Natural Remedies for Seasonal Allergies

Here in the Lowcountry, there are subtle signs of spring creeping in. The first daffodils have bloomed! Bees are a-buzzin’! Watch out for fire ants! At the clinic, we’re already treating stuffy sinuses and itchy eyes due to seasonally early pollen.

This transitional period between winter and spring is the ideal time to use acupuncture and herbal medicine to address your spring allergies. Both can decrease pain and inflammation, build the immune system (we refer to this as our “defensive Qi”), and regulate the body's histamine response to its various offenders. The sooner you start treatment, the easier your pollen season will be, ideally. Here are some tips that will help bolster your immune system in preparation for those spring blooms!

🌸 Get acupuncture (you knew this would be our top recommendation!). Acupuncture is very effective for regulating the immune system, decreasing inflammation, and boosting the lung qi in preparation for allergy season. And it’s backed by science- studies show acupuncture is effective in reducing allergy symptoms without side effects. Ideally, you start your acupuncture routing at least a month in advance of anticipated allergy season.

🌸 Try Chinese herbal medicine. There are a number of classic formulas that help to treat allergies and alleviate symptoms- ideally before they start! Ask your acupuncturist about which formula is best for you- and your kids!- as this is an individualized medicine.

🌸 Sip on nettle leaf tea. Nettles is a bright green plant containing compounds that act as antihistamines, making it effective for treating hay fever (check out this study!). The plant is also abundant in nutrients and antioxidants and great for reducing inflammation.

🌸 Have chrysanthemum (ju hua) on hand. This bright yellow herb enters the lung and liver meridian systems to clear heat, disperse wind, and clear the eyes and nose. Ju Hua is a great herb to use as a tea or eye compress when allergy symptoms like headaches and hot, dry itchy eyes hit.

🌸 Use essential oils. Our favorites for allergies include eucalyptus, tea tree, and peppermint. Niaouli MQV is also an excellent choice to decrease your histamine response. It’s most effective when used preventatively - that is, before you anticipate an allergy attack. All oils help clear phlegm and mucus, which can complicate our allergy symptoms and defenses.

🌸 Take your supplements! As always, discuss with your practitioner before starting any new supplement regimen. Our favorites for allergies is this anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, allergy relieving trio: vitamin C, and quercetin with bromelain (a flavonoid found in fruits and vegetables). We also recommend starting a probiotic at least one month prior to anticipated allergy season. A major portion of your immunity is regulated by the nerves in your gut, so good gut health is essential for a balanced immune response!

🌸 Start a gua sha routine. This scraping technique helps to release tension, clear heat, and stimulate the immune system to relieve allergy symptoms. Facial gua sha could be very helpful for sinus issues, as well. Gua sha techniques are specific but easy to learn and use at home- ask your acupuncturist to learn more.  A few minutes of gua sha goes a long way to make you feel better!

🌸 Enjoy local, raw honey! Eating local honey may provide some relief from seasonal allergies due to the small amounts of pollen in the honey. Honey is also soothing for the lungs and is an excellent remedy to stop a cough. Our favorite local honey is from Queen and Comb- available in our shop!

We hope you find success with some of these natural remedies! Please contact your acupuncturist to learn more about which tools and techniques are best for you, and how you can use them to relieve those sniffles and sneezes. We are accepting new patients! Call (843) 790-4295 to schedule, or book online.

Tips for Spring Wellness According to TCM

We are SO ready for spring! Enjoy this bit about the wood element and seasonal wellness according to TCM (traditional Chinese Medicine).

In Chinese Medicine theory, the Wood element aligns with springtime and corresponds to the Liver organ, which is responsible for the free flow of qi in the body. Themes of the season are growth, strength, courage, vision, and renewal.

As we transition into this new season, all of the same wood element energy that readies the plants to begin their transition is happening inside of you, too! The energy of wood wants to move outward and get things done.

Often times this transition comes with symptoms of allergies, headaches, and tight muscles. Additionally, if that wood energy cant express itself, the result can be “qi stagnation” and it feels like anger, irritability, depression, mood swings, poor sleep, migraines, pain, tension, worsening PMS, excessive sighing, indigestion, and skin flare ups.

Thankfully, the teachings and practices of Chinese Medicine can help ease the transition into Spring and keep that qi flowing!

Moving stuck energy can be as simple as taking a few deep breaths, using aromatherapy, going for a walk (soak in that vitamin D for an extra immune and mood boost!), or stretching (especially rib openers, hip stretches, and side twists). Or, clean out a closet! This is a really great time of the year to move your body, which helps move your qi!

Lavender, sandalwood, vetiver, rose, peppermint, chamomile, and all citrus essential oils move Qi and support the wood element. Similarly, lemon water and peppermint, matcha, or chamomile tea will help move stagnation in the liver meridian.

Eat more greens. Green is the color associated with the liver and springtime. Eat more young tender plants, including: fresh, leafy greens, sprouts, and immature cereal grasses. Leafy greens like kale, dandelion, collards, and mint are also great choices. This can improve the liver's overall function and aid in the movement of qi. Try to eat locally grown and in season as much as possible. Opt for some sour foods like pickled veggies- sour is the taste associated with unblocking the Liver.

The Liver loves movement, but this movement won’t feel great if we’re not getting enough sleep- an essential time for replenishment and for the liver to recover from the stresses of the day. The most important time of the night for the Liver to restore (when you should be in a deep sleep!) is 1am-3am.

Get acupuncture! Acupuncture helps improve the overall health of your liver as well as treating stress, allergies, immunity, pain, and more! We highly recommend seasonal tune-ups to help the body adapt to changes in the environment. Your acupuncturist may also be able to prescribe supportive herbal formulas for stress, allergies, skin issues, and other issues that arise this time of year!

Contact us to learn more or to book your seasonal wellness tune up! (843) 790-4295 or info@balancecharleston.com

A TCM Toolkit for Seasonal Allergies

Do you suffer from springtime allergies? From itchy eyes to asthma, Chinese Medicine and acupuncture can help! Acupuncture and herbal medicine can decrease pain and inflammation, bolster the immune system, and regulate the body's histamine response to its various offenders.

The shift into spring is a great time to start your holistic allergy regimen. One of the many strengths of Chinese Medicine is that it can be used as preventative medicine to stop allergies before they start. As always, you can contact your acupuncturist to learn which TCM tools and techniques are best for you, and how you can use them to relieve those sniffles and sneezes.

If you are a seasonal allergy sufferer, in addition to using acupuncture, you may find relief with these healing remedies we often use in our acupuncture practice:

Essential oil: Niaouli MQV

An oil extracted from the Melaleuca plant, Niaouli is related to Tea Tree and has an aroma similar to Eucalyptus. This is an excellent oil for treating Wind-Heat viral conditions (such as the common cold with a fever and sore throat) and is especially useful for allergies.  Niaouli decreases your histamine response and is most effective when used preventatively - that is, before you anticipate an allergy attack. Use a chest rub, steam inhale, or just hold a bottle up to your nose for a quick sniff during allergy season to help keep symptoms at bay.

Essential oil: Peppermint

Love, love, love peppermint! It’s a powerful oil to “open the portals”, clear congestion from the head and face, and disperse “wind-heat” symptoms. If your allergies present with red itchy eyes, an itchy nose with sneezing, foggy thinking, or sinus pressure and headaches (sinus infections, included)- this oil is for you! Additionally, peppermint enters the liver acupuncture meridian to unblock qi stagnation and help the body to release and relax. Peppermint is a very strong oil, so it should always be used mindfully and it is not appropriate for young children. If used topically, be sure to dilute the oil in a carrier like almond or jojoba oil. A few drops of peppermint can be used in a shower as a steam or in your essential oil diffuser.

Chinese Herbal formula: Bi Yan Pian 

Often used to treat sinusitis, rhinitis, and nasal allergies, this formula helps stop a runny nose and opens stuffy sinuses. The formula contains herbs that clear heat and reduce toxicity, so it is best for nasal allergies that present with inflammation, infection, yellow phlegm, and heat in the face. 

Chinese Herbal formula: Yu PIng Feng San  "Jade Windscreen" 

Yu Ping Feng San is a classical herbal formula that powerfully tonifies the Lung and Spleen Qi and resolves dampness. It also protects the exterior from "wind invasions", meaning things that we can catch: colds, flus, and viruses. This three-herb formula includes the adaptogen astragalus, and is taken preventatively to boost the immune system. Taken as an herbal tea or pill, Yu Ping Feng San is great for teachers and students who need to keep their immune systems strong, and for those who anticipate an allergy season coming up.

Single herb: Ju hua (chrysanthemum)

This bright yellow herb is used to clear heat, disperse wind, and clear the liver and eyes. The herb is cooling and enters the Lung channel, which opens into the nose, and Liver channel, which goes to the head and opens into the eyes. "Wind" refers to sensations (like pain or itchiness) or maladies of the body that appear quickly and are constantly changing. Allergies can come on suddenly and may present with sneezing, headaches, and dry, itchy eyes. Ju Hua is a great herb to use as a tea when allergy symptoms hit. Make a compress from the tea and put over the eyes when they feel hot, dry and itchy.


Acupressure point: Large Intestine-4 (LI-4)

Located in the meaty muscle between the thumb and index finger, this point is used to treat all symptoms of the head and face. A popular acupressure point for headaches, this point is used to help alleviate red, itchy eyes, fevers, heat in the face, sinus troubles, toothache, and jaw pain. In combination with other points, LI-4 boosts the body's defensive Qi and strengthens the immune system, regulates sweating, and moves qi and blood stagnation to stop pain.  

TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) Tool: Gua Sha spoon

Gua means "to scrape or rub" and "sha" are the markings that can appear on the skin during the scraping. We use a porcelain soup spoon to perform the gua sha technique. The spoon rubs over acupuncture points and muscular areas to improve blood flow to an area, release tension, and stimulate the immune system to relieve allergy and cold symptoms. Gua sha techniques are specific but easy to learn and use at home- ask your acupuncturist to learn more. A few minutes of gua sha goes a long way to make you feel better!

Spring Wellness + the Wood Element

Ahh, Spring- an expression of life at its strongest, and time for our energy reserves harnessed in the winter to be put into action.

The wood energy of the season wants to rise up, push through, and get things done. It’s active and energetic, and supports vision, creativity, and leadership. This is the time of year we would work on any blockages so we can have access to all that great energy. After all, the themes of the season are growth, rebirth, and renewal.

But what happens when this energy that allows for movement and progress- both internally and externally- is thwarted or constrained?

With the COVID-19 pandemic and stay-home, stay-safe orders, we are living in uniquely challenging times right now. And most likely, many of us are experiencing an imbalance in the wood element because that rising energy can’t express itself the right way.

The result is QI STAGNATION and it feels like anger and irritability, depression, mood swings, migraines, pain, tension and tightness (especially in the neck, shoulders, and sides of the body), PMS and worsening cramps, excessive sighing, and indigestion. For the creative types- you may be experiencing “writer’s block” or lack of direction/ vision/ focus.

In Chinese Medicine theory, the wood element belongs to the spring season and its related meridian system pair is the Liver and Gall Bladder. Together, these organs are responsible for the smooth flow of qi and blood in the body and regulates emotions. They are our “first responder” channels to the stresses in our lives. The wood element teaches us about flexibility and adaptability.

The teachings and practices of Chinese Medicine can support the body, mind and spirit in the midst of change. Now is the time to focus on balancing the wood element and the Liver/Gall Bladder organ system in order to help our body respond in a healthy way to stress and change.

Here are some easy self-care tips to practice at home:

GET MOVING. Moving that stuck energy can be as simple as taking a few deep breaths (Liver and Gall Bladder energy can get stuck at the diaphragm), going for a walk (the type of exercise associated with the wood element), or stretching (the tendons and sinews are ruled by the Liver and Gall Bladder meridian systems).

Pay particular attention to the sides of your body, the IT band, the ribs, your jaw, your hips, your shoulders… areas where the Liver and Gall Bladder channel run. If these areas are feeling particularly tight, focus your breaths and release work to those stuck spaces. Triangle pose, side stretches, psoas releases, and gentle twists are good options. 

USE ESSENTIAL OILS. Lavender, peppermint, chamomile, lemon, and bergamot essential oils move Qi in the liver and gall bladder channels. Wood oils like sandalwood and vetiver are especially nourishing and grounding. Use in a diffuser, apply topically (be sure to dilute your oils if using on the skin), apply a drop under your nose, or steam in the shower.

FOCUS ON FOOD THERAPY. Similarly, lemon water and peppermint or chamomile tea will help move stagnation in the Liver/Gall Bladder channels. The wood element likes sour food (like kimchi and yogurt) as well as light meals with lots of greens (the color of the wood element). Bitter greens (dandelion, nettles, and arugula ) are particularly cleansing for the liver and gallbladder and promote better digestion. These food choices compliment the ascending, regenerative qualities of spring and keep the liver and gall bladder clear and healthy.

Note: Too many rich, heavy, greasy foods congest this organ pair and impair their ability to effectively circulate qi and blood. This congestion is referred to as “damp-heat accumulation” (think: gallstones, high cholesterol, plaque in the arteries, or inflammation). 

GET YOUR ZZZ’s. The wood element loves movement, but this movement won’t feel great if we’re not getting enough sleep. Sleep is an essential time for replenishment and for the liver to recover from the stresses of the day.

LEARN ACUPRESSURE. Using acupressure is a great way to get qi moving and support your general wellbeing. A powerful combination to move qi everywhere in the body is known as “The 4 Gates” and uses acupuncture points Large Intestine 4 (LI-4) and Liver 3 (Lr-3). Note: do not use this combination during pregnancy.

• LI-4: located between the thumb and pointer finger, LI-4 is THE point to treat colds and flu, and boosts the body’s defenses against recurrence. It’s a powerful anti-inflammatory point, relieves pain (especially in the head and face), and has a calming/analgesic effect.

• LR-3: located between the big toe and second toe, Lr-3 an essential point to move Qi and keep energy flowing, especially during stressful times. This point releases both physical and emotion tension to reduce stress, anger, and depression, blood pressure, pain, and menstrual cramps.

(related article: “7 Acupressure Points for Stress Relief” and “5 Acupressure Points for Immune Support”).

TRY HERBAL MEDICINE. You can also try Chinese herbal medicine! A favorite formula for moving qi, relaxing the Liver, and nourishing blood is Xiao Yao Wan, “Free and Easy Wanderer”. Contact your acupuncturist to see if this formula is right for you!