Can You Treat Allergies Using Natural Antihistamines?

Antihistamines are a group of medications used to treat allergy symptoms. These medications aid in treating unpleasant symptoms caused by the presence of an excess of histamine, a substance produced by your body’s immune system.

Allergies develop when your immune system responds negatively to foreign material, such as pet dander, pollen, bee venom, or specific food that generally does not produce a reaction in most people or is not truly “harmful.”

Histamine is a chemical produced by your immune system that reacts excessively to an allergen such as pollen or pet dander. It causes allergy symptoms such as sneezing, coughing, and watery eyes. 

Antihistamines inhibit or lower histamine levels in patients who are allergic to specific allergens, therefore alleviating allergy symptoms. Various types of medicines fall into this category, and most of these work well to relieve symptoms of different kinds of allergies.

The top natural antihistamines that can be used to handle allergies are:

1. Vitamin C
2. Butterbur
3. Bromelain
4. Probiotics
5. Quercetin

Some of the most common side effects of first-generation antihistamines are:

• Drowsiness
• Blurred or double vision
• Dry mouth, dry eyes
• Low blood pressure
• Rapid heart rate
• Headache and dizziness
• Mucous thickening in the airways
• Difficulty urinating and constipation

Antihistamines work by blocking histamine activity in the body and stopping allergic reactions such as sneezing, cold-like symptoms, and itching.

In case natural antihistamines fail to reduce your allergy symptoms, they may need alternative allergy treatments, including

• Avoiding exposure to the allergen
You need to identify the allergen causing you the allergy and avoid exposure to it in this method

• Medications
If you have a severe allergy, you may need to take allergy shots that will calm down your immune system’s response to the allergen

• Immunotherapy
People with intense allergies may need to try immunotherapy, especially if their allergy medications do not help to reduce their allergy symptoms. This aims at desensitizing the body to the allergen by injecting small amounts of the allergen

• Epinephrine Treatment
A person with severe allergies may need to keep an emergency epinephrine shot, or “Epi-pen,” with them always and use it immediately at the onset of an allergic reaction

Suppose the natural antihistamines or your allergy medicines are not helping to contain your allergy symptoms. In that case, it is best to see an allergist at the Center for Occupational and Environmental Medicine to rule out a chronic condition. If you are looking for a doctor who specialized in allergy treatment or want to know more about the best allergy treatment, call us or schedule an appointment today. We serve patients from Charleston, Mt. Pleasant, Summerville, North Charleston SC, Ladson SC, Hanahan SC, James Island SC, John’s Island SC, Daniel Island SC, all of South Carolina, Nationally, and Internationally. Patients routinely fly into Charleston to be evaluated by COEM and to enjoy this beautiful city which is a Condé Nast and Travel and Leisure Top Domestic and International Tourist Destination.