Herbs for Allergies

Roomie's Still Got A Bad Cough Today. I couldn't recall what I had put in that tea that he said had made him stop coughing, and then it hit me, much like things often do, when you are not trying to remember something... that the one thing I had left out in the tea I made last night that I had added to some of the teas I had made a few weeks ago was NETTLE LEAVES. Duh!! I was so wrapped up in making my salves for every other problem a person can have that I overlooked the most obvious herb to use for allergies. Poor guy. He's been coughing all afternoon. So I just heated up some water and poured it over a gracious amount of nettle leaves. Since I want to give it to him sooner rather than later, and can't afford to let it steep an hour or more, I just dumped it in a saucepan and will simmer it on low heat for about 10 minutes and give it to him, without honey this time, since we both like to drink herb teas without sweetener, and anyway, I want to make sure that it's the nettles that is helping him, and not the honey, just as a process of elimination, to know what it is exactly that is making his cough go away. Of all the herbs listed below that I referenced that are especially helpful for allergies, the only other one I have at the moment is Yerba Mansa. Well I do have green tea, but I'd like to try the yerba mansa as well. Tea is well.. it's tea. We've all tried that many times. Let's see how the others compare.

Nettle Leaf
Horseradish
Ma Huang (ephedra sinica) Family: Ephedraceae
Spikenard
Schizadra
Tea leaves (Camellia Sinensis) Green, white or black tea.
Yerba Mansa

*Raw honey, though not an herb, is highly recommended for allergies. A great allergy remedy would be to infuse various herbs from the list above into raw honey, and use as a cough syrup. Making honey infusions will be a topic of discussion in later posts.