There are many different ways to treat allergies with both Western and Eastern medicine. Some practitioners treat only the symptoms; some treat both the root cause as well as the symptoms. Naturally treating the root cause is best, but this approach also requires the cooperation of the patient. Western medicine considers an allergy to be an immune system disorder. Its challenge is to identify the substances that cause your body to have allergic reactions. Treatments include desensitization, eliminating or avoiding the offending allergens, and drug therapy with antihistamines, steroids and other medicines.
TCM understands allergies from an energy perspective: the problem involves an energy deficiency. This deficiency can be related to several organs: the Kidney, Liver, Lung or Stomach. The degree to which one (or more) of these organs is deficient in Qi, or vital energy, will manifest in symptoms related to that particular organ. For example, TCM understands that the eyes are the external gateway of the Liver. A person with a healthy Liver always has healthy eyes. If your allergy condition affects mostly your eyes, resulting in itchy, red, or watery symptoms, you can be certain that your Liver is not functioning properly. If you’re someone with more symptoms related to your nose—for instance, it’s always running or stuffy, or you have a frequent cough or tightness in the chest—then according to TCM, these symptoms are related to a Lung function disorder.
Because hay fever is a seasonal condition that occurs mostly in the spring, sufferers do not connect its origins with the previous season of winter, but here’s how this works in classical Chinese medicine theory: If you exhaust most of your Qi during the winter, your body doesn’t have enough Qi left to go through the yearly cyclical energy change when winter turns to spring. When spring arrives, the weakest organ will manifest the most prominent physical symptoms.
Because TCM is the only medical system with a specialty in prevention, a good TCM practitioner will help you focus on this important aspect. From the prevention point of view, the best way to treat hay fever is to conserve Kidney Qi in the winter. This means making key lifestyle adjustments: going to bed earlier and not running around too much, which can cause overtiredness. Classical Chinese herbs as well as Qigong practice or mediation are very powerful healing tools because they increase and balance your internal energy supply. Diet is also a very important healing strategy. Add ginger or cinnamon to your diet whenever possible and avoid cold or raw foods as much as you can throughout the year. Making these changes and adding these kinds of healing support to your daily life can eventually help strengthen your Kidney Qi and address the root cause of your hay fever.
