*Caution!*  This is an actual, seriously helpful post!  Please don't faint in disbelief!  Thank you. 
 
In one sense I'm fortunate not to have allergies for most of the year, just June but, whatever it is that causes my allergies in June makes me almost completely useless since it not only causes near continuous sneezing, but my eyes get blood red and water like crazy making it nearly impossible to see (plus the white parts actually swell so that the colored disk in the middle sinks in and generally scares the crap out of anyone who has to see me during this month.
 
Each year I try to get a better hold on things (like only wiping my eyes with a clean towel to make sure dirt and pollen don't get in them, using nasal spray, Claritin AND allergy eye-drops).  Then I received an email from a doctor out of Florida that I subscribe to (Dr. Sears - highly recommended for many "truth" versus media and big pharma info).  Here's what he said to try:

• Rhodiola Rosea - 200mg (Oxygen)
  
• Purslane - 5-10 grams of seeds - This is actually the 7th-most pervasive weed in lawns!
  
• Stinging Nettle (Urtica Dio/Ca) - Most use this as a tea, I just got the supplement.
  
• Quercetin - 500mg twice a day
  
• Pineapple Extract (Bromelain) 2,400 GDU - 400-500mg  (I actually just got a single supplement that had this and Quercetin.)
  
• Vitamin C
  

Since this year was extremely wet and allergies were predicted to be worse than normal, I got two month's worth of everything (from Swanson Vitamins - love their website!) and started in mid-May.  So, what was the result?
 
I didn't have ANY symptoms for the entire time!  Even though I had nasal spray, Claritin and allergy eye-drops ready just in case, I never used any of them!  I took everything except the Stinging Nettle and Vitamin C about 20 minutes before going to sleep at night, then had the others after breakfast.
 
Needless to say, I'm a believer! 
 
Hopefully, this information will help other sufferers out there.

bump

Thanks craig.
 
Flonase once a week does wonders for me.

I used to get terrible allergy symptoms during Sept. and Oct. when I lived in Dallas. Ragweed. I could check the air quality report in the Morning News whenever the symptoms started, and sure enough, ragweed was very high.
If I didn't take Actifed all day, every day during that period, my nose would run like Niagara Falls.
My solution? Moved back to NC. Haven't taken an allergy pill in 15 years.

I used to get really bad hayfever. Then about 20 years ago I started eating this raw honey from the local organic health store every day. Within a couple of months I had seen the last of my hayfever and haven't had it since. I think it was all the pollen. And it wasn't as if it were even local pollen - it was African honey. I've read that you can now get a series of pollen shots to built up your immunity. Perhaps that's what I was doing, but slower. 

sharke
I used to get really bad hayfever. Then about 20 years ago I started eating this raw honey from the local organic health store every day. Within a couple of months I had seen the last of my hayfever and haven't had it since. I think it was all the pollen. And it wasn't as if it were even local pollen - it was African honey. I've read that you can now get a series of pollen shots to built up your immunity. Perhaps that's what I was doing, but slower. 

Our oldest son went through a vaccine program like that, that lasted 3 or so years  
He's almost completely over his allergies, and he was home from school over half the time from May 'til July before he started..

Not a big fan of conspiracy theories, but spent about 15 years on the "inside" of the healthcare delivery system. Saw sick s**t I never got numb to.
 
The real guys on the front line, nurses, docs, other support staff are there are trying to serve you when you go in to the ER with a gut ache. They are struggling to live a personal ideal and not get the last vestige of humanity crushed out of them when they realize what they are working under and what they got to do to keep their job..
 
The bastards running the show, economists in the ivory towers and the insurance companies have another agenda. Your well being is only a concern if it turns a profit. Eat s**t and die if you don't fit the plan.
 
Had to meet with a drug rep awhile ago. The guy was bummed out and depressed.
 
Pacific Northwest weather had been a godsend to us in that airy Spring. Weather warm and clear, beautiful. Break from the rains. Paradise as much as could be on earth.
 
The drug rep said he hated the weather. Responded that it was fantastic, what was the problem.
 
He was depressed but straightforward honest. The clear weather had reduced the mold load in the air. Less people were suffering from allergies. Less allergies meant less sales of his antihistamine line. Pray for rain and human misery so he could sell drugs.
 
Mad magazine years ago had one of their wacky ad parodies. Was about a cold remedy. Reduces all the symptoms, revives you back into life. What did they have against the cold virus? Nothing, they loved it. Gets you back out into the public so you spread the virus and more people will buy the product.
 
Will share another natural allergy remedy that I hope will help. But also a warning about some of the prescription allergy medications and the over the counter eye drops. They are designed to keep you coming back for more. Programmed addiction at your expense.
 
The USA healthcare system has different agenda depending on the level of the delivery system. Insurance wants you to be healthy so as not to go to a doc and eat into the monthly profit. Delivery team at the economic rim (not the front line warriors) wants you to be maintained, not cured.
 
Nothing so auspicious as an 18 year old kid diagnosed with hi cholesterol. We are so fortunate to have discovered this problem. We can treat and keep you alive for 70 more years as long as you keep filling the prescription and show up for checkups, credit card in hand.
 
Can tell some of this now that I am retired. What are they going to do, fire me? Will share some stuff on allergy meds and how they are taking you for a ride. It's not your nose, it's your wallet they want.
 
John
 
 
 

The natural relief stuff would open a can of worms, so just some warnings about the OTC allergy meds, eye drops etc.
Main culprit aiming at your yen are the decongestants added. One trying to get relief from allergies should at least understand this dynamic. Only motive sharing this is to help avoid bad stuff.
 
The eye drops...
 
Until recently, you could not get pure antihistamine eye drop over the counter. Zatidor is now available, and my advice to only go with this unless you are doing an RX for Patanol or something equivalent. Avoid the other products because they got a trap there designed to keep you coming back.
 
Think about it. A pure antihistamine eye drop requires a doctors intervention but antihistamine plus the decongestant, far more toxic, is available as fast as you can fire up the credit card.
 
The decongestant "gets the red out". Works really well and fast. Couple downsides however they don't tell you about. The decreased circulation from collapsing the blood vessels lessens the body's ability to deal with the allergen. Secondly the constriction is met with a systemic response to blow the blood supply up again. The addiction cycle starts in as little as 3 days.
 
Works real good. Gets the eyes white, but hell, you are having to use them more often and back for another bottle. Eyes getting redder and redder. Dam those allergies. At lease there is relief from the drug counter.
 
Afrin type nose sprays are the same. Not to say they don't work in a crisis, but use them for a week and you are a committed customer.
 
Same, maybe to a lesser degree with the RX antihistamine plus decongestant pills. Use them for a month and you are crawling back for a prescription refill as long as you live.
 
You may have seasonal or permanent allergies, but may also have been in some temporary crisis that needed a bit of chemical love to get you through the stuffed nose. By the time you are hooked on the combo bombs, you can't tell the difference between the long gone allergy and struggling with the current addiction.
 
I've helped get many off of the Claritin-D, Allegra-D poisons by having them stop the pills and take only the antihistamine component. Both nostrils will slam shut in the revolt of being denied the vasoconstrictor..
 
Use the Afrin drug in one nostril only to breathe as the body revolts. The other nostril will open and heal within 2 weeks. Then stop the spray and that nostril will close completely. Couple weeks later, you can breathe normally again.
 
Just a note on those using things like Flonase nasal spray for allergies. Goes as well for steroid inhalers for asthma. Be really sure you gargle deeply and spit out a couple minutes after you have used them. These things work different from antihistamines and rely on shutting down the immune system anywhere the mist or powder touches. Means the back of your throat. Got to wash off the collateral exposure so not to be open to every bacteria and virus you breathe in.
 
Okay, done said my piece. Can let this fred retire off to the bottom of the bird cage.
 
John