Natural or Not?

Spring and Fall are my favorite times of the year.  Except for allergies, that is. 

Allergies. 

Yuck.

The sniffling, sneezing, watery eyes, itchy nose and ears, and sore throat don't bother me.  Well, they DO, but I can live with it.  After all, everyone else is dealing with it too. You see each other in the aisle at the grocery store, nod and say "you too?" Soon after you hear a loud sneeze followed by "Bless you!" in the next aisle.  They have allergies too. 

No, none of that phases me for long.  What bothers me are the horrible headaches, the kind that are *this close* to being migraines.  The kind that keep me down and out for days on end.  The ones that make me want to die.  Now.  Today.  No, yesterday, before I felt this bad. 

Add to that, the loopy feeling from the allergy medicines.  OTC and/or prescription allergy medicines. Both of them make me feel worse.  They help my allergy symptoms for a little while, but not long enough.  An hour or more before it's time to take another, the effectiveness starts wearing off.  Then, after taking another, it takes an additional hour to kick in. That's two or more hours every so often that I feel worse than if I take NOTHING.  Ibuprofen, acetomenophen, aspirin, none of these completely work.  They take the edge off the ache, but it's still there.  Nagging.  Making me grumpy.  And mean.  And nasty.  I don't like being around me when I act like that. 

This past Spring Break, while in Corpus Christi visiting with a friend, I heard about oil pulling.  It sounded interesting. And, since nothing else was working, I tried it.  Amazingly, it helped.  More than the conventional meds and without making me loopy.  I've been doing it ever since. 

Now fall allergy season is at it's peak.  I am continuing oil pullling.   Unfortunately, a few allergy symptoms remain.  The worst being headaches.  They aren't as bad as previous years.  But, they are still there and bad enough for me to go searching for additional natural remedies to alleviate my aches and pains.

Vicks VapoRub has long been a go to for me when congested.  I usually put some on my feet at night and wear socks to bed.  Something about it being on your feet really helps. (I should say "Thanks!!" to my mother in law.  She told me this trick when my boys were little.  It helped.) 

The past two nights, I forgot to do it and have woken up with horrible headaches.  Today, before walking, I massaged some into my feet.  Oh my goodness!  I will be doing this every day!  As I was walking, my sinuses opened up.  My head cleared.  The headache faded away and I felt GREAT!  It has lasted for several hours. 

Thanks to my wonderful Facebook friends, I have a couple of new things to try. 

Raw, local honey to help me basically vaccinate myself against the local allergens.  I like this idea.  It's basically a tasty way to have an allergy shot.  Minus the shot.  No needles?  Nice! 

The other is cayenne pepper.  Still figuring this one out, but it sounds interesting.  More research is necessary, but the idea is great.  Once I figure it out, I'm sure I will try this too.  A little cayenne in some V8.  Sounds like a yummy appetizer, right?

So, what about you?  Do you take conventional allergy meds?  Do you try the natural remedies?  Any of these?  Different ones?  What are your experiences, good and bad?  I need real information from real people.  Help a sister out! 

Coffee:  Why yes, and with honey to sweeten my last cup.  Different.  Very different.  Not sure I was thrilled with my coffee tasting like honey.  But.....