Allergies: What is your body telling you?

Is This You?
"My sinuses hurt." "I can't stop sneezing." "I always get allergies this time of the year - I'll never get rid of them." "My allergies are getting worse." "I'm tired of taking so many medications."

I often hear these complaints from my patients. And I firmly believe that there is no reason why you have to live with allergies for the rest of your life.

How is it, though, that in industrialized nations, the number of people with allergies is rising at an alarming rate? Allergies are the sixth leading cause of chronic disease in the United States.

Conventional medicine currently offers only limited treatments - generally medications, which usually provide only temporary relief of allergy symptoms. Practitioners of holistic medicine, however, have found that by correcting the underlying causes of allergies, you can eliminate most of these symptoms for good. Modifying your diet, cleansing your body and restoring the health of your immune system are all ways to help you live allergy-free.

While we often point to pollen or dust as the causes of allergic reactions, they are actually just the triggers that cause an already-compromised immune system to react. The immune system quite simply becomes overwhelmed by poor eating habits, prolonged stress, use of medications (especially antibiotics) and unhealthy lifestyles. These abuses produce conditions like leaky gut syndrome, toxin overload and liver congestion, all of which set the stage for allergic reactions to take place. Allergies are your body's way of telling you it is struggling to cope with its internal and external environment.

Ways to Cure Allergies

Changes in Diet and Lifestyle

Avoid the substances that have been known to trigger an allergic response - at least for awhile. These include sugar, white flour, diary products, corn, eggs, peanuts, chemical pollutants, mold and smoke. Strengthen your immune system by eating a diet rich in fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains and pure water, and by getting adequate exercise and rest. Activities like yoga, meditation and Tai Chi can be very helpful in stress management. The skillful use of homeopathic remedies, healing herbs and supplements will strengthen your immune system and also greatly enhance the body's healing power.

Bring the Digestive System Back to a Healthy State

If your gut is not healthy, neither is the rest of the body.

Leaky gut syndrome - or LGS - is a poorly recognized but extremely common intestinal problem. Essentially, it means that the intestinal lining is too permeable. This means that large spaces develop between the cells of the intestinal wall, allowing bacteria, toxins and food to leak out. The immune system reacts to these particles and the result is an allergy. Some of the nutritional supplements I prescribe to help repair the intestinal lining include: glutamine, N-acetyl-glucomise (NAG), gamma oryzanol, probiotics, digestive enzymes, fiber, and essential fatty acids. Repairing the intestinal lining is a very important step in the treatment of allergies.

Detoxification
Toxic chemicals are so widespread that we are often unaware of them. Toxins have worked their way into our bodies faster than they can be eliminated, and they are causing many kinds of allergic reactions. Often they get recirculated into the bloodstream or are stored in the liver, body fat or other parts of the body. If you truly want to deal with your allergies at their source, then you must eliminate excess toxins from your system.

The programs I find the most beneficial are those that assist the body to remove toxins via the Seven Channels of detoxification and elimination. These channels are the colon, blood, skin, kidneys, lymphatic system, lungs and liver.

The use of an air-filtering system, is very helpful in removing air-borne toxins from your home and work environment. Filters for your drinking water as well as shower filters also reduce the amount of toxins you take in.

So Remember.

The next time your allergies flare up, you may want to ask "What's my body telling me? What needs to be done?" You might also consider telling yourself that you don't have to live with these problems for the rest of your life.