6 Ways to Manage Allergy Symptoms Naturally when TTC or Pregnant
Allergies are hard to endure even when you can take the “hard drugs”.
Eyes streaming, itchiness, non-stop sneezing and that hot wave of agitation. It’s the Worst.
Unfortunately most pharmaceutical cures for allergy symptoms should be avoided when you are trying to conceive (TTC) or when you are pregnant.
Why do I think is it best to avoid Anti-histamines when TTC?
So – I hear you saying, “I get the avoiding them when pregnant, but why when I am TTC??”
Well technically you don’t have to…but if you are a chronic allergy sufferer like me being dependent on anti-histamines every day is not great. Relying on pharmaceutical drugs to manage these symptoms can feel counterproductive to your efforts to live a ‘cleaner’ life.
It felt important to me to come up with a solution that was sustainable whether I was mid-IVF/natural-cycle, pregnant or not.
In addition to this a common side effect of anti-histamines for women TTC naturally can be drying up of fluid in the body, particularly affecting the amount of fertile CM produced.
As part of cleaning up my diet and lifestyle, I’ve eventually found natural methods that worked to manage these allergy symptoms.
My Top 6 Allergy Symptom Busters:
- Royal Jelly. I started taking this for egg quality and immediately noticed a big difference in my allergy symptoms. Local honey from your area can also help desensitise you to hay-fever related allergies.
- Boost your immune system. Good rainbow of colours in veggies, build up your vitamin C and drink lots of water. A strong immune system is less susceptible to attacks from allergens and water flushes all the nasties out of your system. For some of my tips on ways to boost immunity check out this post.
- Fess. A saline nose spray that can help flush allergens out of your nasal passages. I find this works best if used daily, or at the start of an attack. By the time my eyes are swollen Fess often doesn’t have as much impact!!
- Luffa Heel Spray. My naturopath put me onto this little beauty. OMG it made a difference! N.B. Its practitioner dispensed so you need to chat to your natural therapies guru to work out if its ok for you to use.
- Salt Pods/Infusers. I have the ‘Halo’ one, which is a humidifier that releases salt air into the room while you sleep. Salt is said to be soothing and have anti-bacterial qualities for respiratory issues and skin irritations. I don’t know about you but I rarely get allergies at the beach- this is like having the ocean in my room while I sleep!
- Get Wet! If at all possible I jump in the shower, go for a swim, or even settle for a cool wet face cloth or a splash of water on my face. This helps no end!!
What are some of the ways you’ve found to manage your allergies naturally?