01/08/2024
Allergies represent an inappropriate immune response to substances that otherwise pose no threat to the body. While trees and pollen may make someone with allergies miserable, they actually aren't something that would typically harm the body. When the immune system decides that something is a threat, each exposure leads to inflammation and the release of substances that are designed to eradicate infections, parasites, and other similar threats. The confused immune system thinks that the trees and pollen are trying to kill you (they aren't...although those Junipers are looking very suspicious), but with a little work your immune system can be trained to recognize they are harmless.
Classical allergies are easy to pinpoint because of the histamine reaction resulting in redness, swelling, itching, irritation, and mucus production. Other types of immune responses can also occur which are harder to pinpoint, with symptoms often being delayed by hours to days. Foods are notorious for triggering these types of immune responses, though the classical allergies can apply to foods as well (think peanut or shellfish allergies).
There are many treatment options for allergies, including anti-histamines which reduce symptoms, mast cell stabilizers which decrease the amount of inflammation triggered by allergies, and various types of immune tolerance techniques. Allergy shots and sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT) are two examples. Low dose immunotherapy (LDI) and Low dose antigen (LDA) are among my favorite as they attempt to retrain the immune system in a minimally invasive format (no shots required!). LDI in particular allows multiple allergies to be treated at once and when it works, it works very well with minimal to no symptoms from your allergies.
Whether you are dealing with classic allergies, or other immune reactions to foods, environmental triggers, or chemicals, give us a call and we can find a treatment plan that works for you.