For many of us, allergies are a chronic life-long condition in which relief is only found by taking expensive medications, enduring painful injections and years of doctor visits.  By some estimates, 60 million Americans suffer from allergies and millions more suffer from other chemical sensitivities.  Their symptoms can vary from hay fever, eczema, sinusitis, irritable bowel syndrome, celiac disease, dermatitis, and autism.  But conventional medicine does not explain why allergies and chemical sensitivities take hold and maintain their strength in our bodies.  Instead, conventional medicine focuses its attention on either quick allergy symptom reduction or long-term desensitization.  After several decades and billions of dollars spent on research, marketing, and care, neither method has reduced the incidence of allergy and chemical sensitivities.  In fact, the number of allergy sufferers keeps rising.  

A new model of allergy causation and treatment is needed that expands the narrow accepted model of an allergy being an over-reaction of the immune system.  Stated simply, the body responds as though it’s under attack, releasing antibodies and triggering inflammation, even though the stimulus of the attack (the allergen) is normally harmless.  This immune system centered model ignores the other body systems(autonomic nervous system, circulatory system, digestive system, integumentary system(skin), excretory system, and different energy systems) and the body’s stress response.  The immune system centered model most importantly does not explain how a harmless allergen is imprinted by the body as being dangerous.

A newer expanded model of allergy and chemical sensitivity origination has the potential to open the door to newer therapies that not only reduce allergic symptoms, but may eliminate allergic and chemical sensitivity reactions.  This exciting field has many clinical possibilities that far exceed allergy reduction. 

In future posts I will discuss newer theories of how a harmless allergen is imprinted as being dangerous, new technology that reprograms the body’s stress response when the body first detects an allergen, the components of stress response, stress and health, autonomic nervous system related conditions, complimentary health care, and the current health care debate at our nation’s capital.