Ah, when the days of summer are lazy, hazy, and making people crazy—with hay fever. Ragweed allergies hit hard this at this time of year. The unfortunates are easy to spot—their coughing, watery eyes, sneezing, and fatigue give them away. Among the sufferers are a growing number of middle-aged people who’ve never had hay fever before. Why the sudden uptick of seasonal allergies in the middle aged?

Why Allergies Develop During Middle Age

Allergy experts posit several reasons. Air pollution has been found to work synergistically with allergens to create more hay fever symptoms. There have also been increasing levels of pollen counts—both in terms of daily averages and “number of days when pollen exceeds a certain limit,” said Harsan Arshad, professor of Allergy and Clinical Immunology at the University of Southampton, in an interview with the Telegraph. In the past, an allergic response may not have been triggered because pollen levels were lower.

Climate change is also causing an increase in allergies. The Union of Concerned Scientists reported that “[c]arbon dioxide, the heat-trapping gas that is the primary cause of our warming planet, increases the growth rate of many plants and increases the amount and potency of pollen. Rising temperatures extend the growing season and the duration of allergy season.”

Fortunately, there are many ways to fight hay fever naturally.

Natural Remedies for Hay Fever

• Butterbur & Nettles as an Antihistamine

  Extracts of the herbs stinging nettle and butterbur help relieve seasonal allergy symptoms. Nettle decreases inflammation and acts as an antihistamine. Butterbur also works as an antihistamine, and research shows it can be as effective as Zyrtec and Allegra—without as much drowsiness or fatigue.

  If you want to try butterbur, look for Petadolex; this is a special extract of the herb that removes the liver-toxic pyrrolizidine alkaloids from its roots.

• Garlic for Sinus Congestion

  This common kitchen herb helps treat allergy-related sinus congestion and coughs. With more than 70 active ingredients, garlic can also help reduce inflammation and boost the immune system.

  Other remedies for seasonal allergies include Pycnogenol, a pine bark extract rich in antioxidants, and bromelain, an enzyme derived from pineapple that can reduce nasal swelling and inflammation.

• Medicinal Mushrooms for Immunity

  “Allergies occur when the immune system is irritated and malfunctioning, eliciting an immune response to otherwise harmless substances,” said herbalist Maria Noël Groves. “Over time, you may be able to decrease incendiary inflammation and retrain the immune system so that you’re less reactive to pollen.”

  To do so, Groves recommends medicinal mushrooms including reishi, chaga, and shiitake, as well as astragalus root. All appear to strengthen the immune system, she said.

Homeopathy v. Hay Fever

Researchers have found certain homeopathic treatments help with hay fever. One study showed that hay fever symptoms were better reduced by a homeopathic remedy compared to placebo. In another study of patients with hay fever, the authors found that “the homeopathy group had a significant objective improvement in nasal airflow compared with placebo group.”

Several homeopathic medicines, including those manufactured by Boiron, can target specific allergy symptoms. Here are a few to consider.

Nasal congestion: Apis mellifica relieves nasal congestion with stinging pain and swollen nasal mucosa caused by allergies.

Sneezing: Reach for Galphimia glauca, which helps with sneezing fits associated with hay fever.

Eye allergies: Euphrasia officinalis relieves abundant and irritating eye discharge.

General allergy symptoms: Histaminum hydrochloricum is well-known and widely used to ease a variety of allergy symptoms, including sneezing, runny nose, and itching.

Burning nasal discharge: Kali iodatum alleviates burning discharge, especially when accompanied by with pain at the base of the nose.

Runny nose: Natrum muriaticum targets a runny nose from allergies with clear, watery discharge that is worse in the morning

Lifestyle Hacks for Hay Fever

In the battle of human versus ragweed, more than herbs are needed. Saline sprays or xylitol sprays help unclog the nose, reduce inflammation, decrease postnasal drip, and flush away allergens. A neti pot works similarly.

Wraparound sunglasses can protect eyes from pollen as can eye drops. During a high pollen day, take a shower when you get home and change your clothing. Keep windows shut as much as possible. Avoid doing yard work.

Certain foods fight allergies by boosting immunity and triggering allergy-easing processes in your body. In addition to garlic, eat broccoli, citrus fruits, onion, and leafy greens like collards and kale.

Join Mycologist Paul Stamets in one of Fungi Perfecti's grow rooms, to learn the connections between mycelium and mushrooms.

In traditional herbal medicine there is a longstanding technique of determining what an herb might be good for called the Doctrine of Signatures. It was thought that by examining where and how an herb grows, its color, shape, etc., one could determine some of its possible medicinal applications.

So what does this have to do with a mushroom?  

Interestingly enough, there is a mushroom that grows as a knot on trees on an island called Women’s Island off the coast of Japan. This mushroom, Phellinus linteus, is commonly called meshimakobu in Japan, meaning “knot on Women’s Island.” Its name has been shortened to meshima in the West. What ties this medicinal mushroom to the ancient doctrine is that several studies have demonstrated significant promise for its use in supporting healthy breast tissue.

From Tradition to Current Research

This hoof-shaped “woody” mushroom looks a bit like an elephant’s foot and has a preference for mulberry trees. Called Sang Hwang in Korea, it has been used for centuries in traditional medicine as an overall health aid and, to this day, is used to improve blood circulation, allergies, diabetes, and pain from inflammation. It also enhances detoxification.

In research over the last 50 years, the focus has been on its promising immune health-related activities, particularly with cancer.

From the earliest research performed in the 1960s to today, meshima has ranked at or near the top of immune-activating and tumor-inhibiting medicinal mushrooms in comparative studies. In one study performed by the “godfather of modern medicinal mushroom research,” Takashi Mizuno, 27 mushrooms were compared for their ability to suppress tumor growth. Meshima came out on top with a 96.7% inhibition rate.

Immune benefits include activating several types of immune cells, including T, B, NK, dendritic, and macrophage. A novel polysaccharide from meshima was found to stimulate the tumoricidal activities of macrophage and NK cells. 

The immune actions are thought to be primarily due to its polysaccharides, which are concentrated in a hot water extraction. These compounds have been shown to increase the numbers of T lymphocytes and activated B cells while increasing macrophage activity. And while research has shown that meshima stimulates Th1 immunity, it also has demonstrated anti-inflammatory actions suggesting that it may work as an immune modulator.

Promising Adjunct Remedy

While breast cancer mortality rates have been declining over the last few decades, it is still the leading cause of death in middle-aged women.

What makes meshima such a promising ally is the range of actions that it has exhibited in the research; including immune activation, induction of apoptosis, and inhibiting the metastatic behavior of breast cancer. It is this invasive behavior that is largely responsible for breast cancer’s high mortality.

According to the latest research, meshima inhibits the invasive behavior by means of several mechanisms; inhibiting proliferation, colony formation, cell adhesion, cell migration, and cell invasion.

Another tactic that meshima uses to support the body’s efforts in fighting cancer, especially breast cancer, is by inhibiting the early steps in cancer creating a “food supply” for itself—a process called angiogenesis, where new blood vessels are formed to supply the cancer. Tumor growth and spread are dependent upon this formation of new blood vessels to survive and thrive.

Plays Well with Others

Meshima offers a number of supportive and synergistic actions in the battle against cancer as well, including: enhancing liver detoxification while protecting the liver, increasing glutathione (the body’s most powerful endogenous antioxidant) levels, helping to balance blood sugar levels, and possibly offering synergistic support to conventional therapies. 

One study with a melanoma strain of cells found a synergistic antitumor action with Adriamycin while another study utilizing prostate cancer cells found a synergistic apoptosis-inducing activity with the drug doxorubicin.

In a lab study looking at breast cancer and the use of chemotherapy with meshima, the researchers suggested it might be possible to use a lower dose of chemo and still yield the same results as a higher dose of chemo alone.

A Remedy Whose Time Has Come

While the vast majority of the research with the meshima mushroom has been performed in the lab, the work that has been done suggests much promise. Meshima research has demonstrated potential for the big five of suppressing cancer and its spread:

1. Immune supporting
2. Growth inhibiting
3. Reducing invasive behavior
4. Inhibiting angiogenesis
5. Supporting conventional therapies while reducing side effects.

While the research continues, there is a good case to be made for the use of a meshima mushroom extract to support us our healing path.