Allergies are the cause for many different ailments, including eczema, asthma, psoriasis, hay fever and many other common disorders. If you find out what foods or common allergens you may be allergic to, then you might realize your symptoms relatively quickly. The faster you diagnose what it is you are allergic to, the sooner you can take action to help your body fight off foreign invaders. This will improve the quality of your life dramatically!
Diagnosis
We’ve touched on diagnosis of allergies throughout this guidebook. As a quick recap, most people realize they might have food or common sensitivities or allergies by the telltale symptoms they experience, which often drive them to the doctor.
Many doctor’s will order serologic testing for patients with confusing symptoms or severe reactions so they can find out the exact allergens and irritants a person is sensitive to. Other ways to find out whether you have allergies, especially food allergies, is to conduct a food elimination diet. This simple process, described earlier, will easily help you find out which foods are most likely to result in allergic reactions in your body.
Traditional Treatments
Once you identify your triggers (by a blood test or by a food elimination diet) the next step is treating your allergies. You can use medications to reduce some of your symptoms, but there are also many common sense strategies you can adopt to prevent flare-ups, especially in the spring or when your allergies result from dust mites or dander.
Food allergies are simple to treat; in most cases, you avoid the foods you are allergic to. (Don’t eat them). This may require that you start actively reading food labels, because many processed foods contain hidden ingredients. Other foods may be processed in manufacturing plants that also manufacture the foods you are sensitive to. If you have severe allergies, you may have to limit your food selections to organic foods handled and processed under very controlled environments.
The good news is because allergies are so much more common these days, you can usually easily find stores carrying special lines of food products geared toward individuals with multiple food sensitivities.
Treating common allergies is a bit trickier, though the concept behind treating them is the same. If possible you want to avoid exposure or limit your exposure to known irritants. Unfortunately, this is not always possible. Consider pollen for example. While you can’t really eliminate pollen from the world around you, you can take preventive steps to limit your exposure to pollen during peak seasons. This simple action will help limit your seasonal symptoms and improve your quality of life.
Here are a few added strategies for reducing and treating your common allergies:
- First, remove potential allergens from your home. If you have a cat, and you are allergic to animals, then avoid owning pets. If you can’t live without your beloved pet, make a special trip to your veterinarian. Some offer new treatments that reduce pet dander.
- Next, be sure you clean your house as often as possible, removing dust using a tool that cleans dust, not one that simply pushes it around. Wipe down surfaces with a wet cloth, or hire someone to do it for you. There are special products you can buy that eliminate dust from the house, not just push it around. You can buy certain vacuums and air filters for example, that helps eliminate dust and help keep dust from recurring.
- Invest in a good air filter, if you can, a house-wide one, so that you eliminate most common irritants from the entire home. It is possible to create an environment where you can become virtually allergy free. While expensive, you’ll find the investment in a whole-house air filter worthwhile, even if you don’t have any “known” or suspected allergies.
- Wash your bedding in hot water weekly, including your pillows. Toss out pillows that are more than one-year old to reduce dust mites. Just because you can’t see them doesn’t mean they are not present.
- If you live in a humid area, look for areas of your home where mold may be growing. Many times the simple addition of a dehumidifier may be all that is necessary to reduce the mold and mildew that can grow in your living areas. If you do find areas infested with mildew or mold, treat them.
- In the spring or fall, keep your windows closed to prevent pollen from drifting indoors. Try avoiding walking through or visiting elaborate gardens or forests that may be plagued with allergy producing plants and flowers.
- Use pillows with polyester instead of down or feather filled pillows, even if they are more comfortable, because down and feathers are much more likely to inspire allergic reactions than even synthetic products.
- If you have severe allergies, try wood floors or bamboo flooring instead of wall-to-wall carpeting. Wall-to-wall carpeting increases indoor air pollution exponentially; this may be one reason so many people experience allergies nowadays, as wall-to-wall carpeting is used much more frequently than wood floors for new house construction. Carpeting can attract dust, pollen and dander, and also contains substances that pollute the environment naturally.
- Keep carpet out of bathrooms, where it can hide mold and mildew.
- Use an air conditioner, as this acts as a filter in its own right. If you own a swamp cooler, be sure you clean the filter you use each summer, so you don’t attract more pollutants into the air than you filter out.
Food allergies are a bit different as noted earlier. The best and usually only way to treat food allergies is to avoid the foods you are allergic to. This will require identifying the foods you are allergic to, and then avoiding them. You may have to invest in a special book that addresses your specific food allergen.
When shopping, you will have to check all labels and ingredients for hidden allergens. You may be surprised to learn for example, that many common foods have soy or soy derivatives in them. If you have a soy allergy, eating these foods may result in a flare-up.
Most processed foods are more likely to cause problems than foods in their whole, natural state. People with food allergies often do best on a diet that incorporates plenty of whole grown, fresh foods including fruits, vegetables and lean proteins. Certain grains, including buckwheat and rice, are much less allergenic and often do not contain gluten, a substance many people are allergic to.
You may find you have a combination of food and common allergies. If this is the case, you may have to adopt a lifestyle change. You may need to take prescription or over-the-counter medications to help reduce your symptoms, then also take precautions to avoid common triggers so you can live as comfortably as possible.
What We Learned
Diagnosing allergies is often an easy process. If you ingest a food and suddenly have symptoms, you can easily identify a food allergy. Sensitivities are harder to diagnose, because they may result in chronic symptoms that seem unrelated to an allergy. You may for example, experience a delayed skin reaction, or have problems sleeping.
Common allergies are often diagnosed by symptoms and by serologic testing. Your healthcare provider can help you properly diagnose the foods and environmental irritants you are allergic to using simple blood tests. Other people prefer to do their own testing using food elimination diets or other means. No matter what means you use to diagnose your allergies, it is important you discover your triggers.
Once you do, you can start treating your symptoms and preventing allergic symptoms from recurring. While you may not be able to cure allergies, you can reduce them to a minor irritant using a combination of preventive techniques and by taking regular medicines. Some people will opt for allergy shots in combination with other treatments including use of air filters and the “avoidance” technique to help limit their symptoms.
In the next section, we’ll look at some less traditional ways you can treat allergies and even prevent allergy symptoms from flaring.
How effective complementary treatments will be for you may depend on how severe your symptoms are, your biochemistry and the types of therapies you consider. While many studies suggest alternative medicine is not helpful for allergies, an equal number suggest complementary therapies are very helpful for reducing allergies and allergic symptoms.
Currently, statistics derived from the National Institutes of Health and the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of American acknowledge that almost half of the population at some point considers alternative medicine to treat allergies and other common health problems.
Roughly 40 percent of those have tried one or more types of alternative therapies, suggesting the trend toward alternative medicine is growing, and that people are willing to try just about anything to relieve their symptoms.
Many times, you’ll find if you talk to your doctor they may encourage you to give some alternative therapies a try, as long as you use caution. You should not for example, stop carrying around your emergency epinephrine kit because you decide you want to treat your allergies with alternative medicine.
You also don’t want to throw out your inhaler until you find an effective treatment or combination of treatments that works well for you. For many, this will involve a process of trial and error. What most people find is they can gradually reduce the amount of over-the-counter remedies they use for therapy by combining traditional healing with complementary medical practices.
Step One – Find a Board Certified Provider
If you want to try alternative medicine, your first step should be finding a board certified alternative medicine provider. You wouldn’t after all, consult with an allergist or M.D. without verifying their credentials, would you? (you shouldn’t). The same holds true for complementary practitioners.
You want to make sure you find someone to work with that has experience treating allergies and has a proper education. Also take into consideration most alternative therapies are not covered by insurance, though some limited services (like acupuncture and chiropractic therapy) are. So keep in mind you may have to pay for a large part of your alternative approaches out of pocket.
Are Complementary Therapies A Crock?
Sorting fact from fiction – Do your alternative therapies really work, or are they just a simple magician’s trick?
Many doctor’s and researchers claim that alternative therapies have a placebo affect, and do not really cure allergies, but work only because people “believe” they will work, thus they have what is called a “placebo” effect.
This is not a bad thing. If something improves, even if it is because you simply “think” it will work, then where is the harm in that? Much of modern medicine acknowledges the mind has a huge part in assessing how people conquer and overcome disease.
So if you “think” yourself to wellness by using alternative therapies, what harm can come of it as long as you get better? It is good to have healthy skepticism of anything you try, and you should throw out your prescription medicines immediately on trying natural therapy. Some traditional therapies take a while to work, and may start working about the same time you try a new therapy.
Still, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t at least try. As with anything, you should use alternative medicine cautiously, taking the time you need to investigate treatment choices thoroughly
Herbs
Herbs are a common “choice” treatment for allergy sufferers because they involve little effort and are easily incorporated into one’s diet. Keep in mind if you suffer from allergies and take other medications, they may interact with the herbs you try.
You should always contact a qualified healthcare provider before you try herbs to treat your allergies or prevent symptoms from flaring up. Remember Step 1. Some of the more common herbs used to treat allergies include:
- Butterbur – Formally known as “petasites hybridus” this herb is often used to treat many common ailments, including stomach cramps, coughs, asthma and allergies. Many researchers have looked into this herb as a “natural” treatment for allergies. While the mechanisms through which it works are not yet fully understood, many believe butterbur helps stimulate the secretion of natural antihistamines in the body. Others believe it may block the body from producing histamine and other inflammatory agents when a person is exposed to a known allergen.
- Nettle – This herb is often used as preventive treatment for sensitivities and allergies. Many believe it helps with symptoms including itching, dry or watery eyes and the sniffles.
- Quercetin – This is not an herb, but actually an antioxidant often mistaken for an herb. It comes from water-soluble plant particles. You can actually get quercetin from foods you eat, including apples and red onions. This may be why many people have the belief that eating onion soup is good for curing colds and preventing or treating allergies.
- Mint – This herb is natural and healthy. You can easily incorporate it into your diet. Mint is good for headaches associated with nasal congestion, and may also help relieve an itchy throat or other itchy symptoms. Mint tea can also help reduce a chronic dry cough.
- Mulberry – Mulberry is often recommended for patients whose symptoms include a dry, persistent cough or irritated throat.
- Horehound – This unusually named herb is helpful for sinus infections because it helps break up mucous congestion. Some people use this in lieu of traditional decongestants. Many also use this herb to help relieve coughing and a sore throat. Some health food stores offer this herb in the form of candy.
Most herbs come in the form of capsules or tea. You can also sometimes find dried herb in some natural health food stores. As some herbs are bitter, you may find you need to take your tea with a bit of honey or a splash of lemon. The simple act of drinking hot tea with lemon may make you feel better, whether the herb works or not.
Homeopathy is another common natural treatment. This is one of the more benign forms of treatment that is least likely to result in health problems, so it may be worth a try. Homeopathy is based on the idea that like treats like; homeopaths generally use substances that contain a microscopic amount of a substance that would normally cause a condition, on the idea that it will actually stimulate the body’s immune system to treat the condition or symptom. Kind of like a vaccine might provide protection by introducing small amounts of a killed or weakened irritant. Here are some common homeopathic remedies offered to patients with allergies.
- Arsenicum album – This is often prescribed for people that have asthma and food allergies or sensitivities. Symptoms may include nausea, vomiting or diarrhea. This homeopathic remedy is also often given to people that feel anxious.
- Calcarea carbonica – This remedy often helps with fatigue, gas, and digestive problems common to individuals with food sensitivities. Calcarea carbonica may also be helpful for individuals that have swollen lymph nodes.
- Carbo vegetabilis – This unique homeopathic remedy is also helpful for treating food sensitivities. It may be prescribed for people whose symptoms appear worse in the evening, or for individuals who are easily upset.
- Hepar sulphuris – This homeopath is often used for skin conditions including eczema or people that develop ear infections resulting from exposure to known allergens. May also be helpful for addressing respiratory symptoms.
- Natrum carbonicum – Most helpful for individuals with sensitivities to dairy or milk products. Symptoms may include excessive bloating, gas or lactose intolerance.
If you want to try homeopathic remedies, your best bet is to consult with a trained homeopath. Most will work with a person to match a remedy to a person’s individual constitution and symptoms. It can be hard to try to match up the right personality, constitution and symptoms with the proper remedy. You may also find this a bit confusing or just too unusual, but remember, when you are suffering from allergies, sometimes trying something new is better than suffering.
There are many other natural treatments a holistic practitioner may recommend to help reduce the amount of suffering you experience from allergies. One technique is the “allergy desensitization technique.” Typically this works as follows: (1) a doctor identifies the sensitivity you have to a particular irritant or substance, (2) the provider uses applied kinesiology to confirm this sensitivity, and (3) the provider reprograms the body to reduce the allergic response to the allergen and help reduce symptoms produced from exposure to the known allergen.
How does the provider reprogram the body? This can be done in many different ways, though it is unlikely a healthcare provider will be able to completely eliminate your sensitivity to a known allergen. This technique may however, alleviate many of your most prevailing symptoms.
Most healthcare providers use a combination of techniques including acupuncture, homeopathy and supplementation to help desensitize you to a known allergen. The practitioner may also work with you to help boost your immune system so you are better able to fight off infection and eradicate some sensitivities to known irritants.
There is some controversy among researchers as to whether desensitization is effective for eliminating allergy symptoms. As with anything however, desensitization is worth a try. There are several studies that have examined the effectiveness of desensitization for anaphylactic reactions in patients, including those that are hypersensitive to latex.
Many of these, including studies published by the International Anesthesia Research Society, provide hope that desensitization may be effective for reducing some of the severe symptoms associated with an allergic response. Of course, if you do happen to become successfully “de” sensitized, you will likely still have to avoid over exposure to the irritant that causes your allergies. Anything you repeatedly expose the body to with time is likely to cause a resurgence of symptoms.
What We Learned
Most people find that complementary alternative medicine (CAM for short) works well in conjunction with traditional remedies or treatments for allergies. If you have a desire to use less conventional approaches, make sure you seek the care and advice of a licensed, qualified healthcare practitioner.
If you do use adjunct therapy in addition to traditional allergy treatments, you’ll want to do so safely, so you don’t take any supplements or herbs that may interact with over-the-counter or prescription medications. Remember that self-medicating is not a very practical or safe approach to alleviating your allergy symptoms.
Many people find they have to try a few different approaches to alternative treatments before they find the one that works best for them. This makes sense, because everyone is different, and everyone’s reasons for reacting to a particular irritant are not always the same. Just as someone may find Claritin very helpful for reducing their allergy symptoms, another may find it ineffective.
The key to successful reduction in symptoms is to try a few things out and see which work best for you. If you can find natural therapies that help alleviate your symptoms, use them safely, as you would any traditional therapy.
Now that you have a solid background in treating allergies from a traditional and alternative healing approach, it’s time to review some commonly asked questions about allergies. In the next section, we’ll try to answer some of the more common and challenging questions people have about allergies.
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11.10.09|
