Seasonal Allergy Symptoms: Causes, Tests & Natural Relief

Every spring, and for many people again in late summer, trees, grasses and weeds send clouds of pollen into the wind. Most people never notice. For about 1 in 4 American adults, that same pollen sets off sneezing, a dripping nose and itchy, watery eyes.10 Seasonal allergies are your immune system treating a harmless grain of pollen as a threat.11

This guide covers the symptoms and how to tell them from a cold, why pollen seasons are getting longer, my year-round approach with raw local honey and other bee products, the herbs and supplements with human trials behind them, the conventional options and immunotherapy, and the habits that keep pollen out of your nose and your bedroom. If you suspect a food rather than pollen, see our guide to food allergy symptoms.

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What are seasonal allergies (hay fever)?

They're common. In the same 2021 national survey, women reported a seasonal allergy more often than men (29.9% against 21.1%), and a companion survey found that 18.9% of U.S. children had one.1012 Allergies run in families: if both of your parents have hay fever or other allergies, you're likely to have them too.9

Severe allergies reach well past your nose. They've been linked to poorer sleep, lower quality of life and weaker performance at work, and rhinitis travels closely with asthma: it turns up in up to 95% of people who have asthma.11 That's why breathing symptoms get their own place in When to get care.

Here's what happens inside your nose when pollen lands, step by step:

Seasonal allergy symptoms

Seasonal allergy symptoms, by where you feel them

Tiredness belongs on that list. Allergies are graded moderate to severe partly by how much they disturb your sleep and your daily activities.11 If you're dragging through allergy season, our guide to feeling always tired covers the other causes worth checking.

Some signs show on the outside, and they're worth watching for in your kids as well as yourself: mouth breathing, rubbing the nose (sometimes leaving a crease across it), frequent sniffling or throat clearing, and dark circles under the eyes, known as allergic shiners.11

Is it allergies or a cold?

Look at itching and timing first: itchy eyes, nose or throat point to allergies, while a cold starts a few days after you catch the virus and usually clears within a week.914

Seasonal allergies and a cold, side by side

People with allergic rhinitis often put their symptoms down to a constant cold, so notice how often your "colds" come back and how long they last.11 If yours returns every spring, it's worth testing for allergies. If it turns out to be a cold after all, these natural cold remedies can help.

What causes seasonal allergies, and why are they worse some years?

Wind-carried pollen causes seasonal allergies, and which pollen depends on the month and where you live.

Trees release their pollen first, from late winter into spring. Grasses take over as tree season winds down in late spring, and ragweed is the main cause of symptoms in late summer and early fall.1516 The farther south you live, the earlier tree and grass seasons start and the longer they last.15 In warm climates, pollen can be in the air for most of the year, so some people with "seasonal" allergies have symptoms nearly year-round.11 If ragweed is your season, our guide to ragweed allergy goes deeper.

Weather moves the numbers day to day. Hot, dry, windy days fill the air with pollen, and on cool, damp, rainy days most of it is washed to the ground.9

If your allergies feel worse than they used to, the data back you up. Across 60 pollen stations in North America, pollen seasons started about 20 days earlier and ran about 8 days longer in 2018 than in 1990, and yearly pollen counts rose about 21%, changes that tracked rising temperatures.16

Why some immune systems overreact

My view, and the idea behind my book Eat Dirt, is that regular contact with soil, animals and the outdoors, especially early in life, helps an immune system learn tolerance. On my show, I've said that gradual exposure to dirt, local pollen and things in the air lowers your risk of allergies, according to multiple medical studies.17

Studies of farm families point the same way. In a survey of 2,618 families in rural Austria, Germany and Switzerland, 3% of the children who spent time in animal stables and drank farm milk before age 1 had hay fever, against 13% of those whose exposure began between ages 1 and 5.18 It was an observational survey, so it shows a strong link rather than cause and effect.

For adults, the everyday version is simple. Eat a lot of local food, plant a garden bed if you can, spend as much time outdoors as possible and, if it fits your life, keep an animal.17 A garden in your own backyard is one of the steps I recommend to build tolerance.19 If your lawn is sprayed with chemicals, though, skip that grass.17

Your gut is part of this picture too, and the trials of probiotics for allergies are in the herbs and supplements section below. If certain foods seem to make your symptoms flare, histamine intolerance is worth reading about.

Seasonal or year-round? Get tested

If your symptoms don't follow the pollen calendar, test before you treat. Skin-prick testing is the most common allergy test, and a blood test for allergen-specific IgE is the alternative when skin testing isn't possible.911

We learned this with our own daughter. She'd had swollen tonsils in spring and again in fall, and we assumed it was seasonal allergies. Her allergy blood test showed she had no seasonal allergies at all; the only thing she reacted to was dust mites. We started steam-vacuuming everything and put an air filter in her bedroom, and her symptoms started melting away. We used some supplements too.20

Dust mites, mold and pet dander cause the same nose-and-eye symptoms as pollen, but they call for different fixes, starting with the bedroom steps in the home section below.11

My approach: raw local honey and bee products, all year

Raw local honey is a traditional allergy-season food. The daily amount in my approach is 1 teaspoon to 1 tablespoon of raw local honey, every day, all year round. It's a food-first approach to natural allergy relief, and if your allergies are severe, it pairs with allergen immunotherapy.1219

When I say local, I mean honey and pollen from your own city or region.19 Buy your honey raw, too: in a 2011 investigation, all of the pollen had been filtered out of 76% of honey samples from grocery stores, while every sample bought at farmers markets, co-ops and natural food stores still had its full amount of pollen.21 When I'm home in Middle Tennessee, I buy bee pollen and raw local honey at my local farmers market, and I do a teaspoon a day.19 If you're going to use a sweetener, honey should be your number-one sweetener, so let it take the place of other sweeteners instead of adding to them.1 Scripture puts its goodness plainly: "My son, eat thou honey, because it is good; and the honeycomb, which is sweet to thy taste" (Proverbs 24:13, KJV).

The idea behind eating local honey and pollen all year is that small, regular contact with the pollens around you may encourage tolerance, the same principle allergen immunotherapy uses, though that proposed effect hasn't been measured directly for eating honey or bee pollen.

Three randomized trials have tested honey for hay fever, and the table below sets them side by side. In Malaysia, where everyone took a daily antihistamine for the first 4 weeks, only the group eating raw honey kept improving through week 8, a month after the honey stopped, though the gap between the groups was too small to rule out chance.3 In Connecticut, a tablespoon a day of local raw honey made no difference to symptoms.22 In Finland, honey with birch pollen added, eaten from November through March, brought a 60% lower symptom score during birch season than usual medication alone, though symptoms didn't differ significantly from regular honey, and the birch-pollen honey group used less antihistamine than the regular-honey group.23 Starting ahead of the season mirrors that trial, which began in November for an April birch season. A 2020 review of the apitherapy literature concluded that a mix of honey and pollen is the best-supported recommendation,24 the same pairing as my approach.

Royal jelly and propolis are the two bee products I add in allergy season, and as I've said on my show, for allergies I like to pair raw local honey with propolis.1 Each has one small controlled allergy trial so far. In a placebo-controlled Danish trial, 64 of 80 children finished a course of a royal jelly product started 3 to 6 months before pollen season, and their symptoms were about as severe as those of the children on placebo (1.4 against 1.6 on a visual rating scale).25 In a randomized Iranian trial, 30 adults with year-round allergies who already used a steroid nasal spray took 200 mg of propolis a day or a placebo for 4 months, and both groups improved, with no significant difference between them.26

You can start the honey today, whatever the month. Before you add bee pollen, royal jelly or propolis, read the bee-product rules in When to get care.

Which herbs and supplements help seasonal allergies?

On my show, I've described quercetin and stinging nettle as natural mast cell stabilizers that help reduce the release of histamine.28 The trials below measured what you'd notice, such as symptoms, sleep and quality of life, and the five are ordered by how much human research backs each one for seasonal allergies.

Astragalus, vitamin D and zinc round out my list for seasonal allergies.17 They aren't ranked here because the allergy trials center on the five above. For a stuffy nose, some people also like essential oils for allergies.

What foods help seasonal allergies?

Build your plate around foods that calm inflammation, and cut back on the ones that feed it.

On my show, I've named the foods I count among the best for reducing allergy symptoms: asparagus, celery, cauliflower, pears, citrus fruits like grapefruit and lemon, berries, wild-caught salmon, chicken, bone broth, miso, rice, seaweed, ginger and raw local honey.19 On the show, I've mentioned that asparagus has a place in traditional Chinese medicine for supporting the lungs.19 For more quercetin from food, add onions, capers and apples.31 Our list of anti-inflammatory foods has more to choose from.

On the same show, I named the foods to limit: conventional dairy, processed foods, hydrogenated oils and modern hybridized grains that are high in gluten, along with alcohol, caffeine and added sugar, which can all make allergy symptoms worse.19

Dairy is personal. Some people react strongly to it and some don't, and I'm one of the people who don't tolerate it well. In place of conventional dairy, fermented goat's or sheep's milk yogurt can be great for a lot of people.19 A2 dairy and coconut milk are other options.

If you suspect a specific food, a 3-week elimination diet, reintroducing one food at a time, can show you which foods are the problem.31

Conventional treatment: what a doctor may recommend

If you or your child is incapacitated by allergies, I've said there may be a time and place for one of these medicines, and then you want to go and find the natural solution.28 Here are the standard options and what each one does:

• Newer antihistamine pills: Loratadine, cetirizine and fexofenadine ease sneezing, itching and a runny nose, and cause little or no drowsiness compared with the older kind.119
• Steroid nasal sprays: In an analysis of 16 randomized trials with 2,267 people, they relieved nasal blockage, discharge, sneezing, itching and postnasal drip better than antihistamine pills, while eye symptoms improved about the same.38 They work best used every day.9
• Antihistamine nasal sprays and eye drops: These act on the nose and on itchy, watery eyes.9
• Decongestants: These relieve a stuffy nose, but long use of the sprays causes rebound congestion.911
• Leukotriene blockers: These prescription pills block leukotrienes, another chemical behind allergy symptoms, and can cause side effects such as anxiety or depression in some people.9

The older, sedating antihistamines, such as diphenhydramine, also relieve symptoms, but they dull thinking and alertness, and they aren't routinely recommended for allergies.11 Diphenhydramine and similar drugs are also strongly anticholinergic, meaning they block acetylcholine, a chemical messenger in the brain and nerves. In a study that followed 3,434 adults aged 65 and older for an average of 7.3 years, people with the heaviest use of strong anticholinergic drugs, the equivalent of a daily dose for more than 3 years, had a 54% higher risk of dementia than people who took none, and first-generation antihistamines were among the most commonly used of those drugs.39 It's an association in older adults, and the newer antihistamines weren't part of it. Medication cautions are collected in When to get care.

Can allergy shots and allergy drops retrain your immune system?

Immunotherapy uses measured doses of the exact allergen you react to, given regularly over months to years, and it shifts your immune response toward tolerance, as the diagram near the top of this page shows.1113 It's usually suggested when you can't avoid the pollen and medicines don't control your symptoms or don't suit you.911 Over time, it can change the allergy itself, as the long-term trial below shows.8

Allergy shots. In a Cochrane review of 51 placebo-controlled trials with 2,871 people with seasonal allergies, allergy shots lowered symptom scores and medication use compared with placebo. The main risk is a serious allergic reaction to a shot: adrenaline was needed after 0.13% of active injections, against 0.01% of placebo injections, and no one died.40

Tablets or drops under the tongue. In a Cochrane review of 60 trials, 49 of them pooled across 4,589 people, sublingual immunotherapy lowered symptoms and medication use compared with placebo, and none of the trials reported a severe whole-body reaction.41 Both reviews disclose that a senior author's department received funding from an allergen-extract maker.4041 Under-the-tongue treatment can help with dust, grass and ragweed allergies.9

How long it lasts. The 5-year grass-tablet trial, placebo-controlled, enrolled adults with moderate to severe grass allergy that medicines didn't control. Among the 238 who finished, days with severe symptoms at peak season ran 49% to 63% lower than on placebo, and the benefit held through the 2 seasons after the tablets stopped; the tablet's maker sponsored the trial.8

Home habits, saline rinses and acupuncture

Simple habits cut how much pollen reaches your nose.

Rinse your nose with salt water. In a Cochrane review of 14 studies with 747 people with allergic rhinitis, saline rinses eased symptoms compared with no rinse within 4 weeks (6 studies, 407 people) and from 4 weeks to 3 months, though the evidence was rated low quality.7 Use only distilled, sterile, or boiled and cooled water (boiled for 3 to 5 minutes) in a neti pot or squeeze bottle, never water straight from the tap.42 A simple home mix is 1 cup of distilled or boiled-then-cooled water, half a teaspoon of salt and a pinch of baking soda.9

Keep pollen outside. During peak season, keep the windows closed at home and in the car, use air conditioning, and spend less time outdoors when counts run high.119 Shower and change clothes after time outside so you don't carry pollen to bed.

Try acupuncture. Acupuncture is part of my allergy plan.17 In a randomized German trial of 422 adults with birch and grass pollen allergy, 12 sessions over 8 weeks improved allergy-related quality of life and cut antihistamine use more than placebo acupuncture or as-needed cetirizine alone at weeks 7 and 8. The groups were even by week 16, and in the second season, small gains still favored real acupuncture over the placebo version.43

Clean the air indoors. HEPA air purifiers help most with indoor allergens. In a placebo-controlled trial of 44 adults with dust-mite allergies, purifiers running in the bedroom and living room for 6 weeks cut bedroom fine-particle pollution by 51.8% and lowered how much allergy medicine people needed, though symptom scores ended about the same as with a look-alike purifier; an air-purifier maker funded the study.44 Our guide to indoor air quality covers more ways to clear the air at home.

Protect the bedroom. For dust mites, use allergen-proof covers on mattresses and pillows and keep indoor humidity below 50%. For mold, run a dehumidifier to stay under 50% and fix any water damage.11

When to get care

Bee products. The same rules cover bee pollen, royal jelly and propolis:

• Asthma or a past severe reaction to pollen, bee stings or bee products: If you have asthma, or you've ever had hives, swelling or trouble breathing from pollen, bee stings or bee products, skip bee pollen, and don't assume honey, royal jelly or propolis are safe for you either. In a study that tested honey on 46 people with pollen allergies, honey allergy proved rare,46 but honey carries proteins from the bees as well as pollen, and severe reactions have been reported.4748

• Hay fever and bee pollen: If you have hay fever, you're the person most likely to react to bee pollen, and there's no proven safe way to start it at home, so make that decision with a practitioner who knows your allergy history. In skin tests, bee pollen extracts set off strong reactions in people with pollen allergies, and anaphylaxis after eating bee pollen has been reported.495051

• Everyone else adding bee pollen: Start with a few granules with food, then eat food amounts. Stop at any itching, swelling, hives or wheezing, and get emergency help for any trouble breathing.

• Warfarin, pregnancy or breastfeeding, and bee pollen: If you take warfarin, skip bee pollen.52 It hasn't been studied in pregnancy or breastfeeding, so skip it during those times.

• Babies under 12 months: Never give honey, raw or cooked. Honey can carry the spores behind infant botulism.53

Herbs and supplements:

• Butterbur. Use only extracts labeled PA-free. The raw plant contains pyrrolizidine alkaloids, which damage the liver, and liver injury has been reported even with processed products: among reports on one PA-free migraine extract, 9 people had severe liver injury and 2 needed liver transplants.2954 Skip butterbur if you have liver disease, and during pregnancy or breastfeeding, when it hasn't been studied. Stop it and get checked if your skin or eyes turn yellow or your urine darkens.

• Stinging nettle. It's a gentle diuretic, so check with your doctor first if you take medicine for blood pressure or diabetes, or lithium.37

• Spirulina. Buy brands tested for toxins. In a lab test of 18 algae supplements, 4 carried microcystins, toxins that can harm the liver, above the daily safety limit at their highest labeled dose, one of them a spirulina product.55

Medications. Don't stop or change a prescribed medicine on your own; work with the doctor who prescribed it as your natural plan takes hold. Sedating antihistamines can make you sleepy, so don't drive after taking one.9 Use decongestant nasal sprays for no more than 3 days,9 and skip decongestant pills if you have uncontrolled high blood pressure or severe coronary artery disease.11

The bottom line

Seasonal allergies: frequently asked questions

References

1. Axe J. What Happens In Your Body If You Eat Honey Every Day? The Dr. Josh Axe Show. October 20, 2025. Discussed at 15:15 (a teaspoon or a heaping teaspoon all year), 15:56 (raw local honey paired with propolis for allergies), 16:38 (raw local honey with SLIT for severe allergies) and 20:40 (honey as the sweetener, a teaspoon up to a tablespoon).
2. Axe J. Seasonal allergies? Try eating raw local honey (all year round). Post on X (@drjoshaxe), September 24, 2024.
3. Asha'ari ZA, Ahmad MZ, Jihan WS, Che CM, Leman I. Ingestion of honey improves the symptoms of allergic rhinitis: evidence from a randomized placebo-controlled trial in the East coast of Peninsular Malaysia. Ann Saudi Med. 2013;33(5):469-75. doi:10.5144/0256-4947.2013.469. PMID:24188941
4. Schapowal A. Randomised controlled trial of butterbur and cetirizine for treating seasonal allergic rhinitis. BMJ. 2002;324(7330):144-6. doi:10.1136/bmj.324.7330.144. PMID:11799030
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8. Durham SR, Emminger W, Kapp A, de Monchy JG, Rak S, Scadding GK, et al. SQ-standardized sublingual grass immunotherapy: confirmation of disease modification 2 years after 3 years of treatment in a randomized trial. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2012;129(3):717-725.e5. doi:10.1016/j.jaci.2011.12.973. PMID:22285278
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17. Axe J. Natural Ways to Build a Bulletproof Immune System. The Dr. Josh Axe Show. January 6, 2025. Discussed at 23:41 (Eat Dirt), 24:04 (gradual exposure to dirt and local pollen), 40:33 (not on chemically sprayed lawns) and 58:53 to 59:11 (his plan for seasonal allergies).
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19. Axe J. Natural Sunscreens, EMF Exposure, & the Best Dairy Alternatives | Q&A. The Dr. Josh Axe Show. May 29, 2024. Discussed at 8:26 (relief in season, tolerance all year), 8:42 to 11:16 (foods that help and foods to limit; 10:06 and 10:27, his own dairy intolerance and fermented goat's or sheep's milk yogurt), 12:32 (local honey and bee pollen), 12:59 (his farmers-market habit), 13:13 (probiotics, quercetin and stinging nettle) and 13:34 (a home garden).
20. Axe J, Feldstein M. This Daily Habit DESTROYS Sleep, Wrecks Your Gut, & Causes Snoring. The Dr. Josh Axe Show. October 30, 2025. Dr. Axe's account of his daughter's allergy test, at 4:09.
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