by Laura Gordon
AAahh, spring is here! For some that translates into AAAAAhhhhchoooo. It’s hay fev
er season – that means headaches, watery eyes, sinus congestion, a runny nose, and just plain old misery. There are some wonderful alternative treatments that you can incorporate into your life or a massage session.
Massage:
During a massage begin with light raindrop tapping on the forehead and bridge of nose include acupressure with the forefingers along the eyebrow and check bone under the eyes followed by light stokes glide from the base edge of the nose along the inferior aspect of the check bone, around the ears and down the sides of the neck this techniques breaks up congestion in the head and creates a passage way for the congestion to move out of the sinuses.
Help the client to sit up with his/her back to you and appropriately draped, include tapotement using the cupping method on the back to loosens the congestion in the chest followed by long, closed hand strokes down the back from neck and shoulders to mid-back which acts as a vacuum to move loosened mucus from throat and chest.
Diet:
For diet you will want to suggest to your client to eat more fruits and vegetable and good quality protein to help build their immune system. You definitely want to encourage them eliminate to use dairy products because of their mucus building properties. Additionally avoiding highly processed foods will be helpful to hay fever sufferers. Beneficial foods include: garlic, onions, ginger and honey.
Vitamins that may help reduce hay fever symptoms include the following:
Vitamin C
A good quality multi-vitamin
Flavanoids
L-Methionine
Magnesium Pantothenate
Quercetin with Bromelain
Omega 3 fatty acids
Herbs:
Butterbur
Stinging Nettle
Luffa complex
Gingko
Quercetin
Perilla frutescens
Essential Oils:
The following list of essential oils may help the hay fever sufferer. These oils can be used directly on the body, added to a base oil and massaged into the skin, diluted in steaming water to be inhaled, or dropped onto a cotton ball, handkerchief or wash cloth and placed near the nose.
Eucalyptus
Niaouli
Tee Tree oil
Roman chamomile
Lemon
Lavender
Geranium
Rosemary
Peppermint
Challenge:
Practice the techniques described above on a client, friend or family member. Tell us what what happened!
Resource:
http://www.naturaltherapypages.com.au/article/Natural_Ways_to_Relieve_Hayfever
The vast majority of those living in high pollen areas can really benefit by applying the great information you’ve given. The acupressure and essential oils are winners with me!!! Thanks for such a timely article!
My daughter is suffering from allergies. I tried this on her and she seemed to feel a little better, but considering she’s 3 years old I didn’t get a lot of verbal communication from her. She did cough a whole lot after I used the cupping tapptment on her back though.
Spring time is my second favorite season. I really do have allergy changes and problems during that time. I must say that this is really helpful and I will try this the next time I have really bad allergies. Thanks for the tips.
This is really great to know! In the past my family has had to deal a lot with allergies, so I can’t wait to try this!
Love love love! this blog goes right along with what I tell my esthetic clients
lots of good things to try but i don’t really have lot of allergy’s in the spring time but i would totally try this on a client someday.
THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!! I loved this blog! I suffer from really bad hay fever all the time. These techniques will be very beneficial not only for me, but also for my clients.
A new way for me to use in the future! This season is going to be horrible with me and others. I will take what is on here and use it for myself and others.
The acupressure is definatly something I’d like to look more into. I do that very thing to myself when my sinuses are acting up. And I can vouch for the tapotment on your back. When I first started in Sharon’s class I had the worst case of congestion I think I’ve ever had, Sharon noticed this and performed the cupping tapotment on me and that night it got a lot worse. But by the next day I was in perfect shape. Barely a cough. I get bronchital type symptoms several times a year and normally that sickness would have stayed with me for another month at least. I was highly impressed to say the least. 🙂
I will definitely use this for my papa. He’s so use to his allergies, he doesn’t even know when his nose is running anymore. My older brother is the same way. His asthma attacks pick up daily along with severe allergies and its quit gross cause ALL Mucous.
I think that the idea for the use of the essential oils is great. I know it helps with nausea and also sleepiness. I am a long time allergy sufferer so I am going to give some of these thing a try. 🙂
Ahh!! Just what I needed, and right in time! My allergies have been acting up lately, and I wake up all stuffed up. I think I’m going to try it with some essential oils too! 😀
This article is wonderful! I love essential oils for almost everything including allergies. I will be using this raindrop technique on myself because spring and I do not get along very well. This information will definitely be put to good use. Thanks!
I have had asthma all my life and when I was little and in the hospitals often I loved it when the respiratory therapist used the cupping method on my back. It felt amazing and would put me right to sleep. It also of course really helped break up all the mucus that was in my lungs.
Also when I had sinusitis I would massage my face like that. It felt amazing and really helped with the pain and pressure in my face. I also do this on family and friends when their allergy’s or sinuses start giving them trouble.
My husband has bad allergies right now, so this blog came at a perfect time. I will be using some of these techniques on him as well as future clients.
In the words of sweet brown; “Well I woke up to get me a cold pop and then I thought somebody was barbequing. I said oh lord Jesus it’s a fire. Then I ran out, I didn’t grab no shoes or nothin’ lord Jesus, I ran for my life. And then the smoke gagged me, I got bronchitis ain’t nobody got time for that.
I love essential oils except i am way too picky with smells! They benefit greatly from the aromas! I will definitely have to try these techniques on a client!
I actually did do some of theses techniques to one of my clients. I did the massage on the forehead and I used it along with peppermint oil and she said that her sinuses felt a lot clearer then they had been in a long time!!