Cold or allergy?

So I spent a few days in bed - coughing, with sore throat, really bad headache and fever – thinking that it was a cold I was dealing with.

I did all the usual stuff that always worked for me (although I haven’t had a cold in years), got a little bit better and then much worse – until it finally dawned on me that I had a really bad case of an allergic reaction to the lime dust we’re dealing with around here – due to weeks of drought.

Everything all of a sudden made sense. Including why herbs I’ve been taking didn’t help much. Of course, the reason it took me a while to figure out what was going on was that the only allergy I’ve ever had in my life was an oversensitivity to cold (air or water) during my teenage years. And that allergy didn’t look or feel like an allergy to a substance.

So I did some research – online and then in my kitchen cabinet where I keep all of my remedies – and found the following herbs that are listed in several online sources as being a natural treatment for allergies (source):

• ginkgo biloba (natural antihistamine) – to ease allergies and reduce inflammation
• peppermint – to help with congestion and to open breathing passages
• parsley – to inhibit the body’s release of histamines
• stinging nettle (natural antihistamine) - to ease allergies and reduce inflammation
• eyebright – to relieve watery and inflamed eyes
• feverfew – analgetic, anti-inflammatory

I have to say that 24 hours after I’ve started taking some allergy-relief herbs, I feel almost completely well again – and getting weller…

Photo “stinging nettle for dinner” – courtesy of weatheranother

Looking at the photo above and its title reminded me how my grandmother and my mom actually picked young stinging nettles and cooked their leaves the same way as spinach. And I also remember that “nettle spinach” tasted really good – better than spinach!

My grandmother also used stinging nettles for her arthritis pain. Unfortunately I don’t remember, how.

Related articles

• How to Love the Stinging Nettle (planithealthier.wordpress.com)
• Foraging For Nettles (nourishedsprout.wordpress.com)
• Massage: Treatment for Seasonal Allergies (bodyquirks.wordpress.com)