There are many remedies that can be effective in treating allergic reactions, depending upon the type of allergy, time and location of reaction, affinity for warmth or cold, and emotional state. If a remedy is well suited for your condition, your will experience immediate improvement or, in some cases, a healing crisis (a brief worsening of symptoms followed by improvement).

* Arsenicum album: Indicated for dry cough with first sleep, asthma on lying down at night, tickling in throat or sensation that something is stuck; strong, spasmodic cough, constriction of chest, whistling while breathing; frequent sneezing, hay fever accompanied by excessive water nasal discharge and salty, bitter taste in mouth. Also feel raw burning behind sternum; may become drenched with sweat during sleep. Symptoms worsen between 9 p.m. and 11 p.m., after a nap, or being in a draft. Symptoms improve while lying with head high or sitting up.

* Arsenicum album: Indicated for wheezing cough that may be alternately dry and loose; cough worsens during drinking and while lying on back, accompanied by burning in the chest, darting pain in the upper portion of the right lung, bloody sputum, and scanty, frothy expectoration. Feel very restless and anxious, chilly, need for warm water but only drinks in sips; also can't lie down due to fear of suffocation or death. Symptoms worsen between 11:30 p.m. to 3 a.m., when consuming cold drinks, or in cold air.

Ammonium carbobicum: Indicated for severe asthma, accompanied by exhausted breathing, shortness of breath when wheezing, bronchial constriction and congestion, difficulty in expectorating, burning in chest, cough with palpitations, slow labored breathing, bubbling sounds, lung swelling, and slimy sputum with specks of blood. Symptoms worsen around 3 a.m., on cold, cloudy days, in the damp open air, during menstruation. Symptoms improve while eating, lying on abdomen, or in dry weather.

* Aralia racemosa: Indicated for dry cough with first sleep, asthma on lying down at night, tickling in throat or sensation that something is stuck; strong, spasmodic cough, constriction of chest, whistling while breathing; frequent sneezing, hay fever accompanied by excessive water nasal discharge and salty, bitter taste in mouth. Also feel raw burning behind sternum; may become drenched with sweat during sleep. Symptoms worsen between 9 p.m. and 11 p.m., after a nap, or being in a draft. Symptoms improve while lying with head high or sitting up.