Allergic rhinitis is an inflammatory disorder of the nasal mucosa triggered by exposure to allergens such as pollen, dust mites, pet dander, or mold spores. The pathophysiology involves a complex interplay of immune cells, mediators, and inflammatory pathways.
Chronic suppression of cold symptoms with anti-allergic medications, such as antihistamines or decongestants, can potentially increase the risk of developing allergies or worsening existing allergic conditions.
- Anti-allergic medications mask the underlying immune response without addressing the root cause.
- Prolonged use of anti-allergic medications may have immunomodulatory effects, altering the balance of the immune system and potentially promoting allergic sensitization.
- Topical decongestants, when used chronically, can cause nasal mucosal atrophy and rebound congestion upon discontinuation.
- Chronic use of certain anti-allergic medications may disrupt the nasal microbiome, altering the composition of beneficial bacteria and promoting dysbiosis.
And that is precisely why Homeopathy works wondrously in cases of allergies, provided you know your materia medica. Let us differentiate the remedies most commonly used in allergic rhinitis.
Aconite
- Coryza caused by cold, dry winds; dry at first with violent headache, roaring in ears, fever, thirst, sleeplessness; heat and sense of fulness in nares.
- Muscles sore all over the body so that sneezing forces him to support chest; fluent coryza with frequent sneezing with a swollen, red inner nose that interferes with breathing, (>) in cool room and open air.
Alumina
- Great accumulation of mucus in the evening and in the morning on walking, with frequent hawking and difficult discharge of dry, yellowish-green mucus, with weak or entire loss of smell.
Ammonium carb
- WINTER CATARRHS. Cold commences in head, nose stopped up at night, can only breathe with mouth open (with shut, awakes as if smothering); followed by profuse discharge of sharp burning water in daytime, which is apt to run down in throat.
- Frequent sneezing with epistaxis, when blowing nose; (<) towards morning, 3 A. M
Ammonium mur
- One nostril stopped up during the day, both nostrils at night; loss of smell; hoarseness and burning in larynx; watery, acrid coryza, corroding the lip; itching in nose and frequent sneezing; burning in eyes and lachrymation at night
Arsenicum iod
- Frequent sneezing, severe coryza with catarrhal tendency; pungent irritation about nose and eyes and an irritating about nose and eyes and an irritating watery discharge.
Arum triph
- Nostrils raw and bloody, the left discharge continuously; discharge of burning, ichorous fluid from nose, excoriating nostrils, upper lip and corners of mouth; nose stuffed, can only breathe with mouth open, bores and picks in nose, (<) mornings; sneezing, (<) at night; can hardly talk on account of phlegm in back part of throat. Snuffles of babes.
Bryonia
- Severe dry coryza with catarrh of the frontal and maxillary cavities and severe drawing-tearing, twitching and stitching pain in affected parts; or fluent coryza, beginning with violent and frequent sneezing accompanied by stitching headache when stooping
Calcarea carb
- Sudden, violent, fluent coryza with dropping of water from nose; much sneezing; heat in head; mouth dry; heat and chill alternately; pain over root of nose; neck stiff; inertia; takes cold easily; postnasal catarrhs.
Allium Cepa
- Acrid watery discharge from the nose, it drops from the tip of the nose; in the evening, sometimes with a pain in the larynx as if it would be torn; cold after damp north-east winds.
- Cold begins mostly in left side and goes to the right; catarrh, with epiphora and smarting of the eyes, with violent sneezing
Dulcamara
- Dry coryza, (<) during rest and in cold air; (>) during motion, renewed by the least exposure, skin hot and dry, limbs cold, stiff, numb and painful; offensive sweat; discharge suppressed from lest contact with cold, damp air, or from changes from hot to cold weather; rough and hoarse voice.
Eucalyptus
- Profuse watery discharge from nose; soreness and irritative heat through nasal passages and throat; great weakness and languor in the morning (Ars., evening); heat and restlessness at night; talks through the nose; takes cold very easily.
Euphrasia
- Burning coryza; increasing in the evening, with flow of tears and cough; the discharge of the nose mild, the tears acrid, and the cough worse during the day (opposite to Cepa) after windy weather; profuse bland coryza, with scalding tears and aversion to light; (<) at night while lying down.
Ferrum phos
- Coryza at the very beginning; frontal headache, (>) by nosebleed; chill returning at the same time every day, while sitting at table, 1 P.M.
Kali bi
- Catarrh of fauces and trachea; great accumulation of ropy mucus and expectoration of solid chunks from posterior nares; hoarseness; cough; suppressed voice; burning of the mucous membrane, extending up into the nostrils; enlarged tonsils causing dulness of hearing; ulceration in pharynx and larynx; oppressed breathing; coryza, with pressure and tightness at root of nose, (<) evenings and in the open air, (>) in warm weather; in the morning, obstruction and bleeding from right nostril; fluent coryza, excoriating nose and lips.
Kali mur
- Catarrh with profuse coryza, twitching of the masseter muscles; luminous vibrations before eyes when sneezing; gums bleed, other scorbutic symptoms; brassy taste; fetid breath.
Lachesis
- Coryza preceded for one or two days by a feeling of soreness, rawness, and scraping in the throat; excessive sneezing
- Extremely copious discharges of watery mucus; swelling and soreness of the nares and lips; plug in the nostrils; lachrymation; or instead of discharge, obstruction of the nose, with buzzing in the ears.
Merc Sol
- Frequent sneezing, copious discharge of watery saliva; swelling, redness, and rough, scraping soreness of the nose, with itching and pain in the nasal bones on pressing upon them; fetid smell of the nasal mucus
- Painful heaviness of the forehead; night-sweats, chills and feverish heat; great thirst; pain in the limbs, aggravated by warmth or cold, by dampness.
Natrum carb
- VIOLENT SNEEZING, profuse discharge of rather thin white mucus, (<) from least exposure to air or when removing an article of clothing; loss of smell and taste; nose stopped up at night; (<) on alternate days; (>) after sweat (Merc. (<) after sweat); REMOVES DISPOSITION TO CATCH COLD.
Natrum mur
- Catarrh of frontal sinuses with neuralgic pains, involving the sinus and eye, often extending down to the cheek-bone, with puffiness of the eye, (<) when moving the eye, especially when looking downward; squirming in right nostril as of a small worm; sneezing worse when undressing at night or when rising in the morning (Rum.)
Nux vomica
- During the first stage, dryness and obstruction of the nose, with heaviness in the forehead and impatient mood; catarrh fluent in the morning and dry in the evening and at night, with dryness of the mouth without much thirst
- < in warm air, > in cold air; sneezing early in bed; scraping in nose and throat; chills and heat alternate in the evening, with great heat of the face and head; acrid discharge from the obstructed nose; stoppage of the nose, particularly outdoors, but fluent indoors; (<) from exposure to dry, cold air
Pulsatilla
- Coryza, fluid or dry, loss of taste and smell, nostrils sore; wings raw; later yellow-green discharge, (<) in-doors; chilliness, face pale, head confused, frontal headache; chronic, thick, yellow, bland discharge or later yellow, green and offensive.
Sabadilla
- Hay fever; coryza, with severe frontal pains and redness of eyelids, violent sneezing, and copious watery discharge from nose and eyes.
Sanguinaria
- Coryza, particularly of the right nostril, accompanied by much sneezing, with dull, heavy pains over the root of the nose and stinging sensation in nose; copious, acrid, burning, watery discharge from nose, causing an indescribable rawness of the Schneiderian membrane
Wyethia [Wye]
Pricking dry sensation in posterior nares; granular appearance of the pharyngeal mucous membrane.
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