Allergy Center

What are Allergies?

Allergies are reactions you have to otherwise harmless substances called allergens.

Normally, your immune system protects you against invading agents such as bacteria and viruses. If you have allergies, otherwise harmless allergens cause your body to react as if they were dangerous invaders. In effect, your immune system is responding to a false alarm.

The immune system thinks it is protecting you by generating large amounts of a type of antibody specific to the particular allergen you're allergic to.

This antibody attaches itself to certain cells in your body. The next time you come into contact with the allergen, the allergen attaches to the antibody like a key fitting into a lock. This “lock-up” causes the release of inflammatory substances into your system. These substances, including histamine, move into various parts of your body, such as your respiratory system, to cause allergy symptoms including runny nose, itchy eyes, and sneezing, among others.

Antihistamines are medications that block the action of histamines and relieve your allergy symptoms. In some people, certain medicines, insect venom, or foods may also cause allergic reactions. See your doctor promptly if you suspect you are having an allergic reaction to these substances. These allergies are not the same as respiratory allergies like hay fever, and are not treated with the same medicines. See your doctor promptly if you suspect you are having an allergic reaction to these substances. The information in this Web site addresses only respiratory allergies.

Causes and Risk Factors

One of the primary causes of allergies is an impaired immune system, which substantially increases the risk of allergic reactions. "This occurs when the immune system becomes stressed due to an overload of toxins.

In researching allergies, doctors has found that a number of factors negatively impact the immune system. These include increased toxic burden due to pollution in all its forms; disturbance of infant immune systems through repeated vaccination and immunization; and damage to healthy intestinal flora due to over-reliance upon antibiotics and steroids (especially birth control pills).

ALLERGIES AND CEREBRAL PALSY

"The immune system may also be weakened by hereditary problems," states doctor.

"Usually this will be reflected in the gastrointestinal tract, so that nutrients are not able to be absorbed and utilized properly. This can then set you up for food allergies." Antibiotics can cause allergic reactions and feels that in many cases their use is unnecessary. Antibiotics further add to the confusion the immune system is facing. Until the immune system is no longer able to tell friend from foe. When that happens, it starts reacting to all sorts of things which are not foes, that then become treated as allergens. This lead to fatigue and allows viruses, bacteria, and so forth to come in and play havoc.

Other causes of food allergies include nutritional deficiencies, a repetitive and monotonous diet, chemicals in the food chain due to pesticides and preservatives, and chronic intestinal yeast overgrowth (candidiasis).

A FOOD ALLERGY TIMETABLE

"A repetitive diet can contribute greatly to the development of allergies. Doctor has found that diets of allergy patients normally consist of thirty foods or less, which they eat repeatedly. "These thirty foods then become the basis for the most common food intolerances," says Ddoctor. "If someone eats bread every day, for instance, he could easily develop a wheat allergy due to the immune system's continuous exposure to it."

"Leaky gut syndrome", or excessive permeability in the digestive tract, is another major factor that can lead to allergies, according to Doctor. "In these cases," he explains, "the immune system reacts to the particles of partially digested foodstuffs (macromolecules) that leak into the bloodstream through the gut as if they were foreign material."

Among the causes of leaky gut syndrome, Dr. Braly cites poor digestion, alcohol consumption, the use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS), viral and bacterial infections, parasitical infestation, vitamin, mineral, amino acid and/or essential fatty acid deficiencies, excessive stress, antibiotics, premature birth, candidiasis, and radiation. "These are all factors that one should consider and bring under control as part of an overall approach for treating allergies," he advises.

Allergy Treatment

"In order for true healing of allergies to occur, it is necessary to address their cause rather than just treat the outward manifestations or symptoms," says Doctor. "This involves identifying the substances a person is allergic to and eliminating them from the diet and environment.

At the same time, the body needs to be purged of toxins and the immune system needs to be stimulated. Since no two people are exactly alike, therapeutic approaches will vary, and usually a combination of therapies is the best course of action."

TESTING FOR ALLERGIES

Among the therapies which have proven most effective in treating allergies are diet and nutrition, herbal medicine, acupuncture, Ayurvedic medicine, and homeopathy.

Currently, a variety of tests are available for identifying allergies. Regardless of which method is used, doctor points out that it is always necessary to demonstrate a cause and effect relationship between the suspected allergen and the outbreak of symptoms if the test is to be effective.

Skin testing: "Skin testing is one of the most consistent methods of testing people for pollen, mold, dust, chemical, and other environmental allergies," Doctor says. They especially recommends Serial Endpoint

Titration or SET testing, which enables a physician to quantitatively evaluate how a person reacts to allergens in the environment. "Based on the testing result, allergy shots or drops can then be formulated that will usually bring on noticeable improvement for the patient within a few weeks."

SET testing is also a more accurate method of evaluation than the commonly used scratch test, in which the outer layer of skin is pierced and minute amounts of the suspected allergens are placed within the surface break, where antibodies can react to them. "It's not unusual for patients to take shots based on scratch testing for a year or more before any benefit is derived," Doctor says.

The IgG ELISA and FICA test: According to doctor testing for food allergies can be far more difficult than determining environmental reactions, because most food allergies are dealt with in the body by IgG antibodies, while most allergy tests only measure the presence of IgE antibodies. The IgG ELISA and FICA (Food Immune Complex Assay) test, a recent breakthrough in the field of food allergy testing, offers new hope for food allergy sufferers, however.

"We know that one of the fundamental causes behind food allergies is the penetration of undigested or partially digested food from the digestive tract into the bloodstream," Doctor explains. "With the FICA and IgG ELISA test, we can measure the actual presence of specific foods and their specific IgG antibodies in the blood to precisely determine which foods a person is allergic to."

The IgG ELISA and FICA test is also convenient, automated, and currently the only commercially available test of its kind for delayed food allergies. It involves taking a blood sample that is then tested for the presence of IgG antibodies against over one hundred foods. The results are computer analyzed to determine which foods the patient is allergic to. The test can be done through the mail, as long as samples reach testing labs within seventy-two hours after the blood is drawn.

Electroacupuncture biofeedback: This form of testing is widely used in Europe to screen for both food and environmental allergies, and to determine what remedy to use to properly neutralize the allergic reaction. "A small current of electricity is introduced at specific acupuncture points on the patient," explains doctor. "Various allergens are then introduced into the circuitry, enabling the physician to determine any change in the way the patient reacts to the current."

According to Doctor, a healthy reading would be fifty on a scale of zero to one hundred. "Allergens cause the reading to be far above fifty," he says. "As they are found, various treatment doses are also added into the circuit. The correct treatment will cause the reading to climb down to a reading of fifty." Doctor states that using electroacupuncture biofeedback allows him to accurately test for a full spectrum of allergens, and that the entire battery of tests can be done in an hour.