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Grappling with Allergy

Posted on June 20, 2009  |  Author: Dr. Richard Nahas  |  Category: General  |  1 Comments

I have been interested in medicine ‘outside the box’ for many years.  During this time, I have learned about the traditions, the research and the commentary on alternative medicine, functional medicine, environmental medicine and integrative medicine.  Three years ago, I decided to establish a clinical practice based on these principles and an organization dedicated to promoting better medicine.

During that time, I have been fortunate enough to be able to help many people with health problems that their doctors could not solve.  We have worked together to find and treat hidden infections, nutritional deficiencies, hormone imbalances and heavy metal and other toxicities.  Although I have learned a great deal from healers around the world and at the many international conferences and seminars I have attended, my best teachers have been my patients.

Although I am proud of the knowledge and skills I have acquired, one of the things I still struggle with is allergies.   I am not referring to the garden-variety allergies that most people are familiar with – hay fever and sinus congestion are just the tip of the iceberg.  What I am talking about is part of an epidemic. Problems like asthma and eczema, irritable bowel syndrome, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome and multiple chemical sensitivity are the most obvious allergy-related diseases.  Another group of disorders that is strongly linked to allergy is developmental delay; this includes autism, ADHD and Asperger’s syndrome.

Unfortunately, conventional medicine is completely missing the boat on allergy.  Organizations of specialists trained in Allergy and Immunology have been very outspoken in their criticism of ‘unconventional’ allergy testing and treatment.  This includes IgG food allergy testing, provocation-neutralization testing, lymphocyte response assays, electrodermal testing using computer technologies like the VegaTest, and other energetic techniques such as applied kinesiology, NAET and BOSS.  

One big reason for this feeling is that these numerous techniques don’t always agree with each other.  Sometimes patients get different results using different tests, and sometimes they get different results using the same test on different days.  While this is often interpreted as proof that the tests are not reliable, this is not necessarily the case.  

In fact, allergy – also known as hypersensitivity – actually changes from minute to minute and from day to day.  It is a response generated by the nervous system and the immune system working together.  I call these the control systems.  If you have been drinking caffeine, have had a stressful day at the office, have not slept well or you ate something you are allergic to for breakfast, your control systems will be more sensitive.

More importantly, although many health problems can be greatly improved by treating allergies, allergy is just a symptom.  This is a critical point in terms of getting to the root of the problem.  If you suffer from allergy-related health problems, the important question to ask is this: why are your control systems overly sensitive?  

Conventional allergists have no answer to this question.  Environmental physicians trained by the American Academy of Environmental Medicine (AAEM) believe that the main cause is toxic overload combined with nutritional deficiency and genes that put you at risk.  In some patients, emotional factors make the nervous system more sensitive to allergens.  In some patients, treating infections seems to greatly improve allergic symptoms – presumably by de-sensitizing the immune system.

One of the benefits of the kind of medicine I practice is that although it is more difficult, it makes everything easier.  The reason is that instead of treating the thousands of different ‘diseases’ and ‘syndromes’, I now focus more and more on treating the handful of root causes that lead to all of them.   

The handful of root causes includes:

•    toxins
•    emotional trauma and stress
•    infections
•    physical injuries
•    lack of exercise
•    nutritional problems and deficiency
•    genetics

These problems are the root causes of disease.  When they are present, they lead to dysfunction of the nervous system, the immune system and the hormone system – the control systems of the body.  This dysfunction results in a handful of processes  - one of which is allergy - that together can explain virtually all human illnesses.

Here is the point: compared to the other functional problems I treat, allergy is tough to fix.  This is only partly because it is still not completely understood.  It is also because it requires a lot of infrastructure.  Specially trained staff, equipment, hundreds of different allergen extracts, knowledge of products, devices and other resources to help the most sensitive patients dodge the biggest landmines in an increasingly toxic world.

Dr Jennifer Armstrong, a colleague and friend who runs the Ottawa Environmental Health Clinic, is one of the world’s most experienced physicians when it comes to treating patients with complex and severe allergy-related symptoms.  She has been a very helpful teacher and guide, and not surprisingly, her sophisticated practice has a 3-year waiting list.

Thankfully, it works.  People get better.  People who have been written off by their doctors and the dozens of specialists who have had nothing to offer gradually find themselves living a better life.  This is the greatest reward of practicing this kind of medicine.  Another benefit is that, although it is not easy, it is never boring.

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Comments

Margaret Wilson on Sun Aug 02 2009 at 5:04 pm

I enjoyed reading your comments, Dr. Nahas, very much. My daughter and I are " on the run" from our own home where we were exposed to mold toxins and we are highly reactive at this point to all sorts of things. Especially my daughter, who is carrying an epi-pen and puffer at this point - she also is highly chemically sensitive. We have been living in hotels and shelters for the last 8 weeks and don't know what to do next. What I am finding the most difficult is that my family doctor does not believe in environmental medicine nor chemical sensitivity nor toxic mold exposure. I am considering travelling to Ottawa to your clinic if I can find a safe place to stay with no mold and with windows or patio doors that can stay wide open day and night.

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