Be Well: How Acupuncture Relieved My Seasonal Allergies

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Seed catalogues fill the mailbox, vegetation peeks out from the snowpack and days are a bit softer, with more daylight. But sweet spring breezes also bring my chronically runny nose, itchy eyes, and sinus headaches.

Seasonal allergies have been my lifelong companion. They have traveled with me from childhood into adult land, from the OTC aisle to the allergy doctor and back again. Relief was temporary, medications made me sleepy or jittery. Nasal steroids helped, but they also dried my nose to the point of bleeding.

After an off-and-on, three-year sinus infection, I tried allergy shots (twice a week for a year). They helped, but in high allergy season, I drifted back to decongestants, nasal sprays and antihistamines.

I was trapped on the merry-go-round of sniffles, sneezing, sinus pressure and infection, when a casual acquaintance suggested acupuncture. He gave me the name of his doctor—and changed my life.

Read the full article from Minneapolis.St.Paul Magazine here.