Category:Allergies, autoimmunity and infections
Allergies, autoimmunity, inflammation and infection all have to do with the immune system. The immune system has a difficult job to do. It has to recognise those things which are safe for the body and allow them to enter the body, where they help us survive. This, of course, is what digestion and absorption of foods is all about. Indeed, 90% of the immune system is gut associated. It also has to decide what is dangerous to the body, such as infection with bacteria, viruses, yeasts, or parasites and what is safe such as food. Having established that there is a threat, it then has to determine the level of reaction against it, i.e. just the right amount of inflammation to control that threat because too much will simply damage the body.
So all the immune reactions that we see in infection we also see in allergy, autoimmunity and conditions associated with inflammation.
We now know that most autoimmunity is driven by infection with microbes - most commonly viruses, but bacteria, yeast, parasites and vaccinations are also implicated. Not everyone develops autoimmunity - there may be a genetic susceptibility. Furthermore where there are pro-inflammatory forces the chances of developing autoimmunty are greater. The same principles are likely to be true for allergy.
Problems with allergy arise when the immune system has got its wires crossed and starts to react against things which it should not. When it reacts, it produces inflammation and it is this that gives us symptoms. Autoimmunity is all about allergy to our own body material, it is a completely useless reaction and, of course, destructive.
One can be allergic to anything under the sun (including the sun!), for example to foods, biological inhalants, chemicals, micro-organisms (bacteria, yeasts, parasites, etc) and other things.
In treating allergies and autoimmunity the lines of attack are:
- Avoidance (see The Paleo Ketogenic Diet - this is a diet which we all should follow, chemical clean up, Do A Good Chemical Clean-Up: chemicals make you fat and fatigued and Housedust and Mites – how to avoid them).
- Treat the upper fermenting gut - see Fermentation in the gut and CFS
- Reducing the allergic load (for example by improving digestion of foods – see Hypochlorhydria and Malabsorption of food).
- Immune programming (see Probiotics - we should all be taking these all the time and double the dose following antibiotics and gastroenteritis and Reprogramming the Immune System – where conventional and complementary medicine can come together)
- Damping down inflammation - vitamin D, nutritional supplements, good antioxidant status, probiotics. See Inflammation
- Damping down inflammation through correction of adrenal function (use pregnenolone 50mgs daily) and correction of thyroid function. Please see Common Hormonal Problems in CFS - Adrenal and Thyroid - the correct prescribing of thyroid hormones
- Desensitisation - see Enzyme Potentiated Desensitisation (EPD).
- Avoid switching on allergies: Chemical clean up – chemicals are very good at switching on allergies, especially pesticides. See Chemical Poisoning and Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS) - how to reduce your daily exposures
- Avoid vaccinations if possible - they are good at switching on allergies for the same reason that they are good at switching on immunity!
- Avoid the worst aspects of the Western lifestyles (and we all know what they are!)
Indeed there is now good evidence to show that the presence of auto-antibodies are a strong predictor of disease. Treatment should start before clinical symptoms arise. The presence of anti-mitochondrial antibodies guarantees that primary biliary cirrhosis will begin in the sixth decade.
- See Effective allergy practice - this gives the scientific and referenced basis behind the clinical practice.
- See Chemical Report BSAENM - the scientific and reference basis behind the clinical practice
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Pages in category ‘Allergies, autoimmunity and infections’
The following 45 pages are in this category, out of 45 total.
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C
- Chlorine Dioxide - a useful antifungal
- Chronic Fungal Infection as a cause of disease: the toxicity of mycotoxins
- Chronic infection – Life is an arms race – how to tackle with natural remedies
- Chronic infections in CFS
- Chronic inflammation: stealth infections – principles of diagnosis – which tests to do
- Colicky babies and how I got interested in allergy
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E
I
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- Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS)
- Methylene Blue - clinical uses
- Mould Sensitivity
- Moving house - things to look for if you suffer from MCS
- Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS) - a common problem and often triggered by exposure to chemicals
- Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS) - Principles of Treatment