Ayurvedic Treatment for Allergic Rhinitis

Allergic rhinitis is used to describe an inflammation of the lining of the nose caused by an allergy. The symptoms include a 'runny' nose and sneezing, nose, roof of the mouth, and the ears, may be itchy.

Ayurveda believes in three doshas, which are vata, pitta, and kapha, an imbalance in which results in a disease. Ayurveda has the faith that allergy or Sheetpitta is variety of unwholesome condition of pitta. In this condition the pitta loses its natural warmth.

It can occur when you eat spices or hot food, drink caffeine, or are exposed to irritant chemicals, such as tobacco smoke or perfume. It also occurs due to airborne allergens, such as pollen of all types, house-dust mites and their faeces, mould spores, animal dander and feather and household sprays.

Allergic rhinitis can best be taken care of by taking certain dietary and lifestyle precautions. Some of them are:

Certain foods are more mucous producing and Ayurvedic medicine recognizes those foods as Kapha foods thus aggravating allergies like dairy, wheat, sugar, potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, bananas, oranges, and grapefruits. Food additives like artificial dyes and different preservatives also play major factors

Home environment such as forced air, gas heat, pets and carpet which harbors dust mites, molds, bacteria along with many chemicals are certainly aggravating factors.

Dry grains like chickpeas, kala channa, corn, fish like salmon, trout, cod are better choices. Tea with cardamom, pepper and ginger, lemon juice and honey work effectively. Diet rich in lots of fruits and vegetable of different colors are recommended.

Carpets are one of the major contributors to allergies as they breed dust mites. The best choice is to remove the carpet, which eliminates the area for the dust mites to breed also use pillows with micro fiber.

Yoga -The Sheetpitta of respiratory system like Rhinitis can be cured by the regular practice of certain type of Pranayamas like Bhastrika, ujjai.

Panchakarma-Vaman (the emesis therapy) and Virechan therapy (the laxatives therapy) are very effective to detoxify the body.

Allergic Rhinitis from an Ayurvedic perspective is due to the toxins present in the body (ama) and due to the low immunity. Ama aggravates the levels of Pitta and Kapha in the body, giving rise to different symptoms of allergies. Ayurveda considers this as a Kapha-Pitta disorder.

Ayurveda believes in balancing the three doshas present in the human body thus treating the disease on the whole. Therefore it suggests the following approaches to get rid of allergic rhinitis:

1. A slice of ginger, pepper and cardamom can be added while preparing tea. Dried ginger can be also added to coffee without milk and taken.

2. Mix honey with half the amount of lemon juice and take the mixture early in the morning for few weeks.

3. Take two spoons of Apple cider vinegar and a bit of honey to a glass of cooled boiled water and take it early in the morning.

4. Have a diet rich in vitamin C and vitamin B.

5. Take chamomile tea twice a day.

6. Take one cup of Indian gooseberry and mix with two tsp of honey. Have it twice a day.

7. Pouring two to three drops of coconut oil into the nostrils at bedtime could provide relief.

8. Ayurvedic treatment procedure involves inducing therapeutic vomiting which helps in balancing Kapha.

9. Herbs like santalum, cardamom and licorice can be boiled in water (ratio 1:4) and reduced to quarter of the quantity. Drinking this often will help in preventing the aggravation of Pitta dosha.

10. Taking two tablets of guduchi thrice a day or consuming tea made of camphor, cloves and basil for about two weeks will help prevent the aggravation of Kapha.

11. Consuming herbs like Evening Primrose, nettle and Butterbur are also useful in treating allergic rhinitis.

12. Amrutharishta, Sudarsanasava, Dasamoola kaduthryam qwath, Indukantham qwath, Amruthotharam qwath, Septilin tablet and syrup, Step syrup and tablet etc are the commonly used medicines.