Herbal Health

Homeopathy can be a powerful and effective treatment for allergies and sensitivity. It is best to go to a practitioner for treatment if you can, rather than to treat yourself with over-the-counter remedies. People sensitive to one substance or a small number often respond rapidly and extremely well to a short course of treatment. If you have more complicated problems, or are extremely sensitive, it is particularly important to go to a qualified practitioner experienced in the field of allergy and sensitivity. Homeopathy can have quite a powerful impact if you have multiple sensitivity, and you can be made more unwell before you get better. An experienced practitioner will understand this hypersensitivity and will take care accordingly.

Homeopathy works on the principle of treating like with like. Specific symptoms are seen as the manifestation of the body’s own natural striving to rid itself of disorders – be they infections, viruses, genetic disorders, emotional stress or whatever. The remedies which are given are based on substances which, in a healthy person, replicate the ill person’s symptoms – as if the remedy is giving a nudge to the healing system of the body, helping it to throw off and shed the stresses upon it.

Remedies are chosen either for specific symptoms or as a constitutional remedy which fits the person’s temperament, constitution and nature. The constitutional remedy works at a much deeper level, often more slowly, sometimes clearing symptoms and unresolved ill-health which has been with the individual for a long time.

If you consult a homeopath, he or she may give you a specific remedy for your pressing symptoms, and/or a constitutional remedy. The substances on which the remedies are based are natural or mineral substances, such as plants or naturally occuring chemicals. They are given at minute, almost unidentifiable dilutions. Scientific tests have shown that traces of the dilutions can be detected as electrical charges, but not by chemicarmeans.

You can become worse when you first take a remedy, as the body clears old symptoms, especially if you take a constitutional remedy. But improvement can come rapidly – most people can expect benefits within months, although if you have many problems, it can take longer.

Homeopathic treatment for pollen allergy can be very effective. This is done either with a remedy based on a pollen mixture, or on a remedy to relieve specific symptoms. Therapy is most effective if started in advance of the pollen season.

If you are extremely sensitive to foods or chemicals, you may need to take care in how you take a remedy. Most are tableted with lactose or sugar. You can have remedies dispensed in distilled water and this may be a better way to take them. Distilled water remedies are also better for giving to children or babies – they can be given as drops under the tongue.

If you are very sensitive, you may also react to the remedy itself, even if it is the right one for you. Try it at different dilutions to find a dilution which does not upset you. This should then work well.

preservatives and do not suit the very sensitive. Tinctures are usually based on purified water and are often well tolerated.8

*425\117\8*

Anti-histamine drugs work by blocking the action of histamine, a chemical released from cells during an allergic reaction and responsible for most of the unpleasant symptoms. They can be very effective against true allergic reactions – particularly so against itchiness, hay fever and rhinitis – but not against food intolerance or chemical sensitivity. They are relatively simple drugs, with few side effects and are not addictive. They can be bought ‘over the counter’ but are best taken with medical advice.

Earlier types of antihistamine, such as Piriton, cause drowsiness as a side effect and cannot be combined with alcohol. Other more modern drugs, such as Triludan, do not cause drowsiness.

Some people find that the effectiveness of anti-histamines wears off after a while. There are six separate classes of anti-histamine from different chemical groups and it can often work to try a drug from another class if one drug has ceased to be effective. A drug that has lost its effectiveness often regains it if you take another one for a while and then return to it.

Anti-histamines can be taken in tablets or syrups. Syrups are available without colouring and with the minimum of sugars for highly sensitive children (or indeed adults). Anti-histamines are also available as creams to apply to the skin, but you can become sensitive to preservatives and other substances in the cream, and their use is best kept to the absolute essential.

The anti-histamine drugs which have a sedative effect can be very useful if you have a child who is distressed by itchy skin or hives at night, in helping them to sleep through the discomfort.

*410\117\8*

Water companies are investigating alternatives to disinfection by chlorine, such as using ozone. In addition, a number of them are installing filtration processes, especially activated carbon filters, in order to remove chemical contaminants. You can find out from your local water company what processes they are actually using. They will also be able to tell you if your water comes from a groundwater source.

Water companies are also legally obliged to supply you, free of charge, with a drinking water quality report – an analysis of substances your water contains. These analyses are not complete, however. They only check for a limited range of chemicals. Ask for this, together with a list of the maximum permitted levels of substances under the Water Supply (Water Quality) Regulation, if you want to know something of what is in your water and whether the levels of selected chemicals are high or low.

Bottled Water

Some people who are sensitive to tapwater use bottled water as an alternative, but bottled waters are not always free of problems. Bottled waters are drawn from groundwater sources – springs or boreholes -and some of these can be polluted with chemicals from the environment. If you are exceptionally sensitive, these will trouble you. Some bottled waters are consistently better tolerated than others.

Bottled waters have a higher bacteria count than tapwater which has been disinfected. If you use them for babies, or for children or adults vulnerable to infection, you should boil them for five minutes before using, and keep refrigerated once boiled and cooled.

Mineral waters have high alkali salt contents. If you are on a low-sodium diet, you should take medical advice before using them. Spring waters do not generally have high salt levels.

*395\117\8*

It is extremely rare to react to another person’s semen, mucus, saliva or skin but it does happen. Only consider these as possible causes if you have eliminated others as above already.

If you think you are sensitive to your partner’s semen or mucus, use a condom for sexual intercourse to protect against direct contact. Use Durex Allergy condoms as above if you are sensitive to latex and spermicide. To be extra careful, do not touch sexual organs with hands, and wash hands, body and face thoroughly after intercourse. See if things improve.

It is very rare to be sensitive to someone else’s saliva or skin. If you think you are, make sure your partner has been absolutely scrupulous about using no toiletries, cosmetics, perfumes, etc., on skin, and that you both are using low hazard laundry agents. Use no toothpaste, mouthwash, home medicine or anything else that might pass from the mouth. Check whether you react to tapwater.

If you do react to skin, the parts that are most commonly affected are the mouth, face, neck and upper body. Bathe these parts (or others if they require it) in either a solution of alkali salts, or in Cream of Magnesia before and after sexual contact. Bathe your partner as well to help protect you.

One last thing that you can try to help you tolerate a partner’s semen, mucus, saliva, or skin, is for her or him to avoid foods to which you react. If you are very highly sensitive to a food, you may just be reacting to minute traces of it in your partner’s body fluids and skin. This is only likely to be the case if you are exceptionally allergic or sensitive. A tiny number of people find that it can help them if their sexual partner avoids the foods that upset them particularly badly. It can be worth trying if nothing else helps you.

*379\117\8*

Pure cotton gloves are sold by Boots the Chemist (called Minette gloves, available in bleached or unbleached cotton). Seton cotton gloves are available from most chemists. The Healthy House sell cotton gloves by post. The smaller sizes of all of these will fit larger children. Lohmanns sell cotton stockinette gloves for dermatological use. Scratch mitts for babies are available in pure cotton from Boots and Mothercare. Mothercare have a postal service.

Fine silk liner gloves are available by post from Orvis, Patra, Sander and Kay and Survival Aids. These are finer than cotton gloves and are useful if you are allergic to cotton. Some makes have a synthetic cuff but you can turn this up so that it does not touch your skin.

If your hands are irritated when doing washing-up, it can help to use tepid rather than hot water, as well as to wear gloves. Also try using a low-allergen washing-up liquid in case inhaling fragrances or other chemicals upsets you.

*364\117\8*