Achoo-se! A different approach to allergies
Every spring, hundreds of thousands of people suffer when the pollen starts to fly. Over-the-counter sales of allergy medications are whisked off the shelves and doctors are pummeled with requests for stronger prescription meds. Articles on controlling allergies abound, but they’re all about minimizing exposure, not about how to resolve them. What if there was a way to eliminate allergies, not just control them? There is.
Why do you have allergies in the first place? Why do some people suffer horribly, others seem completely unbothered by them and the rest fall in between? What do the non-reactive people have that the sufferers don’t have? A healthier body.
You develop allergies when your immune system reacts to substances such as pollen as if it was a foreign invader, needing to be attacked and eliminated. Why would a perfectly healthy immune system do that? Because it isn’t perfectly healthy. It’s acting aberrantly. Why is it not healthy? Now we get into the good stuff…
We eat a diet full of garbage that stresses our system to the max. There is an abundance of air, water and electromagnetic pollution that we expect our liver to process. We schedule our lives so that we are always on the run and so stressed that our adrenal glands are overwhelmed. We are lucky if our digestive system is somewhat effective. We eat sugar in amounts never heard of in the history of man and wonder why our immune system has been derailed.
Allergies aren’t something that “just happens.” Our lifestyle sets the stage for it to happen. In trying to resolve allergies, not just control them, we first need to know what went wrong — which system is not doing its job. Asking questions and investigating causes of other conditions that could give clues are the starting point for resolving allergies. You need an investigator.
Nutrition, herbs and acupuncture are some of the most effective ways to resolve allergies. Not just symptom-chasing, but really getting into the causative factors and improving function. There are several herbs and foods that help with the immediate symptoms, and avoiding exposure helps take the load off the system while the underlying mechanism is being improved.
Avoid foods that can enhance symptoms. For example, if you are allergic to ragweed, you need to avoid eating melons, bananas, cucumbers and sunflower seeds. Avoid herbs in the ragweed family such as chamomile, milk thistle, wormwood, goldenseal and echinacea. Know what your triggers are. But again, this is only control advice.
If you are tired of just controlling symptoms, try something different. Try acupuncture and nutritional therapy and try a practitioner that looks deeper into why you have allergies in the first place.
- • •
Holly Carling is a Doctor of Oriental Medicine, Licensed Acupuncturist, Doctor of Naturopathy, Clinical Nutritionist and Master Herbologist with nearly four decades of experience. Carling is a “Health Detective,” she looks beyond your symptom picture and investigates WHY you are experiencing your symptoms in the first place. Carling is currently accepting new patients and offers natural health care services and whole food nutritional supplements in her Coeur d’Alene clinic. Visit Carling’s website at www.vitalhealthcda.com to learn more about Carling, view a list of upcoming health classes and read other informative articles. Carling can be reached at 208-765-1994 and would be happy to answer any questions regarding this topic.