Allergies
Allergies…Oh, I know this one well. I was always the snotty, sneezy kid on the block. I have old photos of myself wearing Kleenex stuffed up my nose to stop the suffering. I recall the antihistamines, the drowsiness, and the general lack of success with them. So this is a very personal issue for me.
They have discovered new medications: histamine blockers and even leukotriene blockers in the past few years. They still require continual use to have any benefit, and many people still suffer despite these newer drugs…but not me! And how is that??
WHY does one respond with allergic reactions? Well, because we have allergies, of course. But WHY? Why does one person react so strongly to pollens or cats or dust, while another person exposed to the same thing is not affected?
If we look at the medications used to relieve allergies, we get our solution.
If histamine blockers help, we must look at how histamine is made and disposed. If leukotriene blockers help, we must look at how leukotrienes are made and disposed.
Histamine is produced in the immune system (by everyone) in response to irritants that need to be eliminated. Our first consideration is, maybe you are producing histamine normally but just not getting rid of it…imagine having a glass of wine, but your liver didn’t get rid of it…you would stay buzzed forever. The breakdown of histamine requires B6, folic acid, and a nutrient in apples and onions call quercitin. What if you simply aren’t getting rid of it normally?
The other likely consideration is that your immune system is irritated and over stimulated resulting in an overreaction and too much histamine. The key is finding ALL the irritants: soaps, detergents, odors, pollens, dusts, danders, and foods that might be causing this irritation. Some things can be removed, such as a detergent or food, and others can be counteracted, such as with Vitamin C, which may tone down the response to a pollen or dust. There are also ways to desensitize your nervous system to irritants as well.
Note: Be considerate of “slow” allergy reactions to foods, which won’t cause that obvious allergic response, but will contribute to the histamine load.
Leukotrienes are hormones produced by the types of fat you eat. So if you are improved by a leukotriene medication (ie. Singulair), you are making inflammatory hormones because you are eating inflammatory fats, such as trans fats, deep fried fats, grain and vegetable oils. Stop it, and you won’t need Singulair anymore!
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