Put an end to hay fever symptoms with the right homeopathic remedy, says homeopath David Needleman
Springtime signals the start of hay fever season for many. And while you may be bombarded with adverts for antihistamines everywhere you look, if you’d rather sidestep side effects like drowsiness, dizziness, blurred vision, headaches, dry mouth and impaired thinking, consider homeopathy.
Here are my top 10 single remedies for hay fever. Check the symptoms described for each remedy to work out which one will be most effective for you.
Also known as the common onion, this remedy is useful if your symptoms include burning or smarting eyes, sensitivity to light, and watery discharge from the nose, which may also feel stuffy or itchy.
You might also notice a tickling sensation in the back of your throat and feel better in the open air. These are all symptoms you might experience when peeling an onion.
Choose Nat Mur if you experience violent sneezing alongside watery nasal discharge. You may also feel irritable and depressed.
Ars Alb is suitable if you’re experiencing burning sensations in the eyes, nose and throat (which may be made worse by asthma) along with watery nasal discharge. You may also suffer from restlessness, anxiety and exhaustion.
Similar to Ars Alb, Ars Lod works well for any symptoms featuring burning sensations. Consider this remedy if you have burning, watery eyes; sneezing; sore nostrils; and a sore, burning throat with a dry, irritating cough.
You may also have a sore philtrum (the groove between the nose and the upper lip).
Go for Gelsemium if you have heavy, swollen eyes, sneezing with a watery discharge, and a sore throat, like a lump in the throat. You may also feel apathetic or listless and experience giddiness or trembling.
Gelsemium is also useful for colds and flus that include aches and pains in the limbs or shoulders.
Euphrasia, or eyebright, is the right remedy for you if you have swollen, burning eyes with a thick discharge and feel better indoors. There’s often watery discharge from the nose and a phlegm-producing cough.
As well as taking the remedy orally, you can bathe the eyes with Euphrasia eye drops. Make your own by adding one drop of Euphrasia tincture to an eyebath full of boiled and cooled water. This remedy is useful for cleansing the eyes after you’ve been outside in a high-pollen environment. It’s also good for conjunctivitis.
This remedy, also called Kallium Iodatum, is appropriate if you have swollen, smarting, watery eyes along with sinus pain and sneezing with acrid discharge. You may also experience violent coughing, be worse in the morning and have a throat that feels raw. You’ll likely feel better in the open air.
Opt for Sabadilla if you have burning, watery eyes with red eyelids. You may also experience a feeling of chilliness and sneezing spasms with a runny nose and a sore throat, which improves with warm drinks.
This little-known remedy is useful for the first signs of hay fever—before full-blown symptoms have started. You may notice your eyes burn or are sensitive to light, the roof of your mouth itches, or you have an itchy nose and sneezing. You may also have pain in your ears extending into the mouth.
Like Arundo, this remedy is helpful for the early signs of hay fever, like burning eyes, sensitivity to light and itching in the back of the nose or throat. You may also have a dry, hacking cough and a sensation of a burnt tongue.
You may be able to use one of the single remedies above to tackle your hay fever symptoms. But don’t be afraid to combine remedies if you feel your symptoms aren’t covered by just one.
Many people are wary of multiple or combination remedies, but some circumstances can’t be addressed or resolved with a single remedy. In hay fever, there are often overlapping symptom pictures, so it’s sensible to mix and match remedies where appropriate.
Homeopathic pharmacies often stock combination remedies for hay fever (see below for some combination remedies that work well). These may contain early pollens (usually from trees), late pollens or “mixed pollens.”
Bear in mind that these pollens will differ depending on where you are in the world. For example, mixed pollens in the UK will differ from those in the US, and the pollens will also vary across the US.
Get advice from a homeopath or from your chosen homeopathic pharmacy to find the most suitable remedy for your symptoms.
Apart from the Narayani Mix 19 (see below), which is a combination of 6X potencies, I usually recommend 30C potencies for all the hay fever remedies mentioned here, including the combination remedies. Take at the first signs of hay fever symptoms and start with a loading dose of four to six doses spread over the first day.
Reduce the dose to three times a day as symptoms improve or as the pollen count declines. You can then take one dose a day for maintenance, increasing as needed.
As hay fever symptoms are an indication of a chronic, or constitutional, problem, it’s best to treat hay fever out of season, constitutionally. Constitutional homeopathic treatment takes into account every detail of your individual heath experience.
I’ve found that an individual constitutional remedy, taken at the right time, invariably works better than a routine remedy. So ideally consult with a homeopath—weeks before the hay fever season begins—to determine the most suitable remedy for you.
Failing that, you should still get significant relief from the remedies mentioned here.
The following are all good combination remedies for hay fever. Check whether your homeopathic pharmacy of choice has them in stock or whether they can make one of them for you.
AGE. Arsenicum Iodatum, Gelsemium and Euphrasia
Narayani Hayfever Mix 19 (6X). Allium Cepa, Nat Mur and Sabadilla
Itchy Hay Fever. Allium Cepa, Arundo, Wyethia and mixed pollens, a remedy I designed about 25 years ago
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