The Wellness Upgrade on Elevate Springfield featuring Kyleigh Melvin: Elevating Through the Power of the Allergy Bucket

Summary

In this conversation, Robert Ferriell and Kyleigh Melvin discuss the impact of nutrition on allergies, introducing the concept of the 'allergy bucket' and exploring both conventional and holistic approaches to managing allergy symptoms. They delve into the differences between first and second generation antihistamines, the importance of diet in allergy management, and various herbal remedies that can provide relief. The discussion emphasizes the significance of awareness regarding the effects of medications and the benefits of natural alternatives.

Takeaways

• Diet plays a crucial role in allergy severity.
• The 'allergy bucket' concept helps understand allergy triggers.
• First generation antihistamines can cause drowsiness.
• Second generation antihistamines are less sedating but still impactful.
• Natural remedies like stinging nettle can help manage allergies.
• Avoiding high histamine foods can reduce allergy symptoms.
• Maintaining a balanced gut is essential for allergy management.
• Awareness of medication side effects is important.
• Consulting with a holistic practitioner can provide personalized solutions.

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Transcript

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Welcome to Elevate Springfield, where we'll dive into strategies and stories that help you rise to your full potential. Each episode, we'll talk about how you can take intentional steps to elevate your life and your business while making a meaningful impact on those around you. Along the way, we're gonna bring in the change makers from our community that are already elevating. We'll bring the actionable strategies, you bring the discipline and follow through, and together we can elevate Springfield. Alright, let's go, Springfield. Time to 10X, time to level up. Hey, you are listening to the Elevate Springfield Podcast coming to you from the Big Dog Construction Studio in beautiful downtown Springfield. Robert Farrell here, Certified TenX coach, speaker, and mentor. Here to bring you actionable strategies. You bring the discipline and follow through. And together, we're going to Elevate Springfield. You are listening to the wellness upgrade on Elevate Springfield, where we're going to bring you specific strategies to help elevate your health and wellness. Say, if you're not elevating your health and wellness, you're not going to be able to elevate in all other areas. This is the baseline. You know I'm passionate about it. And you know that's why I brought this segment to Elevate Springfield. We're going to get right to our guest after the break. Looking for personalized insurance with hometown care, David Hilst, American Family Insurance Agent is here to help you protect what matters most: your family, your home, and your dreams. Whether it's auto, home, life, business, David and his team are proud to serve the Springfield community with trusted advice and reliable coverage. Local service, real relationships, peace of mind. Call today or stop by their office. They can build your dream protection plan together. Call 217-726-6343. And we are back for another edition of the Wellness Upgrade. Hey, familiar face. Been a little while since she's been in, but you know her, you love her. It is Kylie Melvin from the Primitive Prairie. How are we doing? I'm doing good. How are you doing? Fantastic. Welcome back. Thank you. So before we get into the topic of the day, remind everybody uh what you do. I am a holistic wellness practitioner and herbalist with the Primitive Prairie. There we go. So today's topic, I think it affects a lot of people. Yes. Um each and every day, each and every year when the seasons change, but allergies. Yes. So what do we get into with allergies today? So uh I wanted to go over some people may have heard of it. Um, I know some allergists have started talking more about it. It's more of a holistic thing, but I wanted to go over the allergy bucket uh and how you can lower your allergy bucket and try to avoid allergies. Um, I also wanted to talk about the first and second generation antihistamines that often get prescribed. So if you're on the more mild end of allergies, maybe some more holistic options you could look into if you wanted to avoid some of the side effects of the prescribed antihistamines. So the allergy bucket, you said it's a newer thing? Is that what you're saying? More not new, but holistic. I found it on accident because you know my husband asked me the same thing. He's like, where did you find out about this? I was like, and what it was was I was already searching that. Because I'm like, well, how can people lower their allergy load and the histamine response in their body? And then I kept finding these videos and studies on the allergy bucket. So it's this idea that there is this imaginary bucket, say it's a three-gallon bucket, and that bucket may already be 20% full because of your genetics. Maybe you're more predisposed to have a sensitive histamine response in your body. And then there's things that people aren't aware of, like your diet is going to raise that bucket. And then you walk outside in the spring and all of a sudden you're having symptoms of allergies. You're having sneezing, itching eyes, they're watering, your throat feels scratchy. When you have the symptoms, that's when you know the bucket has officially overflowed. Oh, then a lot of people go to the doctor and you know that's the right thing to do. If you're having a scratchy throat and you feel like your throat's swelling up, like, yeah, go to the go to the doctor. Um, if it's a milder thing where you're like, I have red scratchy eyes, there's things you can do to manage it at home because the doctor's left with two options. They can put you on a short-term antihistamine, and those are called the first generation antihistamines, or they can put you on a long-term, whether they say, hey, take it all spring and fall, or they say take it all year long. Those daily long-term antihistamines are second generation antihistamines. Say it's a whole season, you're miserable every day and scratchy eyes. That's when you'll get the second generation antihistamine. And the reason they'll prescribe that is because it does have less side effects. Um, and there's a reason for that. And that's where I think when I speak to people and in everything I try to do, it's just awareness. It's always about awareness and teaching people like what is this doing to you? There's a time and a place always for medicine antihistamines. Don't avoid going to the doctor if your throat's closing up because of what I'm about to say. I'm not a I'm not a doctor. But it is good to know that people think of so a first generation antihistamine would be Benadryl. And it's a first generation because you take it short term, you shouldn't be taking Benadryl every day. And we all know that's because it's supposed to make you very drowsy. They're they're saying don't drive a vehicle, right? That's because it very heavily crosses the blood-brain barrier. Now they have done studies, um, and I made sure I pulled these from peer-reviewed medical journals. Um, because everybody likes to think uh all this natural stuff is just like a conspiracy sometimes. And these are from legitimate studies from legitimate journals, and they have found and finally confirmed that all of those second generation antihistamines, so that'll be your Claritin, your Xerotec, the things that they let you be on a lot longer, those also cross the blood-brain barrier. However, obviously not as strong as like Benadryl because you're not just falling over asleep after you take them. But it's strange how once you mention this to somebody that's on them long term, they're like, oh, I've noticed that. Like you might suddenly have less energy, you might be a little more moody. And one of the things is I say sometimes you'll even see attention deficit issues all of a sudden. Um, they'll even say sometimes it'll make ADHD symptoms worse, more brain fog. So if you're on a long-term one and your allergies just aren't that bad, maybe it's scratchy eyes and it's just annoying. I do have some natural options to maybe look into if you're somebody that's like, yeah, I kind of don't want to be on that every day for the next 10 years or however long. And I'm somebody who was also prescribed a second generation. It was in college, and I think I took it for a couple days, and then I was like this back then. That was like 15 to 20 years ago, and I'm I was already researching everything. So I've always been this way. So I didn't take it long term, but they did. They just looked in my throat and they didn't even allergy test me. They just looked in my throat and they're like, Yeah, I think you need to take Claritin every day. And I was like, Oh, until when? They're like, Well, every day. I was like, Oh, and I was a broke college student and I looked up the price. I was like, This is not cheap. Right, right. But that would be one of those second generation antihistamines, and so there's things I do personally to lower my allergy bucket because I usually get the spring and fall allergies. So this bucket, there's some things you should do. And here's a good example is we had forest school last week and I went into the woods fine. We played in a creek, and then on the hike back, I don't usually get it like this, but out of nowhere, my throat was like scratching, my nose was running, I was coughing nonstop. My friend was like, Are you okay? I'm like, I think something's blooming that is just hitting me all of a sudden. So the first things I would do is I obviously woke up that day and already had that imaginary uh allergy bucket pretty full, I'm assuming. Whether it was what I ate the night before, um, I maybe not sleeping well, that also can add to that. And a lot of people don't know that. But there's also this genetic predisposition to it as well. However, I guess one thing to keep in mind, and this is where people, they just they don't aren't aware of this. Your food is so important. I know we say that all the time. Um because it's so important. We say it all the time. Yeah, so already having a balanced gut helps in this situation, but there are actually foods you need to avoid that are high in histamines and will just overload that. So if I was having an allergy reaction like I had that day, I would actually avoid fermented foods, which I don't know if anybody's ever heard of me say that. Yeah, I think every other time we've talked about fermented foods, it's eat more. Eat more than that. Eat more fermented. So do not drink, which I don't really drink alcohol anyway, but avoid alcohol, avoid uh pasteurized products, and avoid anything fermented, whether it's like yogurt, kombucha, but these are things that can overload that as well. And then as usual, I'm always gonna say there's an herb that can help that is so good for you, which is stinging nettle. So you could take a stinging nettle tincture or a tea, and that has been studied. You always have to watch what I say, but stinging nettle has been studied and they have found that it does appear, you know, they like to word it funny, but it does appear to block histamine receptors. And not only that, but it helps with whole body inflammation. It's a more anti-inflammatory herb and it's high in vitamins, minerals, and iron. So you don't have these side effects, like you're not gonna get drowsy drinking stinging nettle. So it's just one of those things that if you're an allergy sufferer and you're just one of the rest of most of us just have mild, annoying allergies. There are steps you can take to actually diminish these. And along with that allergy bucket, if you have your windows open and you can tell when you wake up, close the windows, try to keep your house dust free. If you already know you're taking a medication, don't own cats, or maybe don't have them in your sleeping area. I hate to tell people not to own cats. I have a lot of cats. Well, I can't own cats because that's one thing that I'm allergic to. So I think we already tried to get you to take a kitten. Right. So we just, you know, it's one of those things like you need to look at everything around you that could be just loading up that bucket because once you have systems, that means you have overloaded your bucket. And diet has a lot to do with that and what you're exposing yourself to and what you're eating the day of a high response. And those are just little steps that people could take that really they would probably see a huge difference in just that alone. So, like I said, if they feel a little brain fog, a little out of out of sorts on an antihistamine, that's something to look into. Once again, if it's more mild, don't don't be having an allergic reaction and being like, oh, it's my it's my allergy. Right, right. But those are those are my mindful steps because it's that time of the year. No doubt about it. Yeah. Like we were talking before we went on air here. I I took Zyrtec every day for quite a long time. And looking back on it now, I was like, I should why why did I do that? That was stupid. I know. But at the time when they're saying long term, you usually think safety. I think safety, I know I did. I don't know. I used to think safety when a doctor would talk about you can just take this daily. It's like, oh, I must not do much. But um, it's it's good to know because it's not heavily advertised that these long-term ones do still cross that blood brain barrier. That's there to actually protect your brain. And so when things are crossing it that should not, it's good to know. I think it's it's wise to know. Let's touch a little deeper on that when you say cross the blood brain barrier. If somebody hasn't heard that term before, what are you meaning by that? It's usually like fat-soluble things can get through, they're carried through in different ways. It's supposed to be nutritive things to your brain that can cross that. Um, but of course, there are other means of things to get through, if that makes sense. And this is just one of those things like Benadryl can very easily uh penetrate and get through that protective barrier. And then those second generation ones, it takes a little more work, but you have to think if you're every day for it's it's getting through. And that they've just found it doesn't get through as strongly or as quickly as efficiently, maybe, but it does, they have found there are effects. So yeah. No, I think anything I have to take every single day forever, I don't want to do anymore. I just don't want to do that. Like to not do that. Yeah, so it's like I said, your average person is not having a huge reaction. We're just usually dry eyes, itchy eyes, sneezing a little. So you can take steps at home for that week or two that's really getting you to just bring that down and and get your body to adapt and calm down a little. It's always good to know when there's steps you could be taking before even feeling like you have to start taking something every day. Right. No, I hadn't heard the don't eat fermented foods during that. You almost never hear don't eat fermented foods. It's rare somebody says that. Right. But this is actually that is a high histamine. It's just one of those things that uh I don't think I would ever say that otherwise because I love fermented foods. Right. And I think I accidentally it was in the back of my mind going home that day from forest school, but I think I actually added some kombucha to my drink with dinner that day. But I'm not one that usually has it bad. Usually just something sets me off for like an hour and then I'm fine. So that is just one of the things to avoid, at least for those few days. Yeah. I would attest to the nutrition side because anecdotally, just for me personally, I know my allergies flared up the most when my nutrition was the most off point. And that's one of the you'll hear a ton of different practitioners saying different things about the allergy bucket. They all have different things they they say you should put in it. So everybody can research that on their own. But uh, there's quite a few that say you're already predisposed if your gut is out of balance. You're already predisposed to your bucket being so full before allergy season even comes. So that actually makes perfect sense to me. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. So you mentioned a couple of times, just remind everybody what forest school is. It's something really cool that you do. Forest school. Yeah, those kids are awesome. Uh, so forest school is a free, kind of homeschool based, but I guess I should I should say that in the summer we get public school kids. Um, but because it's a weekday during the year, it's mainly homeschool kids. But during the school year, we go out and learn about nature. We'll learn to identify plants, we'll learn how to identify trees, uh, migration patterns. And then in the summer, they're little feral animals out in creeks. That's what we do all summer. Summer's more free play and the school year is more learning, but we just go out and hike and it's totally free and it's twice a month. So if anybody wants to join it this summer, they would love that. There you go. Yeah. So other than the tea that you have, do you have anything else that you offer to help with allergies? Well, I have a couple, so it depends on what kind you have. So I have an allergy tincture, which still has stinging nettle as the main ingredient. So once again, the tinctures are alcohol-based. That's the solvent that pulls the medicinal properties. And then I have an allergy tea. And then I also finally made a sinus because they're kind of tied together. So I'm finally made a sinus tincture. And the difference is that has uh the herb goldenrod, which I feel like it's the only herb that has been strongly studied to clear out and dry up your sinuses. I'm one of those people that allergies really mess with my sinuses. So I actually prefer to take that during allergy season. And then I still drink stinging nettle every day anyway, because it's good for you. So um, those are the two I take. So I have three products pretty much for allergies. The sinus one, did you just start making that? A few months ago, and it's just because I know my struggles are different from the normal person with allergies. Uh, and my sinuses are just this time of the year, that's what gets me more, is I'll get sinus headaches. So I was like, well, I want something for people that are more sensitive to the weather changes and then the allergies on top of it. So that is pretty new. Yeah, that's a new one. All right. Well, the reason I ask is we have one at home, and I think we got it like six months ago. So I couldn't remember if it was yours or if it or if we bought it with somebody else that says sinus something on it. Yeah, this is only I feel like I made it in March or February. So I think it might be somebody else's. I don't know. Yeah. Well, we can get it from you from here on out, then there we go. Easy enough. So well, if anybody else wants help with this, wants a consultation, wants some of your products, hey, where how do they uh get a hold of you? Uh on my website. You can visit theprimitive prairie.com. I do have a booking tab where you can deal an introductory consult or follow-up consults. And then I you can also reach out to me on Facebook. I always for free will answer any questions about contraindications with herbs and your medication. Um, they can always just reach out on Facebook at our Instagram through the messaging app. So there we go. Well, appreciate it as always. Thank you. Great information. Thank you. Check out Kylie over at the Primitive Prairie. But in the meantime, we're gonna let Kylie get back to Elevate in Springfield. For the rest of y'all, we'll be right back. Hey, Springfield, when it comes to reliable, high-quality roofing, you don't want to leave things to chance. 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