Allergy Enlightenment: Is Modern Medicine Fighting the Causes of This Ailment? Are Doctors Telling U...
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tance (britannica.com). In plain language, hypersensitivity would be "too sensitive", "job overdone", "false alarm", "false start", I suppose. But, having read the descriptions on how immune system works, I doubt that such a sophisticated system fails in such a big way.
Allergies are divided to many kinds such as pollen, chemicals, food, and medicine, to name a few. In this case I will be talking specifically about pollen allergies, but most of my observations can be related to other allergies as well.
When a substance, called allergen, touches the inside walls of our nose, according medical literature, immune system mistakes it for invaders and launches immune attack by producing histamine and a lot of nasal fluid. Histamine clogs the small capillaries inside the nose, which leads to congestion. When we take Claritin, its antihistamine reduces histamine production by immune system - that qualifies it to be immunosuppressant drug, i.e. a drug that lowers the body's normal immune response [syn: immunosuppressive drug] (WordNet 1.6, 1997 Princeton University). This made me very cautious because the immunosuppressants usually suppress immunity in all ways, not just towards one or two substances. This means by taking convenient allergy-relief medicines people are making their bodies susceptible to many other dreadful infectious diseases. It is also like removing air filter in one's car and continuing driving when engine has "breathing problem" due to the clogged air filter.
So what made me decide that I had "pollen allergy"?
Observation of my allergy history and pattern lead me to some very clear-cut conclusions about pollen allergy. I remember my sneezing and itchy eyes started immediately after we visited a local forest preserve with my family in spring 2003. My wife and child were with me but their window was closed, and thus they avoided direct exposure to high-concentration pollen dust current blowing inside. At first my wife and I thought I caught cold or flu, but it cannot continue for over a month without any improvement. Within a month I used more than a dozen boxes of paper tissue. Finally I spoke with Dr. Sahloul, a pulmonologist from Syria, and after I explained him the symptoms he recommended me Claritin. I took the medicine and eventually my allergies subsided, but I now realize that pollen season was almost over until I took the medicine.
New spring came and by early May I started having the same symptoms as last year. My wife got away with little sneezing and occasional coughing, and my daughter Nargiz had very mild form of pollen allergy - because pollen dust hit her where she usually sits - right behind me in a car seat. This time I knew for sure I was "suffering" pollen "allergy". So I got my good old Claritin, in order to feel not just clear, but "Claritin-Clear". But after two pills I was feeling dry mouth and eyes, fatigue, dizziness, slow reaction, and all the rest that was forewarned by the medicine's insert. I gave up the medicine right away, and turned to Internet and books to learn about allergies on my own.
I also noticed this year that my left eye was hurt more by pollen dust - which I traced to my habit of keeping driver's side window open.
I never had properly functioning car A/C until now (now I have), and that was a big problem last year. The year before that I drove only occasionally during spring and made very short trips, that is why allergy spared poor me. Since I gave up my intention to feel "Claritin Clear", I do not go to parks for too long and too often, keep my car windows closed all the time, and A/C on, and I am getting well day after day! That is my allergy myth uncovered!
How Does Immune System Work to Prevent Passage of High Quantity of Pollen into the Lungs?
That is The Question. The question is not how allergies work, or how dangerous pollen is. We have to inquire into the realm of IMMUNE SYSTEM, one of the wonders of ALLAH's creation - this divine, super fast, and complex mechanism, that leaves far behind all the military and civil protection measures devised by men.
I was in the military couple years ago, and I passed all the training and tests for a lieutenant. Back then we were taught about chemical warfare. Enemy is most likely to use chemical weapons when the wind is blowing towards our lines: that keeps them safe and helps to inflict maximum chemical damage to our troops. That is not the most interesting part I learnt about chemical attack. The most interesting thing that struck me is that after the wind blows away the chemical dust away from our lines, we, soldiers, can get up, clean our clothes and ammunition, and continue the battle. Eventually, if no more chemical attacks are expected, we can even take off our protective clothing, and walk further and follow the retreating enemy. When I was modeling how IMMUNE SYSTEM works when too much garbage (like dust, pollen, chemicals, and whatever) keeps entering through nasal tract (as well as mouth), I remembered that the concentration of the chemical (pollen, dust, dander) in the air is more important to keep in mind than its mere existence. That is, when we take off our protective chemical suits, there maybe some more chemical particles left in the air and some of it still airborne after we shake off the chemical residue from our ammunition, but the concentration is not lethal anymore! That is well known in allergy circles, and some sites even offer zip code-by- zip code pollen forecast (pollen.com).
Furthermore, the speed, intensity at which these particles hit our eyes, body, nostrils is also very important, since this determines how deep the particles can infiltrate into our body. This is not emphasized in most of the sources that I encountered.
My purpose was to find a natural cure or something like that, herb or an exercise. I found out that besides countless doctors, pharmacies, and clinics, a lot more self-learned wunderkinds were offering their services to rid you of the dreadful allergies. Some went as far as making hypnosis-based CD courses, for $29.99 plus shipping and handling, to make you immune to allergies! I myself drank an herbal tea that my wife believed would make me free of allergies. But eventually, what I found out literally put things upside down, and exposed the truth about "allergy".
Pollen dust is more convenient description to use, and I see no wisdom behind separating allergies into "pollen allergies" and "dust allergies". This is consistent with what I said about my findings, and that what I am writing here is highly relevant to any other kind of "allergies". Pollen is fine dust that is emitted by plants into the air, in order to multiply themselves, and some of it ends up in our nasal passages, and if we, trying to use quick-fix nasal decongestants, and allergy medications open the way - this dust goes all the way into the lungs and cause worse things than congestion, sneezing, and runny nose - and one of them is asthma. It is already established that the people who suffer most from allergies are also very likely to develop asthma. That is no wonder. Opening air passages with artificial drugs when actually these passages need to be clogged, closed, and cleaned in natural way. Let's make one more step into the modern medicine, and ask why so many companies in the USA sell contact lenses, glasses, and eye drops (Visine)? For example, CLARITIN and other allergy medicines cause dry eyes (I suspect they interfere with body liquid production in some way, because they also cause dry mouth). Dry eyes become open target for pollen dust bombardment and that worsens human vision. Of course, Americans generally "work" a lot with computers, watch too much TV, and read too much also, but I just exposed one more CLEAR reason of bad eye health. I can't help making another intrusion into medical mystery: why so many people have bad breath and teeth? Human saliva has cleaning and disinfecting effect. It maintains teeth enamel and kills germs and bacteria... Dry mouth that caused by allergy medicines - is probably one of the main causes that make our teeth and mouth vulnerable to "foreign invaders"...And bad breath and teeth is a big business, we must not forget, both for medical profession and food producers that make gums and mints of all kind.
I remember using decongestants in my childhood, and quite predictably - I had asthma afterwards for more than ten years. Our immune system produces various fluids to keep our body clean. One of them is nasal fluid. Our nose is a special organ created to pre-screen the air that we breathe in. Normally, minimum of nasal fluid is enough to clean the air current.
Abnormal Normal.
If anything is abnormal about "allergies", that is the concentration of dust (pollen dust) in the air during pollination season (summer, spring, and fall). And quite predictably our immune system is expected to work much harder during such seasons. Just like American tanks' air filters needed frequent changing during sand storms in IRAQ in spring of 2003. Hence, it is also abnormal to expose our nose and eyes to a high current of this pollen dust. Pollen dust irritates our eyes and nose. In response, our immune system produces "abnormal" amounts of