Allergies - An Alternative Approach

Is there an alternative to all those allergy medications? Here are my thoughts, my opinion, and my experience on this too frequent problem.

Allergies can make us miserable, or can even be life threatening. Avoiding whatever is causing the allergy is one thing you can do. Allergy shots and medications may relieve our allergy symptoms or at least make them more tolerable, so we can enjoy our life and function better. But we have to realize that they usually come at a price - not just money, but side effects as well. If you'd like to know more about the potential side effects, you might be interested in reading the article in AOL Body titled Allergy Medication: Side Effects: "8 surprising side effects." I'm not against medicine or doctors. I am a doctor. Sometimes we need drugs. But we overdo it. All those drug ads are working. We in the US now use twice as many prescription medicines as any other developed country. I'd rather use prevention and natural remedies whenever possible. I realize it is not always possible for some.

Consider what can happen when you use allergy medicines. Years ago, my allergist friend, Dr Sang Lee, explained it like this: An allergic reaction is our immune system over-reacting because it is weakened. It’s a message, telling us we need to strengthen our t-cells of our immune sytem. T-cells can help protect us against things like cancer and viruses. Cortisone, which is often used for allergic reactions basically kills our t-cells. We keep making t-cells, but the cortisone really weakens our immune system. Other allergy treatments can weaken or paralyze our t-cells. Allergy shots wear them down till they quit and get weaker and then they will be allergic to the next thing that comes along. The best solution of all is to support your immune system with a healthy lifestyle. We need to get plenty of good water too. Histamine is our water regulator. When we are low on water, histamine can cause asthma and hay fever and stuffiness – because it’s trying to prevent further loss of water from the respiratory system.

I believe what Dr Lee said is true. And I believe there is something we can do. There may be things we don't have control over, but our lifestyle is something we can change. It's our choice. A poor diet, alcohol or drug abuse, stress, whether emotional or physical, and our reaction to it, are a few of the lifestyle things that can affect our immune system. Anger and hatred can weaken our immune system and make us more susceptible to serious illness. On the other hand, love has been demonstrated by research to boost our immune system. Our hyper-paced lifestyles can leave us with little time to take care of ourselves, so we skip breakfast, don't get enough rest or leisure time, eat fast food on the run, don't exercise because there's not enough time, drink coffee or sugar-filled energy drinks to keep us going. We may be trying to reduce our stress, but these things are not stress-reducers -- they are stress producers and weaken our immune system.

Cleaning up my lifestyle and using therapeutic essential oils not for allergies specifically, but for chronic pain, not only helped my pain, but I found helped gradually alleviate my allergy symptoms as well, without the side effects of drugs.

If you have any questions or comments or would like more information I'd love to hear from you.

Wishing you good health,

Dr Joan

jbaricemd@gmail.com
www.youngliving.org/ejoanbaricemd
*Read an article about Dr Barice "Dealing with relentless pain" in Fort Myers Florida Weekly September 20, 2007

These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. Anything mentioned here is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. If you have any medical conditions please consult a qualified medical provider