Natural remedies for alleviating spring allergies

Spring is in full-force where we live in East Tennessee. There are a lot of great things about living in our little quirky town of Knoxville. Alergies is not one of them.

Our town repeatedly, in the fall and spring, gets rated number one allergy capital in the nation by the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America. And it’s that time of year again.

The last two weeks my children have had runny noses, itchy eyes, and coughs that wake them up at night – which adds more adventure to our nighttime parenting scene. My toddler as been affected the most lately. It seems the older two get better with age at coping. Mom and Dad have learned how to suffer through it too.

But seeing that May is Allergy Awareness Month, and today on Family Friendly Knoxville I wrote about how The Traditional Health Clinic and Salt Spa are offering relief and awareness for families with spring allergies, I thought I’d share some of the things our family does as well.

Here’s my list. Many of these items carry over to fall allergies and cold and flu season too.

• The neti pot. I was absoluty shocked last fall when my seven-year-old agreed to try using a neti pot to alleviate sinus congestion. I was even more surprised at her reaction which was, “That was awesome! Can I do it again.” My middle girl has tried the neti pot as well.
• My younger two prefer a saltwater nasal solution opposed to the neti pot. We use a SinuCleanse KidsMist.
• We put humidifiers in the girls rooms at night with a few drops of eucalyptus essential oil.
• I make echinacea bath salts using essential oil, a carrier oil, sea salt, epsom salt and dried milk. Whenever my girls are feeling ill they request this “special bath.”
• For coughs we give them honey diluted with a little hot water. With sometimes a little added squirt of lemon juice. There are store-bought brands available of this as well, like Chestal Cough syrup.
• For sneezing and runny noses I give Hyland’s c-plus cold tablets or  Hyland’s Allergy Relief for children. This is a good homeopathic brand and they offer a variety of cold and allergy products for children and adults.
• For respiratory issues Elderberry Syrup is good too. There are many brands available at heath food stores. Some people make their own. We use the one made by Herbs for Kids.
• Echinacea drops provide a good boost for immune support. Mine love to suck it straight of of the dropper in the bottle. There are no qualms about taking this one! Again, we use one by Herbs for Kids. They also make one called Nettles and Eyebright for allergy suffers.
• If I sense allergies are prone to spirl into sickness, everyone gets added doses of probiotics.
• If the kids have spent time outside that day (which they usually always do), we make sure they take a bath and wash their hair to remove pollen dander from entering their sheets. This is obviously good for adults as well. I believe changing sheets more frequently than usual helps during allergy season.
• Lastly, the biggest aid of all – I take my children, as well as myself, to The Salt Spa at The Traditional Health Clinic. They have lots of information on their website explaining the benefits of salt therapy and how it all works. Also, when The Salt Spa opened I wrote an article on it for the Knoxville News Sentinel. You can read that here. While there are less than 15 of salt spas across the country. They are becoming more popular. So maybe your town will be next!

We have had seasons where doctors have prescribed children’s Claritin and other prescription allergy relief for my family. When I was a child I had asthma. Now our family, on most occasions, goes without taking any allergy medicines other than the remedies listed above.

I know there are so many more ideas and methods out there for holistic care relating to allergies. This is just what our family does and I am by no way recommending these things for other families. I’m just sharing what we do.

Feel free to add to the conversation and leave a comment telling us more tips and ideas of ways your family seeks holistic relief. I’d love to hear from you.