Any suggestions for treating "cedar fever"?

[mcgee]

I have a bad case of cedar fever - thanks cedar pollen! The past few winters we've been here in Texas, it hasn't been this bad, but I realized that in years past we traveled to other parts of the country in December, January and February and spent more time indoors. This year we stayed home, and I've been outside a lot more. I'm absolutely miserable! I saw the doctor last week, and her response was "It's probably a sinus infection. I'll write you a prescription."

At this point, it may be a sinus infection, but it's definitely an allergy issue as well. I'm taking the antibiotic and Allegra daily. I'm using a neti pot multiple times a day, and half the time, I am so congested that the saline solution can't even drain out of the other side of my nose. I've tried saline nasal sprays and Afrin, but that doesn't seem to help much either. I can't wear my contact lenses any more either because of red, itchy watery eyes. I can't sleep because of congestion in my sinuses, my runny nose and my plugged ears. Every couple of days, I break down and take some benedryl because I know it will temporarily dry out my sinuses and put me to sleep.

Does anyone have any suggestions for treating cedar fever? Anything herbal? Any vitamins or supplements you can recommend?

[tanyalynn]

Oh, I feel for you, the cedar here is totally insane.  I swear, just before Christmas, I'd be shopping and it looked like every third person in the store had just broken up with their boy/girlfriend and run over their dog all in the same week.

My allergies are much reduced from a few years ago, but I maybe had to make more changes than average.  My allergies get better or worse based on how my methylation is doing (slow methylation, more histamine), so maybe something simple like more folate and B12 may help--that helps me now, not enough a few years ago.

Thorne multivits, the Basic Nutrients formulations, have real folate, and you may want to consider a sublingual methyl B12. 

You may also consider food intolerances--it's the bucket theory, the rest of the year you feel fine because your body can cope, but adding in the mountains of cedar pollen, it's just too much for your body to handle and you get symptoms.  Eliminating common stuff like gluten and dairy may help, though it would probably take a couple months to see an impact, and that's getting near the end of the season (but if you're sensitive to something, it'll affect other areas too).

A friend of mine, healthier than me, found a homeopathic combo remedy somewhere in Austin (where I lived then), maybe at People's Pharmacy? that was specific for Central TX, and it helped her.  Maybe it was at Whole Foods too. 

And I've read that capsules of stinging nettle, taken 4x/day, help.  I think I wasn't consistent enough to see if that would've helped me. 

[mcgee]

Thanks for the suggestions! I'll stop by People's Pharmacy today.

[rhesp1212]

I typed a relpy earlier today and it has somehow disappeared! I'm in TX also and have horrible allergies to cedar and every other kind of pollen (Juniper is also very high right now). I take a combination of Nettles and Quercetin and it works miracles on me!!! Seriously, I have taken almost every kind of allergy med there is out there, and this worked as well if not better than any of them without the side effects!! :) I bought mine at whole foods, but most health food stores that carry herbs usually have a wide selection of herbal allergy meds. Some of them also contain bromeline. I would highly highly recommend giving it a try!!

[bandyr]

We're in OK and had been suffering with Cedar/Juniper pollen as well.  I did find something that seems to have helped us immensely!  It's called Cedar-X - learned about it somewhere online and bought some from a place in San Antonio, I think.  We did start chiropractic care with acupuncture about the same time, so I've been wondering if both are helping simultaneously.  But the Cedar-X was started first.  I've actually been forgetting to use it daily because our symptoms are so much better!  Hope you find something that helps.  Cedar kept us sick all winter long last year :(