Office Hours: How to Reduce Seasonal Allergies Starting This Week

Mark Hyman, MD

Dr. Mark Hyman is leading a health revolution—one focused on using food as medicine to support longevity, energy, mental clarity, happiness, and so much more. Mark Hyman, MD is a practicing family physician and an internationally recognized leader, speaker, educator, and advocate in the field of Functional Medicine. He is the founder and director of The UltraWellness Center, Founder and Senior Advisor for the Cleveland Clinic Center for Functional Medicine, a sixteen-time New York Times best-selling author, and Board President for Clinical Affairs for The Institute for Functional Medicine. He is the founder and chairman of the Food Fix Campaign, dedicated to transforming our food and agriculture system through policy.

He is a co-founder and the Chief Medical Officer of Function Health. He is the host of one of the leading health podcasts, The Dr. Hyman Show with 150+ million downloads. Dr. Hyman is a regular medical contributor to several television shows and networks, including CBS This Morning, Today, Good Morning America, The View, Fox, and CNN.

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Full Transcript

Automatically generated. Please forgive any typos or errors in the following transcript. It was generated by a third party and has not been subsequently reviewed by our team.

Dr. Mark Hyman
Allergy is not a pollen deficiency. They're a sign of an immune system that's out of balance. Pollen isn't the problem, it's the trigger. The real question is, why is your immune system reacting as if something harmless is a dangerous invader? Welcome to Office Hours.

This is our dedicated one on one space to go deeper, get clear, and explore what truly moves the needle for your health. I'm doctor Mark Hyman, and each week, we're gonna pull back the curtain and share the insights, the research, the lessons that don't always make it into our conversations with guests. Because at the end of the day, you are the CEO of your own health. And for many of you, your family's health too. And you might not feel it all the time, but you have far more power and agency than you realize.

I'm glad you're here. If you think seasonal allergies are just about pollen, think again. Every spring, millions of people brace themselves. The tissues come out, the antihistamines come out, the eye drops, the nasal sprays, we're told, well, it's just allergy season. But what if that's not the full story?

What if your allergies aren't just about what's in the air, but about what's happening inside your body? Right? Because not everybody gets allergic. So it's something about your body that's not working right. Here's the truth.

Allergy is not a pollen deficiency. They're a sign of an immune system that's out of balance. Pollen isn't the problem. It's the trigger. The real question is, why is your immune system reacting as if something harmless is a dangerous invader?

In functional medicine, we always ask the question, not just what's happening, but why is it happening? Why is the immune system so pissed off? Why is it reacting? Why is it on a high alert? Why has it lost its tolerance for things that shouldn't be a problem like pollen?

And when someone has seasonal allergies, I don't just think about the outdoors. I think about the gut. Right? It all comes down to the gut. I think about inflammation.

I think about nutrient status. I think about the microbiome. Because, you know, seventy, sixty, 70% of your immune system lives in your gut. And if that whole system is disrupted, your body can start firing at things that were never meant to be threats. So today, I'm gonna walk you through what's really happening in the body during seasonal allergies.

We'll talk about the root causes that make your immune system hypersensitive. We'll explore the powerful gut immune connection. And most importantly, I'm gonna share practical science based tools you can use to calm your immune system and reduce your symptoms naturally. Because you don't have to just survive allergy season. When you address the root causes, you can actually retrain your immune system and that changes everything.

So what's actually happening? Right? Let's break down what's happening inside the body. When you're exposed to something like pollen or ragweed or tree dander, your immune system is supposed to evaluate and go, this is harmless, no big deal. But in someone with seasonal allergies, the immune system misidentifies that harmless substance as a threat.

It produces something called IgE antibodies. Now these are immune proteins designed to defend you against parasites and worms and real dangers, but instead of targeting something harmful, they attach to cells called mast cells. And when you're exposed to pollen, these mast cells release histamine and other inflammatory chemicals. And histamine is what causes the classic symptoms, sneezing, itchy, watery eyes, running nose, congestion, even brain fog and fatigue. Now here's the important part.

Histamine itself isn't bad. It's part of your body's defense system. The problem isn't that your body makes histamine. The problem is that your immune system is overreacting. And that overreaction doesn't happen in a vacuum.

Now in functional medicine, we see allergies as a form of immune dysregulation. The system has lost its tolerance, meaning tolerant of stuff. Like if you eat a peanut, you shouldn't be reacting. Or if you have a pollen, you shouldn't be reacting. It becomes intolerant, and it becomes hypervigilant.

And when that happens, the threshold for reacting gets lower and lower. So just a little bit can kill you. Right? So we have to ask what lowers that threshold? Why does one person walk through a field of pollen with no problems, and another person can't stop seizing for weeks?

This is where we start looking deeper. Because in many cases, seasonal allergies are connected to a lot of different things that people don't look at, like their gut barrier. When you have a leaky gut and the barrier between the inside world and the outside world breaks down, you get food and bacterial proteins that cause damage, and you get a leaky gut. And it can be also caused to an imbalanced microbiome. It can be from low grade inflammation from other things.

Nutrient deficiencies. Like, if you're low in vitamin c and zinc and vitamin a and vitamin d, these all regulate immune function. Also, if you're have environmental toxins like heavy metals or mold or pesticides, that also stresses the immune system. Now remember, about 60 to 70% of your immune system is in your gut. And if your gut lining is compromised, those partially digested food particles, the toxins, those bacterial fragments, they cross into the bloodstream and they activate the immune system.

You're basically one cell away from a sewer within your gut. And that's and that cell lining breaks down, you're in trouble. When your immune system is constantly stimulated like that, well, it becomes primed to overreact. So when the pollen shows up, it's not just responding to pollen, it's responding to a state of chronic irritation. It's very different framework than you're allergic to spring.

Allergies are often a symptom of a stressed, inflamed, imbalanced immune system. And the good news is when you calm that system down and restore balance, you can dramatically reduce how intensely your body's reacting to those allergens. So let's talk about what drives that imbalance in the first place. What are the root causes of why your immune system is so reactive? Right?

If seasonal allergies are really a sign of immune balance, like, the question is, what's throwing the immune system off in the first place? In functional medicine, we look for the drivers of the causes because symptoms are clues. They're not random. The body's always responding to something, and we just don't always find out what that something is. But that's what functional medicine does.

It helps you find out there's something. And that's what we do at my clinic at the Ultra Wellness Center. It's it's what good functional medicine doctors do. There are a few major root causes that I see over and over again in people who struggle with seasonal allergies. The first thing is the gut.

Start with the gut. As I mentioned, that's where your immune system lives. Your gut isn't just a digestive tube. It's an immune organ. And your microbiome, those trillions of bacteria living inside you play a huge role in training your immune system.

A healthy microbiome teaches your immune system tolerance. Right? It helps you distinguish between friend and foe. But when the microbiome is disrupted from antibiotics, from ultra processed food, low fiber diet, chronic stress, environmental toxins, the whole regulation and education of your immune system breaks down. We lose bacterial diversity.

We lose beneficial bacteria. The gut lining becomes more permeable and leaky. And when that happens, the immune system is constantly being provoked. Now if your immune system is already irritated, it's on high alert because of what's happening in your gut, it's way more likely to overreact to pollen. It's not a coincidence.

It's just biology, my friends. Now the second major driver of allergies is chronic inflammation. Now inflammation isn't inherently bad, but it's protective actually. But when it becomes chronic, like which can be driven by lots of blood sugar spikes and belly fat, processed foods, lack of sleep, chronic stress, environmental toxins, low grade infections, it lowers your immune tolerance threshold. So think of it like this.

If your inflammatory bucket is already full, it doesn't take much more to cause overflow. Palm becomes the final straw. And this is why two people can be exposed to the exact same environment and only one develops severe symptoms. Right? It's not the exposure, it's the internal terrain.

We call it the biological terrain. There's another cause also we should talk about. And this is the third root cause that most people think about, which is your nutrient status. Your immune system requires specific nutrients to regulate itself properly. Vitamin D is one of the most important immune modulators we know of.

Zinc plays a role in immune signaling. It's really important. Vitamin C plays a role in histamine breakdown. Omega three fats help balance inflammatory pathways. If you're deficient, which many people are, your immune system doesn't function optimally.

It can be more reactive and less regulated. So sometimes allergies aren't about adding more medication. They're about correcting deficiencies. Next big cause I wanna talk about is the total environmental load of toxins. We live in a world our biology was not designed for.

Indoor air pollution, a mold exposure, petrochemicals, heavy metals, synthetic fragrances. It's everywhere. Your immune system is constantly processing these exposures. Now if your overall toxic burden is high, your immune system is already working overtime. And when spring pollen arrives, it's just one more input into an already overwhelmed system.

And again, pollen isn't the sole cause. It's just a tipping point. So instead of just suppressing histamine, we want to calm and retrain the immune system. So what's the functional medicine approach? How do you deal with allergies by dealing with the root cause naturally?

Once we understand that seasonal allergies are really about immune balance, the question becomes how do we restore immune balance? Right? In functional medicine, we focus on removing the triggers, getting rid of the bad stuff, and supporting the body's natural regulatory systems, adding in the good stuff. So let's think about this in four major pillars. Number one, lower the inflammatory load.

Focus on diet. If your immune system's already inflamed, it's primed to overreact. And the fastest way to reduce inflammation is food. Food isn't just calories, it's information. It's instructions for your immune system and every other system in your body.

If your diet's high in sugar, refined carbohydrates, ultra processed food, industrial oils, you're constantly activating these inflammatory pathways. And that lowers your tolerance threshold. On the other hand, when you shift towards an anti inflammatory dietary pattern, you can calm the immune system remarkably quickly. That means wild caught fish rich in omega three fats, extra virgin olive oil, leafy greens and colorful veggies, berries and polyphenol rich foods, these are all medicines. Right?

Herbs and spices like turmeric and ginger, which are anti inflammatory. And for some people, it's important to temporarily remove common triggers from the diet, like dairy and gluten, because those are the two big ones that drive inflammation and immune activation. And gluten can be a big driver of leaky gut, especially if there's already an underlying gut dysfunction. Even a two or three week trial of getting off of gluten and dairy can significantly reduce symptom severity for many patients. Now it's not that you're allergic to dairy and gluten, but they do cause gut disruption, they cause inflammation, they're a sensitivity, not necessarily an allergy, but they amplify your immune system's reaction, and you get more seasonal allergies.

So when I correct their dietary sensitivities, I always see my patients do so much better on the immune sensitivity from environmental allergies. So if you want some guidance, you want some support, you want structure, I got a great program for you. It's called my ten day detox program. It walks you step by step through how to reduce inflammation and give your immune system a clean slate. It's amazing.

When people do this, there's a seventy percent reduction of all symptoms from all diseases. It's one of the most powerful tools I've ever seen in medicine to do anything for anybody. It's always my first step because if they don't get better after that, then there's usually something deeper I have to find, but it's usually gets rid of a lot of problems. So you're not treating the pollen. You're changing the fundamental terrain by doing that.

Second pillar is healing the gut. Your immune system is in your gut. So if your gut lining is compromised, the immune system is just constantly on high alert. So we focus on restoring microbial diversity and strengthening the barrier in the gut, preventing and healing leaky gut. So how do you do that?

Increase fiber diversity, not just more veggies and fruits, but diverse whole foods that help fuel a healthy microbiome and calm the immune system. You want to use probiotic foods like fermented foods, sauerkraut, kimchi, miso, natto, pickles, all that is great. Making sure you're having regular bowel movements because if you're constipated, you're just going to recirculate a lot of toxins. That puts an extra load on the system. And in some cases, want targeted support.

Probiotics, glutamine can help, zinc, vitamin A, zinc carnosine is also great for the gut, collagen, bone broth, all that helps your gut and recalibrates your immune system in your gut. Now this third pillar is really important because there are several nutrients and plant compounds that help stabilize mast cells. Those are the cells that really histamine that cause all the eczema and allergies and everything else. Quercetin is one of my favorites. It's a natural mast cell stabilizer, and it's basically comes from plants.

It's a nice kind of plant bioflavonoid. Vitamin C also helps degrade histamine. Stinging nettle has an antihistamine effects, and I had a great product that I would use for years. It has nettles and quercetin. It works really well.

Bromelain can reduce inflammation in the nasal passages. That helps. Omega-three fats help prove immune signaling. Getting your vitamin D optimized, also critical for immune regulation. For some people with severe symptoms, short term strategies like low histamine diets can also be helpful while you're getting to deeper causes.

Now these tools work best when combined with gut repair and inflammation reduction, which we just talked about. So we're supporting the whole system. We're not just blocking it or taking it into histamine. The fourth pillar is getting down on your environmental exposures. Right?

Reducing your environmental load. Because even though pollen isn't the root cause, reducing exposures can lower the burden your immune system is suffering from while you're healing. So what are those strategies to reducing the environmental load? First of use a HEPA filter in air filter in your bedroom. I have one in my bedroom.

It's really important to keep your air clean because indoor air pollution is a big thing. Shower and change your clothes after being outside if there's high pollen days. Wash your bedding frequently. Some people now use feather pillows if you're allergic. Use saline rinses or a neti pod to clear the pollen from your nasal passages.

And if your symptoms are year round or unusually severe, it's important to look at other causes because it's not seasonal. Right? It could be mold exposure in your house. It could be poor indoor air quality because that can constantly stimulate the immune system, dust mites, all that stuff. Alright.

So I want to be clear about something. Medication has a place. Right? If you're miserable, if you can't sleep, if your eyes are swollen shut, you're missing work, well, it's okay. Taking antihistamine.

Maybe a nasal steroid can be helpful in the short term. They they do reduce suffering, and I'm all about reducing suffering. That matters. Antihistamines block histamine receptors. Nasal steroids reduce local inflammation.

They can be really effective in controlling short term symptoms. But here's the the important distinction. They don't manage the problem. They manage the expression of the problem. They don't deal with the cause.

They don't ask why the immune system is overacting in the first place. So if every sphinger depend on higher and higher doses, if your symptoms are lasting longer, if you're developing new sensitivities, that's a clue you better focus on your immune system. The signal is something deeper is driving this imbalance. And that's, my friends, where functional medicine comes in. And we do this all day long at the Alzheimer's Center in Lenox, my clinic, which I've had for over twenty years.

It's not an alternative to convention care, but it's it's the foundation that you do before you take drugs. And you may not ever need drugs. Right? It's a restorative approach. We're not trying to suppress the immune system, which the drugs do.

We're trying to regulate it. Like, do we rebuild tolerance? How do we calm the inflammation in your body? How do we repair the gut? How do we correct nutrient deficiencies?

How do we reduce the total burden from the environment on on our immune system? Because when you do that, something really powerful happens. The immune system becomes less reactive. And often over time, people find they need less medication or lower doses or no medication because their baseline level of immune function is better. That's the goal.

Not choosing between medication lifestyle, but using medication only when needed, and often it's not needed. And do the deeper work that helps restore your immune system's balance. Because ultimately, we don't just want to block symptoms, we want to build a more balanced, adaptable immune system. And that is something that your body's absolutely capable of doing. Okay.

Here's three takeaways. As we wrap up, I wanna leave you with three simple but powerful takeaways. First, seasonal allergies are not a pollen deficiency. They are a sign of immune imbalance. Pollen is the trigger, but the intensity of your reaction is determined by the internal environment of your body, and that is something you can influence.

Second, your gut and your immune system are deeply connected. When the microbiome is disrupted, when the gut's lining is inflamed, when your diet is driving chronic inflammation, your immune system becomes way more reactive. So calm your gut, and you often calm the allergies. It's all connected. Third, you don't have to choose between symptom relief and root cause healing.

You know, medication can help. It can have a role when you need a relief. It's okay. But in long term resilience, you've got to get that by lowering inflammation, by optimizing your nutrient status, by repairing the gut, by reducing the overall environmental toxin load, by retraining your immune system. That's how you shift from reacting to the world to becoming more tolerant and adaptable within it.

You're the CEO of your own health. You may not control the pollen count. You may not control the season, but you do have influence over the internal environment of your body. The choices you make every day, what you eat, how you sleep, how you manage stress, how you support your gut, send powerful signals to your immune systems. Your body's not broken.

It's communicating. When you learn to listen and respond to those signals, you shift from feeling a victim of the allergy season to becoming an active participant in your own healing. That's the functional medicine approach, my friends. And when you address the root causes, you're not just surviving allergy season, you're building a more resilient body for life. Thanks for joining me for office hours.

I love diving into these topics with you. Remember, you are the CEO of your own health, and every choice you make can move you closer to healing and vitality. I wanna keep these episodes as relevant and useful as possible. So tell me, what do you wanna explore next? What questions are you wrestling with?

What breakthroughs are you chasing? Share your ideas in the comments on social media or through the link in the show notes. I'm listening. Until next time, keep taking charge, keep asking questions, and keep showing up for your health.

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And don't forget to check out my YouTube channel at Doctor Mark Hyman for video versions of this podcast and more. Thank you so much again for tuning in. We'll see you next time on the doctor Hyman Show. This podcast is separate from my clinical practice at the Ultra Wellness Center, my work at Cleveland Clinic, and Function Health where I am chief medical officer. This podcast represents my opinions and my guests' opinions.

Neither myself nor the podcast endorses the views or statements of my guests. This podcast is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional care by a doctor or other qualified medical professional. This podcast is provided with the understanding that it does not constitute medical or other professional advice or services. If you're looking for help in your journey, please seek out a qualified medical practitioner. And if you're looking for a functional medicine practitioner, visit my clinic, the Ultra Wellness Center at ultrawellnesscenter.com, and request to become a patient.

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