Dealing with that chronic congestion or itching eyes as spring blooms along? Make sure to listen to this episode as we discuss natural ways of preventing allergies from worsening, and also make recommendations on supplements you could use to help rid that irritation and inflammation in your system.
1:00 - Allergy symptoms and physiology
2:15 - Histamine Load
3:45 - Body's natural response to histamine with cortisol
5:00 - Ways to avoid allergy triggers, and testing
9:00 - Natural supplements for allergies
10:45 - Nasal rinsing
13:32 - Avoid foods higher in histamine
Trying to find an integrative medicine or functional medicine doctor who understands what you're going through? Lam Clinic does Telemedicine all over the world and is only a phone call away.
1. Educate yourself by visiting our website: www.lamclinic.com
2. Call our office at 714-709-8000 to schedule an appointment.
FIND US ONLINE HERE:
» Website: https://www.lamclinic.com/
» Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lamclinic
» Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lam_clinic/
» Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lamclinic
» YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWtdb4L5h5EuxKvkNq3M7yw
Dealing with that chronic congestion or itching eyes as spring blooms along? Make sure to listen to this episode as we discuss natural ways of preventing allergies from worsening, and also make recommendations on supplements you could use to help rid that irritation and inflammation in your system.
1:00 - Allergy symptoms and physiology
2:15 - Histamine Load
3:45 - Body's natural response to histamine with cortisol
5:00 - Ways to avoid allergy triggers, and testing
9:00 - Natural supplements for allergies
10:45 - Nasal rinsing
13:32 - Avoid foods higher in histamine
Trying to find an integrative medicine or functional medicine doctor who understands what you're going through? Lam Clinic does Telemedicine all over the world and is only a phone call away.
1. Educate yourself by visiting our website: www.lamclinic.com
2. Call our office at 714-709-8000 to schedule an appointment.
FIND US ONLINE HERE:
» Website: https://www.lamclinic.com/
» Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lamclinic
» Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lam_clinic/
» Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lamclinic
» YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWtdb4L5h5EuxKvkNq3M7yw
Are you dealing with springtime allergies? Do you have a hard time even breathing when you go outside? Itchy eyes, itchy nose? We are going to talk about strategies for reducing springtime allergies and inflammation today. This is the Dr. Lam show where we share our passion for integrative and functional medicine, to empower people to take control of their health naturally. Hi, I'm Dr. Carrie Lam, I'm a Board Certified physician in, family-medicine, anti-aging and regenerative medicine.
Dr. Jeremy Lam, MD:Hi, I'm Dr. Jeremy Lam and I'm an internal medicine physician and also I'm Board Certified in anti-aging and regenerative medicine, and I completed my fellowship in functional and metabolic health as well.
Dr. Carrie Lam, MD:Today, we're going to talk about how to prevent these allergies like runny nose, runny eyes symptoms that you might be having as spring time rolls around. So, Dr. Jeremy, what exactly are allergies or hay fever symptoms? And when does it happen and why?
Dr. Jeremy Lam, MD:Well, often that happens in spring time, and it's a physiologic response that your body is going through when it reacts to an external stimuli that it doesn't like. It activates the histamine response, in a way that the body floods the system, floods yourselves and leads to a swelling response. This increases the blood flow, increase circulation, to that part where the histamine response is. And so, that's why it's very uncomfortable for many people and they often take over-the-counter-drugs such as Claritin, or anti histamines that you can get over-the-counter or Benadryl as well, to help reduce the histamine load. So why do we get a histamine load Dr Carrie and where does that come from?
Dr. Carrie Lam, MD:Your body produces histamine, due to an external trigger, which could be pollen, foods, or toxins, that causes your body to say, hey, there's something foreign, and I need to produce histamine to be able to combat that foreign item. Let's say, it's pollen, and it gets on your nose, and your body's saying, Oh, this is inflaming me and your nose is kind of crying out what is this foreign object! It sends out the histamine, which causes the symptoms like itchy eyes, and sneezing. So what are the ways we can actually avoid having too much of that histamine load produced? Given, that it's normal for your body to produce histamine, when it undergoes a foreign attack, especially if it's a parasite or something like that. Some people have an over exaggerated response to histamine, which can cause even a bigger wave of histamine, flooding their body rather than just a small amount. And so this histamine overload triggers a lot more symptoms. What is one of the reasons why that could happen, Dr. Jeremy?
Dr. Jeremy Lam, MD:Well, to answer that question, Dr. Carrie, we kind of have to address first, what are your body's natural ways of fighting off this histamine response. Our bodies are so amazing that there's always a balance between two things. So as histamine increases that inflammation, to balance the histamine, we have our built-in mechanism with the hormone, cortisol. Cortisol is an anti-inflammatory hormone that is produced by the adrenal system. And so the body automatically takes care of it. So it's not like everyone who walks around has an allergic response, or a histamine response. If your adrenals are strong, and you're able to handle it, then you don't even have to think about it. But the problem comes when your body is not able to produce enough cortisol and so, enough of an anti inflammatory response. The histamine then becomes overwhelming, and it causes all these symptoms that a normal person wouldn't really get. So if you have adrenal fatigue, then sometimes, you can have that over reaction from the histamine response.
Dr. Carrie Lam, MD:So if you are dealing with adrenal fatigue and allergies, what you can do if other than trying to rebuild your adrenal, is to be able to produce enough cortisol to help the inflammation. The process is to avoid your triggers, it is very hard, if you're living in a place that is triggering you. For example, one thing you can do to avoid pollen is to make sure you avoid going out at certain times, the peak times, like maybe from 7 to 9 am, or even the afternoons from 3 to 7 pm might be best for you to stay indoors and try not to go outside. If you're really sensitive to the pollen avoid going near the trees, and flowers in spring when they are most active in producing their pollen. And, if you're indoors, you can install a HEPA filter, or make sure your air conditioning system or your venting systems are cleared out every six months to a year. You also want to get rid of any dusty items at home or mold, to make sure that you are having a clean environment.
Dr. Jeremy Lam, MD:Also, it's very important to find out what you're allergic to, so then you can avoid it and know, what is affecting you and causing the inflammation. So actually, in our clinic, we do a lot of allergy testing. And if some of them do come back positive, then we also order allergy dilution shots, which boosts your immune system to build more tolerance to the pollens, and so then that is also helping to decrease inflammation. And the overall goal here is to just decrease inflammation, because inflammation in fact, is good because it's your body's natural way of fighting off things. But when the trigger is at a constant level, or it's too much for you, then you get that histamine overload. You're then constantly exposed to the inflammation and the allergens like the pollens, then, that's when it starts to take a toll on your body. And that's not good. So it's really keeping that inflammation at bay. And that's what we do.
Dr. Carrie Lam, MD:I love how you you brought up the fact that we do these testing. And if you're not someone who wants shots, there's also other options like sublingual immunotherapies that would help you to recognize and help your immune system build tolerance to these allergens. Once these allergens are in your system, it's very hard to get rid of the antibodies that your body has already made. So reducing inflammation, is very important, and helping with your over-exaggerated response to certain triggers. If the shots or the the sublingual therapies don't work, there are other ways that you can try to prevent, other than changing your environment is by blocking your physical barriers. So that maybe if you're not already wearing a mask, because of these times due to COVID, it's probably important that you wear a mask when you go outside, as the physical barrier will protect you from contact with pollens. Some other people like to put some bomb on their nose hat just to make sure that the pollens don't contact, keep the nasal passage moist, as a physical barrier preventing the pollens to land in your nose. And so, there are also some natural ways that we can deal with this histamine load. Dr. Jeremy, any recommendations on supplements, if someone doesn't want to keep taking Claritin or Benadryl?
Dr. Jeremy Lam, MD:One of my favorites that are natural that works for allergies, is quercetin and bromelain, and especially when they work in combination, that's when they are really effective. And it has to be in the right dose, and taken in the right way. And it also helps with this natural route, in case you don't want to take Claritin or things like that. If these make you feel very sleepy, then the natural compounds are going to be more helpful for you. And it also works pretty fast as well. So some of our patients do see an immediate effect from taking these natural compounds.
Dr. Carrie Lam, MD:Yeah, but you have to keep in mind that if you just take a small amount then it is not going to work. So it really depends on how much you're taking. You can talk to an experienced practitioner to know how much is a good amount for your body, because some people may react to even small amounts of bromelain and quercetin and others need higher doses for it to start working as anti-histamine in your system. If you have any questions about the allergy testing or mana supplements and the dosing intake, we recommend that you call us at 714-709-8000 to schedule a free initial phone call, and we'll be able to help you and advise you about these allergies that you're having. Dr. Jeremy, can you tell us a little about these nasal rinses that are actually exceptionally beneficial, and have been used in India for 1000s and 1000s of years to help with allergies?
Dr. Jeremy Lam, MD:Yeah, it's very simple, it's cheap, and effective. So, all you take, is some warm saline solution, that you squirt up one side of your nostril and it comes out the other side. It basically cleans up your sinuses, and your respiratory tract, first clears your sinuses before it goes down into your lower respiratory tract. This way, you can ensure that your upper respiratory tract is really clean, doesn't have any irritation, causing any inflammation there. You want to get rid of that irritation that's in there so you don't have that histamine response. The best way of preventing that histamine response is just flushing it all out. And so that's one thing that's really good, these nasal rinses.
Dr. Carrie Lam, MD:But keep in mind that you should definitely use distilled water, rather than just regular tap water as it is more purified. You don't want to be squirting any other toxins into your nose. So the minerals have been taken out. And it's as clean as possible. Distilled water without the salt would be good for flushing.
Dr. Jeremy Lam, MD:Is there any other natural compounds that are also good for the histamine response?
Dr. Carrie Lam, MD:One other thing to really keep in mind is if you're eating some food, or if you have any other triggers that increases histamines. If your body is activated, or stressed, your histamine load increases. And you might not have much cortisol to be able to reduce that inflammatory load. So it doesn't take much for any little trigger, whether it's from food or toxins, to build up and spill over into your whole system, making allergies worse. And so, keep in mind that you might be having certain triggers, which may not be lifelong triggers, but you have to manage the root cause, to help your adrenal fatigue, and increase immunotolerance for your allergies. Over time, you will be able to reintroduce these items slowly.
Dr. Jeremy Lam, MD:Are you talking about food sensitivities also, or foods that are high in histamine as well that, you should avoid? Dr. Carrie, is that what you're trying to mention?
Dr. Carrie Lam, MD:Yeah, there's a ton of foods that are high in histamine and that's what we call the histamine diet. Unfortunately, the histamine diet is something that is very hard to follow, because of a lot of restrictions. And it can be done short term, but most of the time, it's very hard to stay on it long term. So managing the root cause is still very important, rather than only trying to eliminate long term, these foods that are the triggers.
Dr. Jeremy Lam, MD:Some examples of high histamine foods are, fermented vegetables like kimchi, dairy products like cream, yogurt, kombucha, fermented meats, sausages, salami, and alcohols like wine, beer, champagne, they all have high levels of histamine. So if you find yourself having a histamine overload, then avoiding those foods might help as well.
Dr. Carrie Lam, MD:So if you're struggling with allergies, like many people, weak adrenals can make the problem worse for you during spring making the inflammation worse, causing more issues, in turn. You need to get down to the bottom of it and find your triggers and trying some natural ways of helping can help. So we recommend that you give our office a call at 714-709-8000 for a free initial phone call if you are wondering about how to get your life back on track with the allergies, and chronic histamine overload that you might be having. In addition, if you'd liked our episode on the Dr. Lam show today, I recommend that you subscribe and share so that you stay tuned for our next episode that comes on weekly. We're here to empower you to take control of your health.
Unknown:This podcast has been produced and broadcast solely for informational and educational purposes by Lam clinic statements and views expressed in this podcast are not medical advice and have not been evaluated by the US Food and Drug Administration. The products and supplements discussed in this podcast are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. If you believe you may have a medical condition please consult your own doctor. opinions of guests are their own and them clinic does not endorse or accept responsibility for any of the statements and views made by guests. The views and opinions of guests on the podcasts are their own and do not reflect those of Lyme clinic. This podcast does not make any representations or warranties about guests qualifications or credibility. In some cases, individuals on the podcast may have a direct or indirect financial interest in the products or services referred to here in podcast listeners should always seek the advice of their physicians or other qualified health providers with any questions they may have regarding their own medical conditions. podcast listeners must always continue to follow the advice of their personal physicians for all of their medical needs.