Acupuncture for Seasonal Allergies (Hay Fever)

How Chinese medicine understands seasonal allergies

We all breathe the same air in spring and fall, yet only some of us sneeze through it. Chinese medicine explains the difference through Wei Qi, the protective Qi that controls the surface of the body: the skin, the pores, the nose and the throat. When Wei Qi is strong, pollen and dust do not provoke much of a reaction. When it is weak, they get in and the body reacts.

In Chinese medicine, the body’s first response is to make mucus and dampness to block the invader. That is the runny nose, the phlegm and the watery eyes. Seasonal change makes it worse: as temperatures swing up and down, the body has to keep opening and closing the pores to regulate heat, and that is when it is most open to wind and pollen.

The common patterns are:

• Lung Qi deficiency. Frequent sneezing, clear watery mucus, catching colds easily, sweating easily, low energy.
• Spleen Qi deficiency with dampness. More congestion and phlegm, a heavy head, tiredness, poor appetite or loose stools.
• Kidney deficiency. Long-standing allergies year after year, often with cold hands and feet, lower-back weakness, or asthma in the family.
• Wind-heat. Red, very itchy eyes, a sore or scratchy throat, and yellowish mucus during the height of the season.

Most people have a mix: an acute pattern during the season on top of an underlying weakness. The first is treated to ease symptoms now. The second is what the longer plan works on.

What treatment involves

The first visit is a full Chinese medicine assessment: your allergy history, which months are worst, your energy, digestion, sleep, and anything else going on. I look at your tongue and take your pulse, then write a diagnosis and a plan.

In Chinese medicine, acupuncture is used to ease the nose, eyes and throat and to support the underlying pattern. Chinese herbal medicine may be added: a formula written for your pattern, usually taken daily and adjusted as the season changes. Treatment can start a few weeks before your season or at any point during it. Plan on 5–10 treatments to judge progress. The clinic is in Keswick, where tree pollen usually starts in spring and ragweed runs from late summer into the fall.

If your main problem is facial pressure and thick mucus that lingers after a cold, read the sinusitis page instead.

Between visits

• Check the daily pollen forecast and keep windows closed on high-count days, especially mornings.
• Shower and change clothes after time outside, and wash your hair before bed so pollen does not end up on the pillow.
• A saline nasal rinse can clear pollen and mucus. Use distilled or boiled-and-cooled water.
• Dry laundry indoors during your season.
• Wear sunglasses outdoors to keep pollen out of your eyes.

When to see your doctor first

• Wheezing, chest tightness or shortness of breath. Allergies can trigger asthma.
• Swelling of the lips, tongue or throat, or trouble swallowing. Call 911.
• Symptoms on only one side of the nose, nosebleeds, or a blocked nose that never clears.
• Fever, facial pain, or thick coloured mucus lasting more than 10 days.
• Allergy medication that no longer controls your symptoms. Ask about allergy testing.