immune system and inject? Does an unnatural exposure produce an unnatural response? Well, vaccines don’t produce an immunity in the same way as natural exposure to a disease.
  • Furthermore, just because you’re exposed to something, doesn’t mean you're going to develop symptoms from it. I’ve been exposed to people with TB and not ‘caught it’ (I’m not vaccinated against TB… My GP said it didn’t work). A particular person for whom I’ve been exposed to who had TB was also vaccinated against it! Whoa!
  • So, they had TB antibodies… and got TB. It is assumed that if you have antibodies to a disease you are protected against it. Here in the UK, measles vaccine, part of the MMR vaccine, is quoted as being 90% effective. This translates as 90% of the recipients will produce ‘necessary’ antibody levels. It's actually termed 'efficacy' rather than 'effectiveness'. There is no definition of immunity derived from a certain level of antibodies. 
  • …and finally… Since vaccines don’t produce a lifelong immunity, when will adults need their next MMR booster so they don’t get these illnesses as adults?

This article first appeared on my blog on 3rd September 2007 and has been reproduced following a discussion on Sunday 19th August at a party... Always on duty :)


Reference: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Comparing-Natural-Immunity-Vaccination-Trevor/dp/0955467802/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1354896587&sr=1-3
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