Hello all,
I was wondering if anyone had any bright ideas on things i haven't tried yet.
Whether some of you epic level permaculture geniuses and clever people might have ideas. I suffer yearly from hay fever, from spring right through to the last two weeks of autumn. I have tried many times to stop taking the dreaded pharmaceutical drugs but have failed miserably. Even when i do take those, i end up on either a severely heavy dose or become a hermit. I take about 40mg of Zetop 10mg Tablets [Cetirizine Hydrochloride 10mg] and doses (as needed) of Becloclear 12 Hour Nasal Spray [Beclometasone dipropionate 50 ug/dose]
First i'd like to point out that during the summer i AVOID like the plague any of the pollen dependent fruits like tomato etc., and almost all of the berry and melon families. With the exception being heat treated canned fruits.
I live in that upside down place called the Southern Hemisphere so keep in mind that while you are going into Summer, we already left it.
Whenever i go outside i use a respirator mask with HEPA filters while on these remedies :
PERMAGANIC Ginger, garlic, turmeric (25g each a day / one bulb a day, 10g a day respectively) - As pointed out by my naturopath the turmeric and ginger levels were way too high to maintain long term and i discontinued this except for maybe a dose a week
Full body clothing and a cloth face mask while indoors
I discovered the end of last year that running a essential oils mister with just water in it was helping a lot (someone here suggested that) while indoors but as soon as i went outdoors and came in with any trace of pollen on me it was all over.
Washing myself 3 - 4 times daily; changing clothes each time (which obviously being between off-grid and on-grid is excessively wasteful)
I have also tried eating honey comb in the down season to build up my immunity (someone suggested maybe the shock of going from allowing the pollen to leave my system completely was triggering it and i never recovered from that initial blast but this just seemed to make no difference this year gone)
FYI in case you're wondering yes i do get some weird looks; i obviously don't goto the store anymore during pollen season, and the neighbours at first thought i was some sort of premature SHTF dooms day nut job until one week i broke my mask and spent days sneezing my head of and running back and forth with blood noses.
This hasn't stopped my determination to keep my garden going though; and I'm still heavily involved in keeping up gardening. My naturopath has also referred me to a doctor a number of times and i have diminished lung capacity in one lung.
Now before you say it, i am not stupidly putting the mask on weeks before the pollen season even starts and not giving my immune system a chance to work, what i've been doing is waiting until i start getting raw nasal canals and then starting it once the risk of blood noses ensues.
Thanks in advance, and sorry for being a difficult case (and hopefully not the first one of these threads you review)
Hugs and PIE to all,
Mars
