May 14, 2020

Does your favorite rose bush leave you sneezing, or a bug bite cause an itchy welt on your arm? Chances are you’ve popped a little pink antihistamine pill looking for help. Antihistamines block the body’s histamine receptors. Histamine is a substance released by cells when something harmful is detected like an allergen such as a flower’s pollen or the sting of an insect. These drugs provide some relief, but your symptoms will come roaring back once they’ve worn off. They also come with that one big drawback you know all too well — excessive sleepiness — because they inhibit other essential functions that histamine has in your body.

Fortunately, homeopathy has a simple answer for those suffering from allergies. Histaminum hydrochloricum is a versatile remedy that works for a range of allergic conditions.

How Histamine Works

Histamine is present in the cells and tissues throughout your body, and it’s also naturally occurring in the venom of wasps, bees, and jellyfish. People with allergies may view histamine as the enemy, but it serves a necessary purpose.

On a basic level, histamine helps protect the body and get rid of things that bother you. For instance, histamine gets released during injuries and infections. It works to increase blood flow in the affected area for the benefit of healing. It’s this blood flow effect (vasodilation) that unfortunately causes you to itch, sneeze, or tear up in response to an allergen, which your body perceives as a threat and attacks. As a neurotransmitter, histamine also sends signals to your stomach to produce acid and to your brain to keep you alert, which is the reason antihistamines can leave you feeling sluggish.

Issues arise when histamine levels are excessive, as is the case with allergic conditions. In these situations, harmless substances like food or pollen can set off rapid production of more histamine. As you continue to encounter these triggers, histamine production stays high and leads to those well-known and annoying reactions in our eyes, nose, and skin.

Histaminum Hydrochloricum for Allergies

Histaminum hydrochloricum is prepared from a salt of histamine called histamine dihydrochloride. Unlike antihistamines that block the body’s response, a microdose of histamine dihydrochloride can help your body regulate how much histamine it naturally makes. Therefore, you’ll get all the benefits of allergy relief without feeling drowsy.

This “blue tube” medicine is so versatile that you’ll want to keep it always stocked in your first aid kit. It relieves symptoms of allergic conditions, including hay fever.* You can find it as an active ingredient in RhinAllergy for this purpose. It’s also a useful remedy for hives and reactions to insect stings.*

For general use throughout allergy season and beyond, dissolve 5 pellets of Histaminum hydrochloricum 30C under the tongue three times a day until symptoms are relieved. When treating hives and other skin reactions, use 5 pellets every hour, then decrease the frequency as your symptoms improve.