What Are Allergies?

Allergies are what happens when your body reacts to something in the air, food, or water and causes anything from a runny nose, to sinus headaches, to swelling and skin outbreaks. Some people suffer from seasonal allergies, food allergies, animal allergies, latex allergies, or a combination of them all. Allergies are so common that it’s estimated that more than 50 million people in the U.S. experience various types of allergies each year and allergies are the sixth leading cause of chronic illness in the U.S.

While allergies are very common, let’s be very straight-forward — they are NOT normal. I have run into many friends and family members who have struggled with allergies all of their life and I am blown away with how people think they just have to live with it for the rest of their life… no you don’t!

Side note: I personally had an allergy to horses–a bad allergy. I went on a 30-minute ride (first time ever) when I was a teenager. Within 3-5 minutes my eyes became very itchy and before I knew it I could not stop itching them. By the end of the trip my eyes had become incredibly swollen. Since addressing many of the things I’m going to talk about next, I am now able to be around horses and several other similar animals with NO allergies — you read that right… ZERO allergies. Gone.

Naturally Overcome Your Allergies

Causes Of Allergies

What causes allergies? Very simply, allergy problems occur when the immune system becomes imbalanced and starts reacting to things that it shouldn’t. For example, when you walk outside, it’s not normal that your nose or eyes start to run or become water. That happens because your immune system is abnormally reacting to something it shouldn’t be.  

What can cause the immune system to be imbalanced? High histamine foods, food sensitivities, infections (parasites, bacteria, fungal, viruses), inflammation, heavy metal toxicities, and pharmaceuticals.

1. High Levels Of Histamine

Histamine is a chemical produced by the immune system in response to different allergens to let you know something is wrong. Histamine can become high due to food allergies or sensitivities (see in #2 below), specific foods that increase histamine levels, gut infections, and inflammation.

Foods that naturally increase histamine levels include: alcohol, pickled or canned foods, mature cheeses, smoked meats, shellfish, beans, legumes, nuts, dried fruit, citrus fruits, chocolate or cocoa, vinegar, preservatives, and artificial flavors or colors.

Keep note of how your allergies do after eating any of these previously listed foods. If your allergy symptoms worsen after eating these foods, you may just need to avoid them for a while and take some natural anti-histamine nutrients to help regulate your system.

Natural anti-histamine nutrients are powerful at reducing allergies naturally. There are 10 specific anti-histamines that we commonly check for people with allergy problems. Common ones needed include: Quercetin, Camu (a whole-form Vitamin C — NOT ascorbic acid) Vitamin A, P5P (activated B6), TMG (beets), and 5-MTHF (activated B9).

Have you tried these nutrients already with no improvement? It may be a slightly deeper issue. Infections, heavy metals, liver stress, and fatty acid imbalances may be the underlying problem.

2. Food Sensitivity vs Food Allergy

Food sensitivities and allergies can also greatly increase allergy-type symptoms. A food sensitivity occurs anytime your digestive system does not handle a food very well. You may experience GI discomfort, increased pain, increased skin problems, etc. With food sensitivities you have to focus on gut health. All food sensitivities are 100% reversible with the right care. Common food sensitivities include gluten, shellfish, casein, egg, soy, corn, nightshades, chocolate, and coffee.

Allergies, however, are much more intense. With allergies, your immune system may respond aggressively and result in severe swelling of the lips or throat, severe itching, and/or hives. With food allergies, you have to focus on balancing the immune system. The only true food allergy that I’ve seen is a gluten allergy (Celiac’s disease).

Monitor your allergy symptoms in accordance with the foods you’re eating. Do you symptoms get worse after eating gluten? shellfish? dairy (casein)? eggs? soy? corn? nightshades (potatoes, tomatoes, peppers)? chocolate? coffee? Keep an eye on these foods and if they seem to bother you. Your allergy problems may simply be caused by a food sensitivity in which case you need to address gut health. For a comprehensive breakdown on gut health, check out this article here. If gluten is a big cause of your allergies, consider getting tested for Celiac’s disease (autoimmunity toward gluten).

3. Infections, Inflammation, Heavy Metal Toxicities, Estrogen, and Pharmaceuticals

Infections, inflammation, heavy metal toxicities, estrogen, and pharmaceuticals can all contribute to an imbalanced immune system and allergies. These are a bit more complicated to address, however, we check all of these things with Systems Health Care to see what specific pieces need to be addressed to help with allergies.

For infections, the right herbal will help your body to kill the parasites, bacteria, fungus, or viruses. To read more on infections, check out our article on gut health where we go into infections a little more in depth–here. With heavy metal toxicities, the right mineral/nutrient will bind to the metal and detox it easily — selenium, zinc, magnesium, and lipoic acid are common ones.

For inflammation, you need to balance the essential fatty acids. For a more in-depth approach, check out our article on inflammation. A quality EPA (fish oil), grass-fed beef, magnesium, P5P (activated B6), and zinc are nutrients that are commonly deficient in patients with inflammation problems.

With Estrogens there are 3 types biochemically. If the unhealthy type (4-OH estrogen) is high, there is likely detox problems (with the liver) in which case artichoke, magnesium, manganese, or chromium may be needed. There may also be infections that are causing it to be high in which you need to kill those. Lastly, pharmaceuticals can often cause stress to the immune system. In this case it is essential to work together with your functional doctor and prescribing physician to find a solution that works best to address this issue.

Suffering From Chronic Allergies?

At Freedom Health and Wellness, we address all of these things and more through a personalized and functional approach. We help people with chronic diseases and illnesses regain their health by getting to the source of their health concerns.