What your doctor is not telling you about hay fever

It’s end of may now, and with the warmer weather finally here the trees are in full foliage giving many of you annoying hay fever symptoms. Does hay fever affect you every year, and have you suffered for a long time? You may think that with hay fever medications you’re managing your hay fever well, but here’s a warning: taking antihistamines is simply masking your symptoms temporarily, not healing the body. And while your hay fever stays with you over a long time it may give you an increased risk of developing asthma, food intolerances and allergies later in life. Here’s why.

What is hay fever? Hay fever was first documented in 1819 by John Bostock who presented a case of “periodical affection in the eyes and chest” to the Medical and Chirurgical Society. Since then it is estimated that hay fever affects over 40% of the world population.
Hay fever is your immune system’s over-reaction to common things found in nature - pollen. The reactions are seasonal for hay fever sufferers: some people react more to tree pollen, such as alder trees, hazel, poplar and willow - making your symptoms come up between March and May. Others find it difficult to tolerate new grass, which is between May and July. I’ve been told by many that their hay fever coincides with the Wimbledon season (start of July in the UK). As well as grasses, other trees are pollinating - birch, oak, pine, dock - your hay fever may be reactive in July & August. There is also what is called perennial hay fever - this is an immune reaction to dust mites, animal dander and mould spores.

Hay fever symptoms vary a lot in individuals: from mild congested nose to fully running non-stop rhinitis; dry, red and teary eyes; more mucus in the nose and throat; either chesty or dry cough, sore throat with postnasal drip; headaches, tiredness, extreme morning fatigue. Hay fever symptoms might make your life truly miserable.

While hay fever symptoms are different for everyone, the immune reaction is the same: your IgE type antibodies are produced in reaction to the trigger - pollen. The IgE attach themselves to mast cells, a type of immune cell. Mast cells are spread through the whole body, when mast cells are activated they release histamine and inflammatory cytokines. While many of us think of histamine as a foe for the body, something of a bother, in fact it is our ‘friend’, because it is a signalling molecule, something that helps the body stay on guard for parasites and invaders, preventing us from getting seriously ill or die. As a signalling molecule histamine sends messages between immune cells. It instructs the stomach cells to make more stomach acid. It helps the brain to stay awake. When histamine is produced in excess, you get those abominable hay fever symptoms.

As I mentioned above, hay fever is your body’s OVER-reaction. Your immune system has gone ‘off-track’. In order to understand this, you need to know how your body generates immune responses. 70 to 80% of all immune system is produced in your gut. The intestinal lining where you absorb nutrients from is a delicate one-cell layer. There are several things that happen here that make this delicate structure be involved in your immunity.

First of all, there is a system called the GALT - gut-associated lymphoid tissue. The GALT underlies the single-cell intestinal lining and consists of about 100-150 lymph nodes, not dissimilar to the ones you know well - in your throat, behind your ears, etc. Alongside the GALT, there’s the MALT - mucosal-associated lymphoid tissue, which encompasses the nose, bronchia, eyes, breast and vulvovaginal areas in women. The MALT initiates immune responses to specific antigens that the body encounters along all surfaces that are comprised of soft tissue. Together the GALT and the MALT generate about 80% of your immunity and protect you against pathogens and harmful substances coming into the body. If your intestinal lining is ‘bombarded’ by poor diet, medications and substances such as alcohol, for example, these structures get compromised. As a result bacteria, harmful food substances and food byproducts, viruses and other inappropriate molecules can get into your bloodstream.

Secondly, gut bacteria that inhabit your gut are also involved in producing your immune responses. If your gut has enough probiotic, beneficial bacteria present then they are able to produce anti-inflammatory molecules and protect you, if that balance is off and there are more disease-causing bacteria, your gut is on a constant red light alert. Your immune responses are off.

You’ve gone to your doctor and got yourself some antihistamines - Piriton, Cetirizine, Fexofenadine, Loratadine. And you’re thinking, “I’m sorted for now, these meds will ride my hay fever over”. What your doctor is not telling you about your hay fever is that when your immune system response has gone off track once, it will continue to do so later on and together with hay fever, you will most likely have several food intolerances, eczema and potentially asthma. Research shows that those kids that have hay fever at the age of 6 and 7 have more severe asthma outcomes later in adolescent and adult life.
As hay fever and asthma conditions often coincide, it is important to get to the root cause and restore a good functioning immune system.

Working to restore your gut health is not hard, but it requires a bit of time to get rid of offending foods and enrich the diet with the foods that will support the health of your microbiome. Don’t wait until your immune system has given you more problems, work on your gut health now.

I have created a self-help resource, my Hay fever - Diet eBook. This is a guide for you to know which foods are best to avoid during the hay fever season, as they will produce more histamine in your body and will make your symptoms worse. The book also includes a full list of foods that are best to be added to your diet right now, as they are anti-inflammatory and will calm down inflammation in your body and reduce your suffering from hay fever. The guide has a complete 7-day meal plan, with breakfasts and lunches, and dinners based on low-histamine and anti-inflammatory foods. There’s also a bonus feature, 2 of my favourite relaxation techniques to practise daily to help you reduce stress, as chronic stress increases inflammation and hinders your healing. Get the book here: https://boostmyenergy.co.uk/help-yourself

I hope with my guide your hay fever will be a thing of the past. For now I will leave you with one of my favourite immune boosting drink recipes: a fresh ginger root tea (grate about 2cm of ginger root, pour boiling water over). To this I add a couple of leaves of mint. This is calming for the gut, amazing for dry throat and coughing and fab for lowering histamine response in your body.

Stay healthy, be joyful!
Love,
Katya