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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’s been a while since I mentioned this but some of my subscribers will remember I invented what is UNQUESTIONABLY the finest health chocolate in the world! It’s called “The Doctor’s Chocolate” and is supplied to the public by True Healthy Products, a very fine ethical company in Florida. Why is it so special? Lots of reasons.

It’s been a while since I mentioned this but some of my subscribers will remember I invented what is UNQUESTIONABLY the finest health chocolate in the world! It’s called “The Doctor’s Chocolate” and is supplied to the public by True Healthy Products, a very fine ethical company in Florida. Why is it so special? Lots of reasons.

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.

Not all allergies are constant and predictable. Many appear to come and go. The key to this shifting pattern is the concept of ‘cyclical’ and ‘fixed’ allergies. Fixed allergies, as the name implies, never really change. Once acquired, they are with one for life. In general fixed allergies are severe. Allergies to insect stings, strawberries and shellfish tend to be of this type. These are usually immunollogically-induced allergies and, in accordance with our present understanding at any rate, there is no reason to expect them to alter. Cyclical allergies, on the other hand, vary considerably in the severity of reactions they produce. The more often the allergen is encountered, the worse the reaction becomes. Conversely, if the allergen is avoided for a long period, the reaction tends to dampen down.

Not all allergies are constant and predictable. Many appear to come and go. The key to this shifting pattern is the concept of ‘cyclical’ and ‘fixed’ allergies. Fixed allergies, as the name implies, never really change. Once acquired, they are with one for life. In general fixed allergies are severe. Allergies to insect stings, strawberries and shellfish tend to be of this type. These are usually immunollogically-induced allergies and, in accordance with our present understanding at any rate, there is no reason to expect them to alter. Cyclical allergies, on the other hand, vary considerably in the severity of reactions they produce. The more often the allergen is encountered, the worse the reaction becomes. Conversely, if the allergen is avoided for a long period, the reaction tends to dampen down.

The allergy-aware doctor today thinks in terms of target or ‘shock’ organs. The concept is really very simple: some part of the body, or a particular organ (for reasons which are not clear) receives more of an allergic reaction than the rest. Whatever the environmental stressor, whether it is a food, a chemical, a hidden infection or some other insult to the tissues, the symptoms appear at the weak point and are ‘referred’ to this organ, regardless of the actual trigger. Thus you may also hear the term “end-organ failure”. The symptoms experienced will depend largely on the function of this organ and whether it is excited (stirred up) or depressed (slowed down).

One of the dividing principles between conventional allergy and clinical ecology is the concept of the hidden or ‘masked’ allergy. Conventional allergists and immunologists don’t recognize the existence of the phenomenon. Clinical ecologists use their understanding of it all the time to treat many patients and many diseases. Basically, a hidden allergy means that a substance is capable of making a person ill but that constant exposure to it (as with a frequently eaten food) mutes the person’s reaction to it. A so-called masked allergy is a variant of this, whereby exposure to the substance temporarily diminishes or ‘masks’ the symptoms. Both phenomena make diagnosis very difficult.

One of the dividing principles between conventional allergy and clinical ecology is the concept of the hidden or ‘masked’ allergy. Conventional allergists and immunologists don’t recognize the existence of the phenomenon. Clinical ecologists use their understanding of it all the time to treat many patients and many diseases. Basically, a hidden allergy means that a substance is capable of making a person ill but that constant exposure to it (as with a frequently eaten food) mutes the person’s reaction to it. A so-called masked allergy is a variant of this, whereby exposure to the substance temporarily diminishes or ‘masks’ the symptoms. Both phenomena make diagnosis very difficult.

Confusion can arise from the fact that there may be pharmacological effects masquerading as an ‘allergy’. For example, the headache, flushing, racing pulse and giddiness that can come on after too much caffeine is really a drug reaction, not an allergic one. Obviously individual variations in trigger thresholds make this one sometimes hard to observe. Few people understand the incredible range of pharmacological substances that are to be found in plant substances. Most “green-minded” people think of herbs as kind, nurturing and gentle: wouldn’t hurt anyone, right? But, hey, I like to point out that foxglove, hemlock, opium poppy, marijuana, deadly nightshade and countless plants stuffs are dangerous, even poisonous. “Beware the humble carrot” wrote Richard Mackarness; this innocuous looking vegetable contains a neuro-toxin. Not relevant? I had a patient in the 1980s, a young boy, who had epileptic fits every time he ate carrots or anything from the same food family: parsnip, celery, parsley, dill, fennel, coriander etc.