Allergy is misplaced immunity. Allergens
like dog hair, pollen, dust, and mold cannot really hurt us, so
the immune system need not react to them. Allergy is a learned
response of the immune system, and anything ‘learned’
can be ‘unlearned’. The goal of treatment should be to
convince the immune system that it can co-exist peacefully with
these substances. Conventional medicine does not achieve this
goal. Instead it suppresses allergic responses, perpetuating them
and creating much toxicity.
Allergy has multiple roots. One is inherited, since these conditions are more frequent in children of parents with allergic histories. Another is in the mind and nervous system; emotional stress can precipitate allergic reactions, and relaxation techniques can moderate them. A person who is strongly allergic to roses may react to the sight of a plastic rose, demonstrating the involvement of mind and brain in the learned aspect of these inappropriate immune responses.
In fact, allergy straddles the mind/body border. There is no question about its physical reality, since you can die from an allergic reaction, but you can also make it vanish by changing your mental and emotional state. History has shown long-standing, severe cases that disappeared when people switched jobs, left a spouse, or otherwise eliminated sources of stress. One way to take advantage of the mind/body connection in allergy is to experiment with hypnotherapy. Hypnosis can lessen, or completely prevent, allergic reactions, and can also facilitate the immune system's ‘unlearning’ of its pointless habits.
Another root of allergy is in the environment. Diet can greatly influence allergic responsiveness, or lack of it, as can exposure to potentially irritating substances at critical times in one's development. Excessive protein may irritate the immune system and keep it in a state of over-reactivity. The protein in cow's milk, specifically, is a frequent offender, and for people with a genetic predisposition to allergy it may be a hidden cause of problems. One general treatment strategy, therefore, is to follow a low-protein diet and try to eliminate milk and milk products.
The most serious kind of allergic reaction is anaphylactic shock. It can kill by suffocation, the result of swelling of the larynx and obstruction of the airway. Anaphylactic shock can occur in response to insect stings, ingestion of allergenic foods in sensitive individuals, and injected or swallowed doses of medication. It is a medical emergency, but it can be treated effectively. An injection of adrenaline (administered under medical supervision) will usually end the reaction promptly.
Medical treatments for less serious allergic reactions are much less effective, and often toxic. Antihistamines interfere with brain activity, causing drowsiness and depression. Never use antihistamines if you have a tendency to depression or mental dullness. Even when these drugs do not depress mental activity, they merely suppress the allergy rather than cure it. As a result, the pattern of immune over-responsiveness is strengthened rather than weakened, meaning that more treatment will be required in the future.
This objection to treatment applies even more so to steroid drugs (cortisone and related compounds). Never use cortisone, prednisone, or other steroid drugs to treat allergic reactions unless the allergies are very severe or life-threatening. If you must take these powerful hormones, limit your use of them to two (2) weeks. Steroids perpetuate allergy through their suppressive action. They also lower immunity.
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