While the North Valley can look pretty heavenly in the spring but it can be a living hell if you’re sensitive to all those things that bloom.

Do you or someone you know suffer from allergy like symptoms such as sneezing, coughing, watery eyes; sinus problems, skin rashes, or digestion upsets—yet traditional allergy testing by your doctor has not shown any “true allergies”?  You may ask: Why does this happen?

The traditional medical view of allergies is that a “true” allergy occurs when the body produces antibodies to a sensitizing agent.

You or your friend may actually suffer from sensitivities or intolerances instead of “true” allergies. Sensitivities and intolerances both can produce symptoms that are similar to the symptoms of allergies. However, with a sensitivity or intolerance, no antibodies are produced, and your doctor cannot diagnose a “true” allergy.

Intolerance is a lack of enzymes to digest a food. Lets take lactose intolerance as an example.  A person who is lactose intolerant does not make enough of the enzymes that digest lactose, a two-part sugar that is found in milk. If you are lactose intolerant, you may experience gas, bloating and explosive diarrhea if you drink too much milk. Your allergy-like symptoms may be caused by other food intolerances as well.

For all practical purposes it doesn’t make a difference whether you have an allergy, sensitivity, or intolerance because all of them can give you allergy-like symptoms and make you feel miserable.

Traditional medicine treats these conditions with costly drugs that produce side effects, or a long series of desensitization shots, or avoidance of the allergy producing substance. That avoidance method of treatment can be particularly tough to follow when you cannot control your environment, such as the air you breathe.

The good news is that there are effective alternative approaches that can help you identify the root cause of your allergy-like symptoms, and reduce the overall stress that these problems place on the body.

If you find that you are becoming increasingly sensitive, the first place to improve the problem should be your digestive system. Your digestive system? Yes!

Here’s why you should focus on improving digestion.  Whenever we eat too much food, or eat foods that we cannot digest, the bowel lining becomes inflamed and irritated. When this occurs, the bowel becomes damaged, and small fragments of undigested food leaks into our blood. Once the gut lining leaks, your body becomes sensitized to the undigested food, and your immune system reacts to the particles of undigested foods as if they were a virus or bug.

It’s not an accident that your digestive tract contains more immune cells and tissues than any other part of the body. Intestinal immune tissues are your natural barrier and defense against infections. Compromising this barrier repeatedly with undigested food yields sensitivities and allergies to the foods you frequently eat, and runs down your immune system.

Enhancing your digestion is crucial to lowering the overload on the immune system that occurs with allergies, sensitivities and intolerances.  Hence some simple steps to improve and support the digestive system can go a long way towards reducing your allergy-like symptoms.

Taking a good probiotic in powder or liquid form once a day between meals can help keep your gut flora healthy.  Probiotics reduce the damaging effects of harmful bacteria and yeast in the bowel. Also using a good digestive enzyme can enhance your digestion and reduce irritation to the bowel. Unfortunately, the quality of over the counter probiotics and enzymes vary, and you may need to try several different products to find what works best for you.

One supplement that does an excellent job of reducing the inflammation and symptoms caused by allergies is Quercetin. Quercetin is a bioflavonoid found in the rind of citrus fruits and onions. It acts as a natural antihistamine without the side effect of drowsiness that drugs have, and can be a powerful weapon to help you reduce the allergy-like symptoms.

Reducing refined carbohydrate intake, wheat, dairy and sugars, can also help you lower the load on your body. This may help many people reduce allergy symptoms, but if you are sensitive to other foods, its effect may be limited.

If you find that you still need help after making dietary changes and improving your digestion, you may want consider NAET, which stands for Nambudripad’s Allergy Elimination Technique. NAET is a revolutionary allergy treatment that I, and a small group of health practitioners in the North State perform to help people eliminate harmonize sensitivities. NAET works with the body’s energy meridians to reduce symptoms.  Treatments do not involve drugs or shots, and are painless and non invasive.

There’s a lot you can do to end the suffering that comes along with our beautiful spring.  Once you’ve reduced your sensitivities, naturally, you can really enjoy the beauty of the North Valley from the inside out.

Patrick Giammarise is a chiropractor in Chico that focuses on improving health by improving digestion and reducing allergies with natural means.  Dr. Patrick can be reached at 530-899-8741.

2009, © Dr. Patrick Giammarise, DC

Original publication date: Inside Out Magazine Vol. 4 #4