Allergic Rhinitis Hayfever

Jonathan Clogstoun-Willmott

June 13, 2022

Hayfever, or allergic rhinitis, is a huge problem for many, and a big money-maker for pharmaceutical companies.

By the way, in case you wonder how you’ve arrived here, this site is about how Chinese medicine explains health problems and diseases in English.

So how does Chinese medicine explain this problem? Settle down for a few minutes: give yourself time to absorb some different ideas!

What we call ‘allergic rhinitis’ isn’t what they call it!

‘Hayfever’

Tiresomely, Chinese medicine doesn’t seem to have a neat way of describing ‘hayfever’. We in the West have that one convenient word to convey a whole range of symptoms, such as:

nasal congestion
runny nasal discharge
sneezing
runny eyes (lachrimation is the technical term)
sore eyes
itchy nose
itchy eyes
red eyes, possibly conjunctivitis
eye discharge (not runny but thick)
allergic reaction to pollens, moulds, etc
blocked ears
eye sensitivity to light

Strictly speaking, some of the above symptoms aren’t allergic rhinitis because they pertain to the eye or ears, and rhinitis specifically refers to the nose.

For some people these symptoms lead on to others, including headaches, chest congestion, cough, asthma, sinusitis and difficulty sleeping. For instance, if your allergic rhinitis turns into sinusitis, that’s different and is treated if and when it occurs.

In turn that affects work output and performance, relationships and the ability to relax and enjoy life.

So, Thank Heavens for antihistamines, you may say. After all, they suppress your body’s normal reaction to allergens. You can take them every day without needing to visit your doctor, so everyone’s happy!

Antihistamines do, however, have side-effects including ‘drowsiness, dizziness, headache, photo-sensitivity and respiratory depression’.

Chinese medicine approaches allergic rhinitis a different way.

As you probably realise, traditional acupuncture is based on a theory of channels or meridians which encompass all parts of your body. This idea goes back at least 2,500 years and possibly far beyond even that.

Sri Lanka claims the idea was its own, but then the early Chinese came and ‘borrowed’ and ‘developed’ it.

Acupuncture theory forms an important part of the theory of Classical or Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). TCM is a comprehensive way of explaining health and disease which, in its own way, is as subtle and sophisticated as modern ‘Western’ or ‘orthodox’ medicine, the kind your doctor is an expert in.

At any rate, TCM has been in daily use for 2500 years and its merits are being increasingly revealed through modern research. For more on this see WHO. In the UK there are controls on what may be said on web-sites, so on this site we merely seek to explain Chinese medicine.

NB Terminology

On this site you’ll read words like lungs and kidneys, Lung(s) and Kidney(s), the difference being in the Capital Letter eg Heart.

When you see the Capital Letter at the front of the word, it means it in the Chinese medical sense. If so, it refers to the Zangfu, or Energy Organ, being the Chinese medical use of the word.

Liver channel often implicated in allergic rhinitis — Liver Meridian

To understand this more, look up Kidneys and Liver, for example.

If you read those linked pages, you’ll see that the Chinese medical theory use of the word means rather more than the Western medical use of the word. For instance, the Liver expresses itself not just in its functions but along the Liver channel – see picture.

Acupuncture Channels affected

(Here’s some information you didn’t know you needed!)

The Lung energy organ ‘opens’ into your nose, and the Lung’s partner energy organ is the Large Intestine, the acupuncture channel of which terminates next to your nose.
The Governor channel starts between the kidneys, runs up the middle of the back along the spine up to the head, over the vertex, and down over your nose to your upper lip
The Governor channel is an extension of your Kidney energy organ
Sneezing is said to be ‘controlled’ by your Kidneys – not your nose or your Lungs, as you might have thought.

So the main channels or Energy organs affecting your nose are the Lungs, the Kidneys and the Governor channel.

‘Wind’

Wind is an important cause of disease in Chinese medicine. For more on this, click the link, but the idea covers a huge range of experience, the following being external:

Drafts and winds and breezes
Air-conditioning
Central heating which moves (warm) air around, causing a kind of wind
Things which keep changing
Air-borne causes of disease including bacteria, viruses, moulds, pollens dust, animal dander etc
Sneezing and being sneezed on

Wind can be internal, too:

Tremors
Epilepsy
Sudden changes of mood
Itching
Restlessness

You can see from this list that they all include some kind of movement, either physical or emotional. That movement represents an ‘inner’ form of Wind.

To grasp the next bit of theory you’ll now have to delve a bit into the linked pages!

Wind often combines with other pathogenic factors like Cold or Heat, to form syndromes described under Wind-Cold or Wind-Heat.

Modern medicine is very good at suppressing the acute symptoms of Wind-Cold and Wind-Heat but this can lead to chronic problems.

When a condition becomes chronic we resort to ongoing medication, which is subject to Primary and Secondary Actions.

For example, the primary action of an antihistamine is to stop the histamines your body releases from ruining your life.

The secondary actions include the drowsiness and dizziness mentioned: often you need other medication (could be coffee!) to counteract the primary actions, but that will also have secondary actions.

So some of us end up taking more and more medications, each aimed at counteracting the secondary effects of earlier drugs. That’s not good for our metabolisms, though it is good for manufacturers, pharmacies and the Inland Revenue! That is, until the Revenue has to pay your bills for still more medication, as in many Nationalised health services.

With allergic rhinitis, the Wind is trapped!

The way Chinese medicine thinks about it is as though the Wind is trapped in your nose, spurred to react by sources of external Wind.

When pollen enters, suddenly the trapped Wind goes mental!

What happens then, with allergic rhinitis or hayfever?

You get (some of) the symptoms of Wind-Cold.

What can be done about it?

There are two strategies in Chinese medicine.

Deal with the acute syndrome, the Wind-Cold, at the time of the attack
Treat the underlying tendency outside the season if it seasonal and at the same time if the condition is year-round

Chinese medicine has several ways of providing effective treatment, including acupuncture and Chinese herbs.

Acupuncture is thousands of years old, and must have been used to treat allergic rhinitis/hayfever on millions of people, even if they didn’t call it ‘allergic rhinitis or hayfever’ because they were treating the syndromes of disease as defined in Chinese medicine. I must have treated Wind-Cold and associated syndromes thousands of times.

Herbs are just as good and sometimes even better, but of course you have to take them, and they aren’t sold on taste, so don’t suit everyone. (But then, why should medicine be made to taste nice? Surely that’s ridiculous for many of us? Shouldn’t it taste revolting so that you’d do anything to help yourself rather than take the stuff?)

What can you do about your allergic rhinitis/hayfever?

1. Get some Treatment!

Make sure you get a series of treatments outside the hayfever or allergic rhinitis season. In other words go for treatment before your symptoms begin.
How many treatments you’ll need depends on for how long you’ve had allergic rhinitis or hayfever. It is usually easier to treat someone younger than someone older, because the former has had less suppressive treatment.
The aim of treatment outside the hayfever season is to try to clear the trapped wind and to harmonise what are called your Kidney functions.
That is a bit like saying that the treatment is aimed at ironing out or reducing your inherited tendencies to allergic rhinitis.
What treatments help and don’t cause side-effects? I’ve used acupuncture with many hundreds of people for treatment of ‘Wind’. Acupuncture uses acupuncture needles placed in acupuncture points along acupuncture channels. I have also used herbal treatment.

2. Homoeopathy and Herbs

HOMOEOPATHIC REMEDIES sometimes used for allergic rhinitis — Homoeopathic remedies

I have found that taking the correct homoeopathic remedy outside the season often reduces symptoms during it.
However, you should see a qualified and experienced homoeopath for this. Don’t experiment on your own: it takes skill! I’ve been doing it for well over 38 years and choosing the right remedy can still take me hours, and that’s after the hour or two I’ve spent with the patient, telling me about it. Also, don’t necessarily expect that one (set of) treatment(s) will do it. Often it takes treatments spread over several years, including what are called miasmatic remedies.
During the season, both acupuncture and Chinese herbs may be most helpful. The herbs don’t usually have anything like the same secondary actions as anti-histamines. The downside is that you need to see someone to get the right formula for your particular symptom picture. Of course the right homoeopathic remedy here can also be very effective but, if you value the sanity of your practitioner(s) don’t take herbs and homoeopathic remedies together, or at least, not without their knowledge.

3. Stimulate your Kidney Qi

Acupuncture points in the ear, often used for allergic rhinitis — Auricular acupuncture also has good side-effects

Anything which stimulates your Kidney function may be helpful and is probably better done outside the season.
This won’t work for everyone, especially if you have Kidney Yin deficiency already, because although you’ll probably feel better for a little while, you may feel worse later.
But if you have Kidney Yang deficiency, anything which is exciting or fun or even a bit shocking may stimulate your Yang energy to work better.
So horror movies, bungee jumping, sex and mountain climbing might do it for you. Or something else! Each to his own – but have consideration for others and don’t despoil nature.
Of course, some activities involve a lot of Wind, which may be counter-productive. Think about it first!

4. Your Spine

Since the Kidneys exert part of their energy along the Governor channel, which runs up inside your spine, make sure you keep your spine supple and strong. There are many activities and games (often involving a ball and a net) that affect your spine beneficially; yoga and Tai Ch’i also.
Cultivate good posture, and don’t sit for too long. Your body was made for movement, not sitting all day.
And buy my book on Qi stagnation and Stress and do the moves listed in Appendix 10.

5. Mud and Animals

Animal dander often causes hayfever — Young white bull Copyright Acupuncture-Points.org

This suggestion may not help you, the reader, if you already suffer from allergic rhinitis/hayfever.
Since the condition is allergy related, if you have children, let them enjoy playing in mud and with animals from an early age, especially in the countryside.
This may help to accustom them to animal dander and the many possible allergens that occur naturally and to which early exposure often bestows lifelong immunity.
Be on the lookout for trouble, however, as you may have donated them the wrong epigenes. Even so, early exposure may reduce lifelong misery.

6. Long-term effects of Suppression

Now I venture into politically dangerous territory. The theory of suppression suggests that symptoms can’t be just hidden away for ever.
If you put a poison in, ideally your body will reject it forcefully. This is what your body does if stung by a nettle or wasp, when the poison is rapidly exteriorised to the surface of your skin.
Immunisations are different, made to give as little suffering as possible and there’s the problem: the stuff goes in, and often you’d never know it or, at least, you’d never associate subsequent problems arising possibly years later with the immunisation.
Because nearly everyone is vaccinated, what are called ‘placebo, double-blind with control’ tests are almost impossible, and if they happen, tend to focus on the reduction in the offending disease, not the long-term health consequences. (Vaccination isn’t the only ‘elephant in the room’, by the way, but it’s the biggest because one dare hardly mention it for fear of receiving an onslaught of abuse, sometimes vindictive.)
By preventing disease from appearing at the Greater Yang stage (see Six Stages) we push it deeper. It then, the theory goes, emerges in a chronic form often affecting us for many years. That chronic form is your hayfever, your allergic rhinitis.
Which vaccinations are the culprits? I can’t be sure, but one could start with those for traditional childhood diseases like measles, chicken pox and rubella.
Ideally, vaccinated children should produce mild symptoms of the disease in question within a few hours, at most days, of receiving the vaccination.
Very strong reactions and the absence of any reactions or only very mild reactions are all, to my mind, suspicious.
There, I’ve said it. Let’s hope only fervent geeks who agree with me read this far.

7. Your Lungs

And what about your Lungs? First learn to breathe properly. See a specialist if unsure, but you need to learn to deepen and relax your breathing and, if you aren’t used to this, only practice makes perfect – outside the main season. If you can’t find a breathing specialist, see a yoga teacher, most of whom know how to help you.
Histamines are released in the nasal passages, which come under the Lungs and the Governor channel. Improving Lung function may – eventually – ease or reduce histamine release.

8. Food

Fruit - source of Vitamin C — Fruit for Vitamin C

In Chinese medicine, the wrong foods can be a major cause of disease. (Equally, eating the wrong foods after even a good treatment can reduce or destroy the benefits you get from it!)
Although allergic rhinitis and hayfever symptoms are usually of Wind-Cold syndrome nature, both cooling and heating foods can make you more susceptible, but for most people, foods of a cold nature are more likely to be problematic.
Foods that are cold, and produce Phlegm or at least what is called ‘Damp‘, include dairy foods, raw foods, uncooked foods and cold foods.
Also sugar and foods that rapidly turn to sugar in your blood, which include refined flours, for instance. (So ice-cream is a poor choice.)
Raw foods includes fruit, which is often also sweet. So bananas are not a good food, having an energetic property that is cold and moistening.
You need to become aware of the foods that increase nasal congestion, which often follows within 30 minutes after eating the food in question.
Including warm teas rather than cold drinks is usually beneficial: such warming teas might include a little ginger or cinnamon, for instance.
Monitor progress with your allergic rhinitis as you try different combinations of drinks.
Read Nutrition for more about the theory behind this. Balancing what you eat according to Chinese medicine helps to keep your body in balance. That means it becomes less likely to succumb to disease, including to allergic rhinitis and hayfever.
Too many of the wrong foods mess this balance up.
Also, of course, you need to eat properly and regularly, not hastily or when stressed or rushed. This is a bigger subject than just this page can contain.
Also discuss foods and your allergic rhinitis with your acupuncturist.

Lastly … on Allergic Rhinitis & Hayfever

I expect to add and alter this page as time goes by.

Here I’ve tried to express what I think Chinese medicine has to say on allergic rhinitis and hayfever, but fellow practitioners and students may have interesting ideas – as well as those who suffer from the condition.

If you have views or experience, either as a practitioner or sufferer, do use the box below to add to the common experience and knowledge.

You can be fairly certain that someone, maybe many people, will benefit from it.

Here are several other pages which you could read: