Allergies
Sneezing
Itchy eyes
Dripping Nose ... like a hose!
Yuck! It's ALLERGY season and you're down for a few months! Life gets rough. Energy is shot. Foggy brain syndrome sets in. Productivity is non-existent and life seems to just go on hold until the season moves on.
We live up in the high desert region of Central Oregon ... right in the middle of one of the largest juniper groves on the planet. They say that if you've lived here for 7 years, you're bound to develop an allergy to junipers. Juniper pollen is gnarly. If looked at under a microscope, its like a basketball with hooks all over it. The pollen gets into the nasal passages and just sticks like glue until the body gets overloaded and reacts.
A few years after we were married, Dwight developed juniper allergies. He was healthy as a horse, thanks to his discovery of NeoLife, but he worked all spring clearing juniper trees ... and his system got overloaded.
Trouble is, once the body chooses to see the pollen as an allergen (and not just pollen), then it shoves itself into high gear to try to get rid of the pollen. More histamine is released. The nose runs, the eyes water, itch and burn. The body's own immune system goes into overdrive to get rid of this "allergen" which once didn't even bother it. In a way, it's like an auto-immune response.
Searching for an answer
For years, we tried various remedies to cope or try to rid the body of the problem. Here are some of the common treatments for allergies:
DRUGS:
Stopping the immune response, by trying to inhibit histamine production is a common medical intervention. Over the counter drugs such as Benadryl or Claritin worked temporarily, but left Dwight feeling loopy and out of control. Mainly, it locked up his sinuses so they didn't drip anymore, but game him a sinus headache. And, one can only attempt such a treatment for so long before the drug starts to lose its effect. The body has a way of not responding after a time. And the cost was high as well!
NATURAL OPTIONS:
We moved onto natural remedies like homeopathics, tinctures, and syrums. Dwight' parent's even took some Juniper branches laden with pollen down to California to a naturapath, and a tincture was made. But all of the options only caused a minimal temporary reduction in Dwight's symptoms. He worked outside, and therefore was exposed quite a bit.
SUPPRESS THE IMMUNE SYSTEM:
When Dwight found out that the immune system was "over-responding", he got the idea of trying to suppress the immune system (bad idea!). Of course, he was desperate.
ALTERNATIVE METHODS:
We started going to a doctor up in Washington (driving 6 hours one way with a van-load of kids) to attempt to "switch" on the switches that were unresponsive. There did seem to be a slight response temporarily, but we had to keep going back week after week to get reset. By the 4th visit, our pocketbook and the results didn't measure up.
Dwight looked into Acupuncture and had a few appointments as well.
It just gets worse
By this time, I (Marilee) had also started to suffer when I went outside. And 2 of our children showed symptoms as well, occasionally coming in from playing with red, itchy eyes and runny noses.It was a 3 month ordeal that basically stole an entire QUARTER of our year! And, one of the best parts of the year, too ... when you're wanting to spring clean, dive into projects, start the garden, clean up the yard, etc. Instead, we entered fog zone and chose to hibernate indoors as much as possible near our tissue boxes.
After all the failed solutions, we just decided to try and be gone during the allergy season, as there really was no other solution. We scheduled our goats to kid in May, and we took off for March or April. This was a viable option, when there was extra money, but occasionally we were forced to just stay home and endure.
A Miracle Happened
Last spring was one of those years. The finances were tight, and the projects loomed ... so stay we did. But, we did a few things differently ... and miraculously WE HAD NO ALLERGIES!!!What did we do?? Click below to find out: