Allergy

Hypersensitivity (a heightened state of extreme sensitivity) is another word you will hear applied to allergy. There are four distinct types of hypersensitivity: Types I to IV. These divisions are useful for discussion but may not necessarily occur as single entities in an individual. There is good evidence that Types I and III hypersensitivity can cause food-allergic symptoms, and some evidence that Type III mechanisms can be associated with gut disorders such as colitis. However, it is vital for doctors to appreciate that reactions to food and environmental substances may occur, proven empirically, without any of these mechanisms appearing to be invoked.

When an infective organism invades the tissues, a precise series of events are set up to limit spread of the foreigner and ultimately to destroy it. First a macrophage will encounter the intruder. It engulfs it and then ‘displays’ its characteristic proteins on the surface of the cell as a kind of “flag” or gotcha trophy. We call this chemical flag the antigen, since it generates the rest of the reaction. By means of chemical language (a sort of local hormone called a lymphokine), the macrophage attracts nearby T-helper lymphocytes. They ‘read’ the antigenic matter and go off to program B-cells to produce antibodies to this pattern. The antibody is our own, the good guys’ response, to lock onto antigen carriers and cripple them.

When an infective organism invades the tissues, a precise series of events are set up to limit spread of the foreigner and ultimately to destroy it. First a macrophage will encounter the intruder. It engulfs it and then ‘displays’ its characteristic proteins on the surface of the cell as a kind of “flag” or gotcha trophy. We call this chemical flag the antigen, since it generates the rest of the reaction. By means of chemical language (a sort of local hormone called a lymphokine), the macrophage attracts nearby T-helper lymphocytes. They ‘read’ the antigenic matter and go off to program B-cells to produce antibodies to this pattern. The antibody is our own, the good guys’ response, to lock onto antigen carriers and cripple them.

Let’s see how much you know. Pretend I came to you with this symptom and asked you what to do! Here’s the story: the patient is me (truly, this happened to me yesterday afternoon). I was sitting in a restaurant on the shores of lovely Lake Lucerne (photo), eating a plate with Parma ham and melon salad–a mix of watermelon, canteloupe and honeydew, drizzled with a balsamic dressing. It was delicious. Suddenly, there came a sharp pain in the side of my cheek. Gosh, I thought, a fish bone spike! Then I realized that was silly; but it could have been a spicule of bone from the ham. I felt it with my tongue and it seemed soft and small.

Let’s see how much you know. Pretend I came to you with this symptom and asked you what to do! Here’s the story: the patient is me (truly, this happened to me yesterday afternoon). I was sitting in a restaurant on the shores of lovely Lake Lucerne (photo), eating a plate with Parma ham and melon salad–a mix of watermelon, canteloupe and honeydew, drizzled with a balsamic dressing. It was delicious. Suddenly, there came a sharp pain in the side of my cheek. Gosh, I thought, a fish bone spike! Then I realized that was silly; but it could have been a spicule of bone from the ham. I felt it with my tongue and it seemed soft and small.

Learning something about the functioning of the immune system is essential to understanding the classic view of allergy. For those of you who want to know a little about this fascinating defense mechanism, take a deep breath and here goes!

Learning something about the functioning of the immune system is essential to understanding the classic view of allergy. For those of you who want to know a little about this fascinating defense mechanism, take a deep breath and here goes!

It is implicit in the body load model that you will be able to tolerate a definite level of each stressor and only by exceeding that do you move into overload. These limits may shift under different circumstances but there is always a line, drawn somewhere, which you must not cross if you want to remain well Bad allergens, then, are the ones of which even a tiny quantity puts you over the limit. Mild allergies are those which need a big dose of an allergen to come into effect. Probably mild allergies would not arise at all if the allergens were encountered in normal quantities, but several together can add up to trouble. It is even possible to imagine a scale and assign arbitrary numerical values. If your threshold limit is, say 10 points, a 12 allergy would put you straight into symptoms. But one or two 3s taken together would still have no effect; two 4s and a 3 might, so on. This can be represented diagrammatically.

It is implicit in the body load model that you will be able to tolerate a definite level of each stressor and only by exceeding that do you move into overload. These limits may shift under different circumstances but there is always a line, drawn somewhere, which you must not cross if you want to remain well Bad allergens, then, are the ones of which even a tiny quantity puts you over the limit. Mild allergies are those which need a big dose of an allergen to come into effect. Probably mild allergies would not arise at all if the allergens were encountered in normal quantities, but several together can add up to trouble. It is even possible to imagine a scale and assign arbitrary numerical values. If your threshold limit is, say 10 points, a 12 allergy would put you straight into symptoms. But one or two 3s taken together would still have no effect; two 4s and a 3 might, so on. This can be represented diagrammatically.

It is implicit in the body load model that you will be able to tolerate a definite level of each stressor and only by exceeding that do you move into overload. These limits may shift under different circumstances but there is always a line, drawn somewhere, which you must not cross if you want to remain well Bad allergens, then, are the ones of which even a tiny quantity puts you over the limit. Mild allergies are those which need a big dose of an allergen to come into effect. Probably mild allergies would not arise at all if the allergens were encountered in normal quantities, but several together can add up to trouble. It is even possible to imagine a scale and assign arbitrary numerical values. If your threshold limit is, say 10 points, a 12 allergy would put you straight into symptoms. But one or two 3s taken together would still have no effect; two 4s and a 3 might, so on. This can be represented diagrammatically.

Let us now introduce one of the most important of all healing principles, if not the most important, is that of total body load. It is the key to all recoveries and overcoming all disease processes. No doctor really cures anything; Nature does that. All the successful physician can do is to reduce body load to allow this process to take place. Unfortunately, modern medicine with its pharmacology arsenal often adds to the biological burden instead of relieving it. Along with all living creatures we are endowed with a number of key regulatory mechanisms. One can only be amazed that they rarely seem to break down, rather than being surprised and disconcerted when they do. The skin protects us from temperature variation and dehydration, the immune system wards off micro-organisms, the kidneys eliminate poison waste, the liver detoxifies an ever-increasing amount of xenobiotic chemicals and other factors regulate the acid-base balance within the body.

Let us now introduce one of the most important of all healing principles, if not the most important, is that of total body load. It is the key to all recoveries and overcoming all disease processes. No doctor really cures anything; Nature does that. All the successful physician can do is to reduce body load to allow this process to take place. Unfortunately, modern medicine with its pharmacology arsenal often adds to the biological burden instead of relieving it. Along with all living creatures we are endowed with a number of key regulatory mechanisms. One can only be amazed that they rarely seem to break down, rather than being surprised and disconcerted when they do. The skin protects us from temperature variation and dehydration, the immune system wards off micro-organisms, the kidneys eliminate poison waste, the liver detoxifies an ever-increasing amount of xenobiotic chemicals and other factors regulate the acid-base balance within the body.