Allergies: the treshold of reactivity

If everybody believes something, it's probably wrong. We call that Conventional Wisdom. In America, conventional wisdom that has mass acceptance is usually contrived: somebody paid for it.
Examples:

Pharmaceuticals restore health Vaccination brings immunity
The cure for cancer is just around the corner
Menopause is a disease condition
When a child is sick, he needs immediate antibiotics
Hospitals are safe and clean.
America has the best health care in the world.
Americans have the best health in the world.
Milk is a good source of calcium.
Vitamin C is ascorbic acid.
Aspirin prevents heart attacks.
Heart drugs improve the heart.
Back and neck pain are the only reasons for spinal adjustment.
The purpose of the health care industry is health.
Cipro will prevent anthrax
No child can get into school without vaccinations
The FDA thoroughly tests all drugs before they go on the mark
Pregnancy is a serious medical condition
Chemotherapy and radiation are effective cures for cancer
When your child is diagnosed with an ear infection, antibiotics should be given immediately "just in case."

What are allergies?

Your friend looks at your bloodshot eyes, hears your stuffed-up voice, and accepts the explanation "It's my allergies," as though the symptoms he observes were the disease itself. This word game is no accident. We are conditioned by a thousand commercials a day to equate all diseases with their symptoms. Headache, backache, arthritis, tinnitus, high blood pressure, on and on - are not diseases themselves, but rather the signs of disease. The illusion is that by covering up the signs, we have now cured the disease. The illusion is that by naming the signs, we have identified the disease. Nothing could be further from the truth.

You have a headache. Solution, programmed every five minutes on TV: Tylenol, Advil, whatever, that will do what? That's right: take the pain away. But wait – the pain wasn't the cause of the problem. The headache had a reason; it was a sign of something else. Neck spasm, intoxication, emotional stress, sinus allergies, trauma, spine misalignment, drugs, chemical sensitivity, overwork, hunger – the pain can come from many sources. The pill didn't solve anything, didn't cure anything. Soon as it wears off, guess what? Right – the pain returns. So then what are we taught to do? Right – more pills.

Same with allergies. Allergies are not watery eyes and stuffed up noses. Allergies are reactions to irritants. Something foreign is triggering the body's cleansing responses. Like walking behind a smoky bus when it starts up. You breathe in the fumes and start coughing and choking, with your eyes watering. That's an allergic response. Humans are allergic to bus exhaust. Eyes water to clear the eyes. Coughing reflex kicks in to forcibly expel the toxic fumes before they get inhaled. Happens in an instant.

Tolerance is a big problem. That means when we get used to an irritant, the body gives up on trying to expel it. Like a bus mechanic. After a few weeks or months of breathing those fumes every day, the body doesn't try so hard. The sensitive mucous membranes in the mouth and nose toughen up a little, and the mechanic learns to "take it." He's becoming less sensitized to a poison – carbon monoxide. Doesn't mean it won't kill him; it just means the body's getting accustomed to that degree of being poisoned. The irritant is no longer triggering such a strong cleansing response as it used to.

Same with someone learning to smoke cigarettes. He coughs and chokes at first, but soon gets the hang of it. The body's ability to throw off the toxins is gradually weakened.

We've all heard of anti-histamines. Pills and sprays that unclog stuffed noses. They work by blocking histamines. Histamines are produced by our white cells to trigger protective mechanisms, like stuffing up the nose, making the eyes water, and shutting down digestion. Allergy medicine is generally an antihistamine, which unnaturally interferes with the body's normal attempts to protect itself. Mouth, nose, and eyes – that's the first line of defense. When antihistamines block these normal clearing responses from happening, the irritant or allergen or antigen is being permitted to enter further into the body than it would normally have gotten. This is a side effect of antihistamines. You may thank God that you can breathe again, but for any drug, there is always a downside. The problem wasn't the stuffy nose or the watering eyes; the problem was the allergen: the irritant. Antihistamines don't touch the underlying cause; they just suspend the body's ability to respond with its normal clearing mechanisms. Result: tolerance. Toxification.

Isn't this obvious? Holistic doctors grow weary of explaining this self-evident fact over and over a dozen times a day to their patients. It's like if you're driving down the road and suddenly you hear this horrendous knocking noise coming from the engine. So you turn up the radio full blast in order to cover up the noise. Pretty stupid, but that's precisely what we're doing with allergy medication.

Cover up the symptoms

The focus of allergy treatment should be to eliminate the underlying stimulus of the sinus blockage and the watery nose and eyes. First of all, identify the causative factor. Cat hair, dust, pollen, shellfish, wool, etc.? I don't think so. Normal people can be around all of these and not react. Genetics? The usual excuse, when the "experts" run out of ideas. We have no idea, so let's just transfer it to an area that so far is unprovable and unknowable – gene sequencing. That way we can avoid pronouncing those three frightful words that separate the career researcher from the true scientist: "I don't know." As long as we don't know, the best we can do is keep on buying and selling antihistamines and their derivatives. As a $10 billion a year industry, why would anyone want to question it? Doctors sell drugs; that's why we go to them. If you want health, well, that's a different topic altogether. You're on your read more