As many as 50 million Americans have allergies, including 36 million who suffer from seasonal allergies and at least 14 million who have food allergies.
Seasonal Allergies, also known as hay fever, can make you miserable. Millions of Americans hate the springtime because for them it means constant sneezing, congestion, watery, itchy eyes, runny nose, mental dullness, poor concentration, headaches and fatigue.
Most Americans reach for a prescription drug or OTC anti-histamine to treat their allergies, however, these drugs often cause significant adverse effects and unwanted symptoms that can be worse than the allergies.
What does Dr. Hansen Recommend for Seasonal Allergies?
Dr. Hansen says, “If you want to stop allergic symptoms fast without resorting to taking drugs, you can take the formula that I prescribe to my patients called Flavinox™. It contains a combination of Leucoselect® grape seed extract (equivalent to 4 lbs of seeded grapes), green tea extract, quercitin from onion skins and Vitamin C.
Leucoselect® grape seed extract is sold as a prescription drug in France and Germany, but is available without a prescription in Flavinox™.
I have seen many patients who come to my office in the spring carrying a box of Kleenex and their Claritin or Zyrtec who are still sneezing incessantly, and unable to see out of their watery red eyes and unable to think due to hay fever congestion.
Some are skeptical to learn that their allergies are due to a deficiency of bioflavonoids, but they are quickly convinced when their hay fever symptoms clear up within 15 minutes after taking their first dose of Flavinox™.
For more information and the recommended dose for Flavinox™, the natural alternative to Allegra, Claritin and Zyrtec®, click here.
What Causes Seasonal Hayfever Allergies?
People who have allergies have an immune system that is over reacting to a normally harmless substance such as pollen, mold, animal dander, etc. These substances are called allergens.
Mast Cells are the cells of the immune system that release histamine and other allergic chemicals that cause allergic symptoms, including a runny nose, sneezing, watery, itchy eyes, itchy throat and swelling of the mucous membranes when triggered by antigens.
All of these symptoms are produced by the body to attempt to remove the allergen from the body. When you get into a dust storm or walk through a field of weeds with lots of pollen blowing in your eyes, nose and lungs, you want your immune system to react to wash the pollen out of your eyes, blow it out of your nose, or cough it out of your lungs. However, you certainly don’t want your Mast Cells over reacting to every single pollen or every food.
When the Mast Cells are healthy they have a thick membrane around them like a thick peel on an orange. However, when the Mast Cells are deficient in bioflavonoids their membranes are very thin. And just like a thin peeled orange that breaks open too easily and squirts its juice all over, a Mast Cell that is lacking bioflavonoids is so thin that it breaks open much too easily and releases its histamine and other allergic chemicals far too easily.
That is why two people who go outside together can have such opposite reactions to inhaling the same air in the Spring. Standing side-by-side, one will take a deep breath and proclaim how much he loves the smell of citrus blossoms in the Spring, while the other stands there sneezing, and wiping her watery itchy eyes, cursing the smell and the wind.
Natural Bioflavonoid Stops Allergy Symptoms Fast!
New research indicates that allergies are caused by a deficiency of specific bioflavonoids known as Proanthocyanidins that are found in fruits and vegetables such as grapes, cranberries, plums, blueberries, raspberries, apples, cherries, pomegranates, tomato skins, green tea and onions. Proanthocyanidins stabilize over reactive Mast Cells and thereby prevent histamine from being released too easily.
When you eat foods rich in Proanthocyanidin bioflavonoids they actually get incorporated directly into cell membranes throughout the body, including Mast Cells. When the Mast Cells are healthy they have a thick membrane around them like a thick peel on an orange. However, when the Mast Cells are deficient in bioflavonoids their membranes are very thin. And just like a thin peeled orange that breaks open too easily and squirts its juice all over, a Mast Cell that is deficient in bioflavonoids is so thin that it breaks open much too easily and releases its histamine and other allergic chemicals far too easily.
When you have enough of these bioflavonoids in your cell membranes the Mast Cells don’t over react. you don’t need a drug to block the histamine. Here is a list of great tasting foods that contain
Table 1. Proanthocyanidin Content of Selected Foods (Units = mg per 100 grams)
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Source: USDA Database for the Proanthocyanidin (monomers-trimers) Content of Slected Foods 2004
Patient Success Stories: Stopping Allergies Fast with Natural Medicines
Deborah, Phoenix, AZ
I had recently purchased your product Flavinox for my 12 year old son who has always suffered from allergies. For years I have been giving him allergy medicine – Claritin, Tylenol, Zyrtec – all types of medicines that didn’t really work and made him very tired and drugged out. I saw Dr Hansen on our morning news show here in Arizona as he was talking about Flavinox, a natural allergy product, and explaining how it works and it really made sense to me. I drove over to the Scottsdale office that morning to get a bottle and went directly to my sons school to start him on these capsules.
When he came home from school about 3 hours later he was like a different person than when he left that morning. I could see it in his face and eyes. He was feeling 100% better and he told me about an hour after he took the capsule he could feel the difference and he kept feeling better as the day went on. Since then I have been giving him about 3 capsules a day and he’s a baseball player so sometimes before a game I give him an extra one and I am truly amazed at how Flavinox has really made a difference in his allergies. No more drowsy, drugged out state. No more sneezing 20 times in a row or constant watery eyes and runny nose. I have recommended this to everyone I talk to and know this product has been the answer for my son.
Anne Marie, Scottsdale, AZ
All three of my sons have been suffering from sinus allergies for years. After two weeks on Flavinox herbal allergy formula the boys no longer have any sniffling, sneezing or congestion. Flavinox has stopped the sinus allergy reactions in all three of my sons-a special blessing to my 6-year-old because I was afraid that I was going to have to give away our cats to stop his allergies. The kids are most grateful. They now call you the doctor who saved our cats! Thank you!
I have battled skin allergies for year. After two weeks on Flavinox my skin cleared up completely and has stayed clear. As soon as I feel any food allergy symptoms I now take the Flavinox and it stops the itching without the side-effects that allergy medicines cause. Thanks so much!
Missy Gilliland, Phoenix, AZ
I am a horse trainer and I run a Dressage Horse Training Stable. I spend most of my time outdoors every day riding horses and giving lessons. Every spring, my hayfever allergies flare up. They are horrific when the dust, the wind and the pollen combine. I have tried all of the anti-allergy drugs, including Allegra, Benadryl, Claritin, Zyrtec, etc. and they just don’t stop my eyes from itching, burning and watering. At times my allergies get so bad that I can barely see or think. But within 15 minutes of taking my first dose of Flavinox my hayfever symptoms completely stopped and I could see and think clearly again. Flavinox is simply fantastic.
John, Phoenix, AZ
I work in the home inspection business and spend a lot of time outside. Every year I suffer with seasonal hayfever allergies. I have tried almost every medicine on the market. None of them seem to work very well and they make me feel drowsy and irritable, so I usually just suffer through the springtime with a drippy nose and tearing eyes that itch and sting. Fortunately, last spring, a very nice lady saw me suffering while I was working at her home. She offered to share her Flavinox herbal allergy formula with me. She said here take this and you’ll clear up in a few minutes. I was skeptical, but she was so nice and assuring that I said okay. Sure enough, within 15 minutes, before I had finished my inspection, my drippy nose and watery, itchy eyes had all cleared up. I had been suffering with allergies for so long that I had forgotten how good it felt to be clear headed. I will be forever grateful for the kind lady who cured my allergies by telling me about the Flavinox natural allergy formula.
Don’t do Drugs!
Most drugs work by blocking a normal body function rather than correcting the problem and they all have side effects. The top selling allergy drugs are no exception, including Allegra, Benadryl, Claritin, and Zyrtec. They all work by blocking histamine, which temporarily relieves some of the symptoms but often cause headaches, dry mouth, fatigue and drowsiness as well. Some side-effects can be life-threatening. Seldane (terfenadine) was taken off of the market because it was found to cause fatal heart irregularities. It was replaced by Allegra (fexofenadine) which is a metabolite of Seldane.
Anti-histamine Drug Side-Effects:
Common side-effects include headaches, fatigue, drowsiness, dry mouth, dizziness, cough, upper respiratory infections, back pain, painful menses and hyperactivity in children; very young children are usually more sensitive to the effects of anti-histamines; symptoms may include increases in blood pressure, nightmares or unusual excitement, nervousness, restlessness, or irritability.
Additionally, anti-histamines have side-effects that are not reported in the patient information or in the physician’s drug reference manual because the clinical trials used by the drug companies to establish the effectiveness of the drugs are often too short and conducted on too few patients.
The average clinical trial for the current anti-histamine drugs lasted only 2-4 weeks and included only 2500 to 5000 patients. It is only when these drugs are used for longer periods of time on millions of people that we discover the true and complete list of side-effects.
Additional Side-Effects discovered after the initial clinical trials include depression, irritability, uncontrollable crying, anxiety, irrational behavior, rage, aggression, muscle and joint pain, erratic sleep, fatigue on waking. Here is a representative sample of side-effects registered by patients after the initial clinical trials.
Patient Reported Side-Effects (See www.AskaPatient.com to view more patient reports)
Zyrtec Side-effects (3/31/2010): heart palpitations-rapid and irregular heartbeats; severe muscle pain-leg cramps and bursitis; chronic fatigue-felt exhausted all the time; nosebleeds; mental fog-unable to concentrate; difficulty finishing a sentence because I would forget what I was saying. The palpitations caused me to be diagnosed with atrial fibrillation in the ER a month ago. My leg muscle pain was so bad I couldn’t walk 1/4 of a block. Bursitis so bad at night I couldn’t sleep. I stopped taking Zyrtec 4 days ago and everything except the palpitations has disappeared. AVOID ZYRTEC !!!
Zyrtec Side-effects: My 5-year-old developed extremely volatile mood swings, including tearfulness, depression and erratic sleep patterns. They began the day I started giving him Children’s Zyrtec and ended the day after I stopped giving it to him.
Zyrtec Side-effects (3/27/2010): I gave this to my 9 year old son who just struggles with awful allergies to everything. 1 tsp about 6 pm. He went to sleep at 8pm and slept soundly for a while with no sneezing but still sniffling. Woke up around 2 am and was just angry. Yelling, stomping, gritting his teeth mad at everything. Couple hours later fell asleep .Got up for breakfast in a worse rage. Went from room to room forgetting why he went there.
I kept him home from school, he fell back asleep after breakfast and woke up at 1:30pm (when I woke him up) Wow, that was scary. Never again. This completely changed his personality in one dose and he was very, very sleepy with it. I really was hoping we had found something to help him. I’m angry I wasn’t warned.
Zyrtec Side-effects:My 7 year old daughter took Zyrtec for 1 1/2 weeks. I am sorry that I ever put her on it. She is a sweet, loving child who behaves very well. She turned into a demon child. She lost her appetite and would not eat anything at all. She complained about stomach aches and dry throat. She was afraid to eat or drink because she said her throat felt as if it would close up.
This drug should be taken off of the market immediately. I spoke to several moms tonight at a PTA meeting and they had the same complaints about their children. My daughter would scream at me and tell me that I don’t understand her. She would wake up and just start yelling at me. Normally she would wake up happy every day. She was not herself in anyway. I took her off of the Zyrtec and within 4 days her appetite came back and my sweet, loving, caring child came back. It breaks my heart that I put her through that grief. Never again.
Claritin Side-effects: Cleared my sinuses but caused foggy head, inability to complete fairly simple tasks, sweating and sense of not feeling like myself. Possibly also caused bouts of short temper and snapping at my family. This drug should not be OTC. There should be a very clear warning about possibility of ‘foggy head’, and depressive symptoms in particular.
IT IS IRRESPONSIBLE TO MARKET THIS DRUG AS NON-DROWSY as it easily leads the consumer to believe there is little danger of not being able to function normally at home and at work, NOT TO MENTION DRIVING A VEHICLE.
BE VERY CAUTIOUS WHEN TAKING THIS DRUG. I would start taking it over the weekend or when you can stay home for a couple of days to be able to assess what side effects you may experience. Also, if you have family, it would be good to have another grownup around to care for the kids in case you feel foggy or have depressive symptoms. DO NOT GIVE CLARITIN TO KIDS.
Allegra Side-Effects: So glad I found this site!(www.askapatient.com) I to was perfectly fine till I started taking allegra. I experienced weakness, insomnia, problems with my stomach, confusion, depression, mood swings, extreme tiredness, heart palpitations, tremors, leg pain. I still do not feel quite myself. I would rather suffer with all the symptoms of allergies than face what I have over the last month. Wish I would have found this site before I started taking the allegra. If taking this drug and you experience any unusual symptoms “STOP TAKING THIS DRUG” This has been a nightmare!
Allegra Side-Effects: Extreme anxiety, panic attacks, hopelessness, depression, crying, general paranoia and feeling on the brink of craziness. I wish I had found this site (www.askapatient.com) earlier – I have had the most horrible 7 months (emotionally) while taking this drug – the only time I felt like “myself” was when I was not taking it, but since it is an allergy drug I never made the connection. It works wonderfully to deal with allergies, but it seems to amplify all sorts of emotions to a dangerous level (for some people). Wow, after seeing other similar reviews, I am stopping IMMEDIATELY.
How to Stop Hay Fever Allergies Fast
Unlike the drugs that only block histamine or histamine receptors but never cure the problem, nature makes some great tasting foods that actually stop the symptoms by correcting the cause of the allergic hypersensitivity.
If you want to stop Hay Fever symptoms fast you can take the formula that I prescribe to my patients. It is called FlavinoxTM and it contains a combination of Leucoselect® grape seed extract, green tea extract, quercitin from onion skins and vitamin C.
Leucoselect® grape seed extract is sold as a prescription drug in France and Germany, but is available without a prescription in FlavinoxTM.
I have seen many patients who come to my office in the Spring carrying a box of Kleenex and their Claritin or Zyrtec who are still sneezing incessantly, and unable to see out of their watery red eyes and unable to think due to Hay Fever congestion. Some are skeptical to learn that their allergies are due to a deficiency of bioflavonoids, but they are quickly convinced when their Hay Fever symptoms clear up within 15 minutes after taking their first dose of FlavinoxTM.
For more information about Flavinox™, the natural alternative to Allegra, Claritin and Zyrtec®, click here.
How About Food Allergies
Unlike airborne allergies and a few food allergies that are associated with IgE antibodies that cause immediate hypersensitivty reactions, most food allergies are associated with IgG antibodies and cause delayed hypersensitivity reactions that typically take 8 to 72 hours to manifest.
Food allergies may be the cause of your fatigue, moodiness, eczema, asthma, arthritis, irritable bowel syndrome, migraine headaches and even weight gain, as well as your child’s temper tantrums or ADHD and auto immune disorders including multiple sclerosis. You can reduce your food allergy symptoms by getting more proanthocyanidin bioflavonoids but to eliminate them completely you need to avoid them for 120 days.
Food Allergy Success Stories
Delaney was only 2 1/2 years old when her mom first brought her to see me. She had severe mood swings and temper tantrums. At times she would screech non-stop every 30 seconds for hours, or slap hands in the air repeatedly for hours. She would fly into a rage within 45 minutes of eating wheat and became a little devil. Once we determined her allergy foods and eliminated them she turned into an angel. She is a different person now, sweet and patient and helpful. The transformation was truly amazing.
Donna was a 45 year old woman who suffered from Multiple Sclerosis. She was always fatigued and had been plagued by weakness and numbness for years before her diagnosis. Once we tested and eliminated her food allergies all of her symptoms went into remission. She felt so great and had so much energy that she asked if she could stay on the allergy elimination diet forever.
Katherine came to see me because she was stressed out. She was anxious, depressed and overweight. A 34 year old hair dresser, she had tried to lose weight but couldn’t. She was working out and eating next to nothing but still couldn’t lose weight until we discovered the foods that she was allergic to. Once she eliminated those foods, the pounds just seemed to melt away and she went from size 12 to size 4 in four months on the allergy elimination diet. She looks sensational and feels great.
Heather is a 35 year old mom of 3 who was 70 lbs over weight and could not lose the weight even though she ate very few calories and exercised daily. After testing and finding out that she was allergic to she lost 70 lbs in 5 months. She couldn’t believe how easy it was once she eliminated the trigger foods that were causing her body to hold onto the extra weight.
Food Allergy Testing
If you or your family members have any of these conditions you should get tested. At the Hansen Clinic we perform an advanced allergy test that requires only one tube of blood to test both IgE and IgG allergies in 100 foods. The old-fashioned scratch test is inferior because it only measures IgE allergies only. It is also barbaric because it requires 100 different injections of the suspected allergens under the skin to test 100 items.
For more information about our advanced allergy testing, click here.