My Go-To Allergy Remedies

If you know me in person, you know I live off allergy medicine. I often wonder what it’s like to wake up and be able to breathe regularly without the help of nasal sprays and allergy medications. My mother suffers from terrible allergies so it was only natural that I would inherit the same inability to breathe in nature or around animals.

I’ve been on allergy medicine daily since I was 3 years old. Back in those days, I also had bad asthma that required me to be hooked up to an at-home breathing machine for a few years until I thankfully grew out of it. However, my allergies to animals and the outside world have continued.

If you suffer from any sort of allergies, you understand the misery. It’s like being sick constantly without the actual excuse of being sick. Endless environmental changes affect it, when it rains, when pollen is high, when the weather shifts from cold to hot or hot to cold, you name it. And there’s no way to 100% avoid an outbreak from occurring.

I’m writing this as I suffer from an allergy attack that started yesterday. It’s been raining here and the weather is slowly getting warmer by the day. Thanks to Spring approaching, my throat burns and I can’t breathe through my nose. So this brings me to my go-to remedies for allergy attacks.

Sore Throat: Ginger Cayenne Shots

just got a juicer for my birthday so this time around I’ve been able to make my own ginger shots with cayenne at home. Before, I’d stock up on 4-5 at a time to take throughout the day(s) from a local juice bar. Ginger is known to help illness, it’s often in tea that you would drink when you have a cold. When I first heard to drink ginger with spicy af cayenne pepper, I was like, “Um, no thanks! My throat already burns!” But let me tell you, it helps! (If you’re unable to down cayenne, at least gargle with it like you would hot salt water!)

Nasal Congestion: Eucalyptus Oil

This also helps if you can’t stop sneezing: wet a washcloth with warm water and sprinkle a few drops of Eucalyptus oil. Fold it over so the oil is on the inside (you don’t want to get this in your eyes!) and hold it up your nose, breathe slowly. This helps open up your sinuses and relaxes the inflammation that’s causing your congestion. It’s also just really relaxing! It isn’t recommended to blow your nose a ton when you’re congested because it causes more inflammation which keeps the cycle going of not being able to breathe through your nose. If you can refrain from it, do. Also make sure to keep your nose moisturized to avoid that awful post-allergy raw skin feeling.

Head/Sinus Pressure / Headache: Acupressure

I get headaches almost daily so when ibuprofen doesn’t do its job, using pressure points on your head are a great alternative. It’s even better if you have someone who can help you – thanks, husband!

First one I use to relieve sinus pressure is by pressing on both sides of the nose where the cheek meets it for as long as you can. I’ve found the longer you can go (3 – 5 minutes) the more relief you’ll feel. If there’s more of a headache, I press at the top of the nose kinda between your eyes and nose.

You can look up online what all the pressure points are if you’re still in need of relief.

Sleep…Forever

Or at least until you can fully breathe again, ha! Seriously though, when I get lucky enough to have an allergy attack on a day I don’t have to leave the house, I take full advantage of it.

I hope these suggestions help get you through allergies whether it’s seasonal, animals, outdoors, or life.