Saturday, April 23, 2011

Rethinking Allergies...

I have had allergies all my life.  My children have allergies.  My dear friends and their children have allergies.  The majority of Americans, whether they know it or not, suffer from some sort of allergy, intolerance or sensitivity.  My life-long battle with severe allergies forced me to become my own allergy expert.  You name it, I'm allergic to it:  animals, pollen (all kinds...grass, tree, flower, weed, any green thing that grows), dust, molds, foods, multiple chemical sensitivities...  My body has been worn down from years of "allergic" responses.

From the time I was a child, I have undergone nearly every basic allergy treatment available.  In my younger years, before I ejected from the broken conventional medical system, I had doctors tell me, "There's nothing more I can do for you...I've never seen a case like yours."  In the years following my enlightenment to real healing modalities, I sought additional allergy treatments and consultations (including an environmental illness specialist) and had practitioners say, "I've not often seen a case quite like yours..."  In the early years following the births of my (also) allergic children, I sought assistance and was told (even by a fairly prominent conventional/holistic MD), "You know more about this than I do...I can't add anything."  I came to a full understanding of the limitations in the medical realm regarding the treatment (and dare I say cure) of allergies.

I have been forced, out of sheer necessity for daily functioning and a desire to help my children, to earnestly pursue the study of allergies and the discovery of any and all treatments that could help.  What I have learned over the years has proven useful to my family and has been able to bless others.  I have made personal gains, yet I have not arrived at the pinnacle...at the significantly reduced suffering caused by my allergies, and the eradication of my children's allergies.  So the search continues...and new enlightenments have serendipitously fallen into my lap...literally!  What I have learned this year redefines my entire concept of "allergies" in a way that defies conventional medical thinking...so I know I'm on the right track!

I find that the medical community often misuses the term allergy in diagnosing many of the problems and sensitivities plaguing vast numbers of people.  Not every intolerance or sensitivity is a true allergy, and few allergies are a "life-long sentence."  I no longer believe that allergies are part of a person's genetic destiny.  When we understand allergies in the classic sense (a damaging physiological immunoglobulin/histamine response), we see that many of the "allergies" plaguing people are actually intolerances (a non-immunological negative reaction) or sensitivities caused by a malfunctioning/maltreated body...not really an allergy at all.  And these things can be corrected...completely...without a life of pharmaceutical treatments and suffering.  The "allergy," if you will, can be overcome.

This is exciting territory for those of us who have been troubled for so long with what can be crippling autoimmune difficulties.  The answers are especially beneficial for the multitudinous infants and children who are afflicted with food intolerances from birth (causing colic, baby acne and later brain malfunctions).  But lest I get ahead of myself, I will stop the introduction here and reveal the kicker in my next Allergy post.  Until next time, be well...and become your own expert!