Allergies
What are Allergies?
An allergy can be defined as “a wrong response to an innocuous substance” or in plain terms, the immune system overreacts to something in the environment that should be safe, like an animal, plant, dust, or a food. The immune system sees the substance as an invader and starts making antibodies to fight it off, just like it would with an infection. This can create many symptoms, from itching and sneezing all the way to an anaphylactic response, which needs emergency medical attention.
What are common allergies?
Most people are familiar with the immediate allergic reaction, often seen with pet allergies, severe food allergies like peanuts, and hay fever, but aren’t as aware of the delayed allergic response to foods. These delayed reactions have various symptoms, often experienced as joint pain, brain fog, digestive symptoms and other chronic symptoms that are hard to pinpoint as to where they are coming from.
What is a sensitivity?
A sensitivity is a response to a substance that creates symptoms but can’t be identified on either acute or chronic allergy tests. Some people call the food allergies that are picked up on functional medicine blood tests, sensitivities. Either way, you just don’t feel good and don’t know why.
Allergy Relief
Treatment for Allergies at The Center for Natural Therapy
My approach to treating allergies and sensitivities:
- Identify the irritating substances through blood tests, muscle response testing, or with the Spectra Scan machine.
- Minimize exposure for 1-3 months
- Restore the immune response in the gut during the elimination period with appropriate supplementation
- Use mind/body (energy) medicine to retrain the allergic response so your body no longer overreacts.
My mission in life is to help people eliminate their pet allergies so they can keep their beloved animal companions.
This normally is a shorter process than treating food and pollen allergies.
Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS)
MCS is different from regular allergies, because instead of it being an overreaction to a generally safe substance, it’s a reaction to toxic substances (cleaning supplies, fragrances, petroleum products, etc.) at a much lower exposure than seen in the general population. People with these sensitivities are like the proverbial “canaries in the coal mine”. They have a hard time being in our chemical laden world without developing severe symptoms. This puts people with MCS in a chronic state of “fight, flight, freeze” when everything feels unsafe and which exacerbates the symptoms.
MCS is often a result of an acute chemical exposure coupled with an underlying chronic infection and compromised detoxification pathways. Most attempts to “detox” patients can actually make them feel worse.
My approach to MCS is to use mind/body medicine to retrain the nervous system response, gently improve the body’s natural detoxification system, and address the underlying infections, often yeast or virus.
Everyone is different and we will proceed with the treatment at a pace which is most comfortable and beneficial to you.