Dr. Mercola January 30 2002 8,394 views
By Dr. Andreas Schapowal
Allergic rhinitis , whether seasonal or constant are characterized by sneezing, runny nose, blocked nasal passages, itchy eyes and throat, and runny eyes.
Although the term hay fever is commonly used for seasonal allergic rhinitis, it is inappropriate because the symptoms are neither produced by hay nor associated with fever. Allergic rhinitis is caused by pollen allergens falling on the mucous membranes of the nose, resulting in a hypersensitivity reaction.
Butterbur (Petasites hybridus; butter dock, bog rhubarb, exwort) is an Asteraceae herbaceous plant native to Europe, northern Africa, and south western Asia.
Extracts of butterbur have been used in bronchial asthma, smooth muscle spasms, and headache, and studies have shown that they inhibit the biosynthesis of leukotrienes, which may be associated with antispasmodic activity and anti-inflammatory hypersensitivity.
The usual treatment for seasonal allergic rhinitis is antihistamines. These reduce the runny nose and sneezing but are less effective for nasal congestion and may cause sedation and drowsiness.
The availability of steroid nasal sprays without prescription has increased their use by patients with allergic rhinitis. Similarly, antihistamines can be obtained over the counter for treatment of hay fever, and all may interact with alcohol and decrease driving ability.
Value of Butterbur
The study found that the butterbur was comparable to the effectiveness of the antihistamines as judged separately and blindly by patients and their doctors.
With regard to safety, butterbur was well tolerated and did not have the sedative effects associated with antihistamines. Fatigue and drowsiness accounted for two thirds of the side effects reported in the antihistamine group.
Butterbur can be found growing along rivers, ditches, and marshy areas in northern Asia, Europe, and parts of North America. It sends up stalks of reddish flowers very early in spring, before producing very large heart-shaped leaves with a furry gray underside.
Once the leaves appear, butterbur somewhat resembles rhubarb-one of its common names is bog rhubarb. It is also sometimes referred to as "umbrella leaves" due to the size of its foliage. Other more or less descriptive common names abound, including blatterdock, bogshorns, butter-dock, butterly dock, capdockin, flapperdock, and langwort.
Butterbur is often described as possessing an unpleasant smell, but being malodorous hasn't protected it from harvesting by humans. The plant has a long medicinal history, including use for stomach cramps, whooping cough, and asthma.
British Medical Journal January 19, 2002; 324:144
Herbs are nearly always less toxic and less expensive than drugs. However, they are clearly only a band-aid and not to be used as a long-term solution.
This appears to be one of the first published reports suggesting this herb is useful for allergies. It had been primarily used to treat migraines. I typically advise my patients to use a herbal combination product of quercitin and stinging nettles which works quite nicely. I have no experience with the butterbur product, but it might be useful.
I normally find that most people's allergies dramatically improve when they follow the eating plan.
For over ten years I used a variety of intradermal allergy desensitization techniques, including provocation neutralization (popularized by the American Academy of Environmental Medicine -AAEM). While many of these worked quite nicely, they were always long and drawn out and relatively difficult to implement.
I gradually adopted a variety of bioenergetic approaches to resolve the remaining allergies that works quite well for the vast majority of our patients. I hope to outline those approaches in upcoming issues.
These methods would be far preferable to using an herb as they tend to resolve the problem at the source.
Some 50 million people suffer from allergies in the United States alone. If you are among them, you should seriously consider utilizing what is perhaps the most effective preventive against allergens in your home: a high-quality air purifier. However, be very careful. Most of the models out there, especially the popular ones, don't get the job done properly.
My team and I have analyzed this, and the one home air purifier I now recommend highly is the Way Healthier Air Purifier. I encourage you to read more about it, including why the technology it uses makes it so much more reliable and effective than other types of air purifiers.
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"Herbs are nearly always less toxic and less expensive than drugs. However, they are clearly only a band-aid and not to be used as a long-term solution."
That's absurd!
I have helped many patients successfully overcome allergies using herbs. They are effective for acute symptom relief and they can provide long term improvement and even cure. Typically, the Traditional Chinese Medical (TCM) view is that the lung network and digestive system (poorly translated as "spleen") are depleted, leading to a sort of hyper-defensive state that produces immune responses to harmless materials, such as dust and pollen. When these organs are rehabilitated using tonic herbs (e.g., codonopsis, licorice, atractylodes, astragalus, & others) they gradually become less prone to "invasion" by allergens and are stable even in the presence of these formerly antagonistic factors. The digestive system is of particular significance, since the main digestive organs are considered to be the "mother" of the lung system, and directly affect the lungs' vitality. Moreover, the digestive organs are considered to be a primary source of phlegm production when they are not functioning optimally or the diet is out of balance.
It is worth noting that a unique strength of TCM in the treatment of allergies is that "allergy" doesn't actually figure into Chinese diagnostic terminology. Thus, each patient's case must be considered individually. "Dust mite allergy" could be a 3 different patterns in 3 different people. While this makes diagnosis a more difficult process, it also makes for a highly effective system of medicine. It is also worth noting that not all acupuncturists in the U.S. have training in Chinese herbal medicine, and much of the herbal training programs in the U.S. still leave much to be desired. But in the hands of a well-trained herbalist, herbs are easily as effective as pharmaceutical drugs while also possessing the ability to support a person's core vitality.
- Peter Borten, L.Ac.