LifeCare Chiropractic

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allergies

Do Antacids Cause Allergies?

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DO ULCER DRUGS CONTRIBUTE TO ALLERGIES?

I’ve always had major issues with drugs that bring digestion to a screeching halt.  Now, if someone has a bleeding ulcer this class of drugs can save a life.  Short of that, stopping digestion is horrendously bad for your health.  I can tick off at least 10 processes that will be interrupted.  Any patient that’s been put on this class of drugs I suggest they go back and ask the prescribing doctor to give them at least 5 things that this drug will interfere with.  It is only proper that the doctor should KNOW what they are interfering with, right??  This animal study finds that giving acid blockers increases allergic response.  Why?  Because our GI tract, which is where 2/3 of our immune system is centered around, reacts primarily to proteins.  More proteins = more stuff to react to.  So what happens in a properly functioning stomach?  Most proteins are digested down to their constituent amino acids.  Not so with acid suppressive drugs.  Instead proteins are left to react to our immune system, and worse–left to go RANCID in the warm recesses of the intestinal tract!

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The Western lifestyle is a major contributing factor to many chronic, degenerative diseases – (04-24-00)

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The Western lifestyle is a major contributing factor to many chronic, degenerative diseases

Africa Proposed as ‘Laboratory’ for Study of Prevalence of Childhood Asthma

The experience in Africa seems to support the hypothesis that the trend toward urbanization is an important factor in the increasing prevalence of childhood asthma in the developed world, according to a commentary in the February issue of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. Early studies showed, he notes that asthma prevalence was “very low” among children who followed a traditional rural way of life, and that asthma was not uncommon in “urbanized African children.”

J Allergy Clin Immunol 2000;105:224-231.

Insights into Dairy Allergy: Microenvironment Matters

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Insights into milk protein allergy: Microenvironment matters.
This is an interesting article that delves a little deeper into the immunology between cow’s milk allergy. Essentially, in milk allergic subjects, their T cells (a portion of the immune system known as cell-mediated immune) produce cytokines (chemical messengers that tell other cells what to do) consistent with a Th2 profile. In English, exposure to milk in suseptable individuals causes cells of their immune system to produce more cells that create allergic symptoms. Even with all this knowledge, food allergy still remains a very uncommon approach to addressing allergic and asthmatic patients. Avoidance of common allergens (cow’s milk, corn, wheat, soy) should be the first approach to any patient with allergies or asthma.
Gastroenterology Online – Click here for more information.

Holy Sinus Infection Batman! You’ve GOT to Read This!!

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Sinus problem, allergies and asthma are the bane of many peoples’ existence. Too often, this results in the knee-jerk antibiotic prescription and steroids.

These conditions can be incredibly challenging to deal with from a functional medicine standpoint because, all too often, the problem stems back to immune development in the first 2 years of life. Short of commandeering Mr. Peabody’s way-back machine, you just can’t alter that. And the longer the immune system is stuck in a pattern, the harder it is to re-direct that pattern to one that doesn’t involved allergies and asthma.

I have been a fan of drops for allergies (aka sublingual immunotherapy) for many years because I believe that this is one of the few ways to slowly train the immune system back to the path of balance. But that does not mean it’s the only way, as this particular research study demonstrates.

But first, some background.

Our sinus and airways secrete compounds that help us fight off infections called antimicrobial peptides. It has been determined from previous research that the release of these antimicrobial compounds is controlled by bitter taste receptors embedded in the sinus cavities and upper airway. Activation of these same receptors also speed up the cilia lining your respiratory tract to help sweep away debris and infection. If you’re already amazed, like I was, just by hearing this, then grab something solid before you read further.

When bacteria are present in the airway, they will use up the sugar in the lining of the upper respiratory tract and, in turn, secrete byproducts that register as bitter tasting to our bitter taste receptors in our airway. Bitter, in general, is bad and is a near-universal sign that something is harmful and we should stay away because it may be rotten and not good to eat. (This theory, however, did not work on my recent pit bull addition to the household; she ate the sectional and coffee table despite bitter apple spray…).

When these bitter taste receptors in our airways detect the bitter compounds released by the bacteria, they kick into gear and release the antimicrobial peptides. Kind of cool.

On the flip side, when the sweet taste receptors are activated, the bitter receptors are turned off, stopping antimicrobial peptide production. While this system allows for antibacterial action to be present when needed and shut off when it’s not, I’m sure you can see where this article is going to go.

It has further been shown that, in those people with chronic rhinosinusitis as well as people with hyperglycemia (pretty much everyone living his or her life on the diabetic spectrum), there are higher sugar levels in the mucosa lining the sinuses. In other words, they are constantly shutting off their body’s ability to mount an effective defense against invaders.

While this probably does not come as a complete shock, it does mean that you should fire your allergist or pulmonologist if he or she has never recommended healthy dietary changes along the lines of a low-glycemic index diet.

Regardless of whether or not we had the details of the information in this study, it would seem logical that dietary changes can have a strong role in allergies and sinus infections beyond their role as a potential allergen. Natural practitioners have, seemingly forever, been advocating that sugar suppressing the immune system and increasing the risk of infection.

After the release of this study, we just now have a mechanism by which sugary diets can increase sinus and upper respiratory tract infections can occur, but it does not mean that this has not always been great advice. So, the next time you whine about how bad your allergies are while downing your Allegra or Zyrtec with a Coke, it may be time to re-evaluate your health priorities.

Microflora characteristics in faeces from allergic & nonallergic infants – (11-23-00)

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Microflora characteristics in faeces from allergic & nonallergic infants

All this information on normal, healthy flora in the GI tract, and yet neither pediatricians nor gastroenterologists “believe” in them. This article again supports the association between antibiotic use and allergies. The artilce suggests that the presence of bacteria in the GI tract is instrumental in the developing infant’s immune system. It helps to balance out the Th1/Th2 ratio; a very important balance of our immune systems. Without proper balance, the likelihood of atopic diseases and autoimmune disorders is increased.

Synergy Abstract

Read entire article here

Antibiotics in early childhood increases risk of asthma/allergic disease – (11-23-00)

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Antibiotics in early childhood increases risk of asthma/allergic disease

This is yet another research study pointing to this association. It really is not a difficult concept to follow. Antibiotics destroy the normal, developing flora in the infant. These flora are instrumental in protecting the infant from the environment, and also play a key role in regulation of the entire immune system. We have had such incredibly large blinders on when we view the only bad effects of overuse of antibiotics as antibiotic resistance.

Synergy Abstract

Read entire article here

Effects of yoghurt on immune, clinical markers of rhinopathic patients – (01-09-03)

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Effects of yoghurt on immune, clinical markers of rhinopathic patients

Tying in with the previous article, here we see a small study that shows that yogurt, which is known to contain probiotic bacteria capable of favorably modulating the immune response, can lower allergic responses. Kill off that bacteria in newborns and infants and you have a strong case for development of allergies and asthma.

Read entire article here

Allergies and Asthma: Dogs, Bacteria and Dust, Oh My!

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probiotics, dogs and allergies
Probiotics and pets help fight off allergies

The first 2 years of your child’s immune system are the most critical. Breast feeding, pets in the home, antibiotics, vaccinations–all these play a roll in the rest of your little one’s life.

Let me amend that–the prior 9 months before the two years start are equally as important.

Either way, the immune system does not come fully programmed; rather, it needs to be tamed by teaching it to attack what it is supposed to attack and recognize as friends our own tissues. The gut plays a large role in this process since 2/3 of immune cells interact with the gut at some point in their life cycles.

This is why having the right bacteria is so critical as is avoiding antibiotics unless absolutely critical. Antibiotics decimate the bacteria in our guts that can take years to re-balance.

As an animal lover, currently housing a near-zoo consisting of a salt water tank, three small fish tanks, 5 dogs, 3 lizards and a bearded dragon (which is actually a lizard as well but seems unique enough to warrant it’s own category), I think that having pets for children is a good idea anyway and teaches many lessons in life. Beyond that, there has been research supporting the fact that when children are exposed to animals at a very young age (that “under 2” thing again) the risks of developing asthma and allergies is lower.

This falls under the “hygiene hypothesis,” where our increasingly sterile lifestyles are not training our immune system for challenges. This lack of training leads to the development of immune system disorders. With this in mind, I think the way this particular article brings all of this together is just short of awesome.

Keeping in mind that this was a mouse study, there is no reason to doubt that the same pathway works in us. Here’s how it goes:

  1. Dogs carry dust into the household.
  2. This dust then has an effect on the bacteria in the gut, increasing levels Lactobacillus johnsonii, which has been shown to tone down allergic inflammation in the airways.
  3. This results in reduced Th2 cytokine production, fewer activated T cells.

Wow. Talk about a convoluted web! Either way, this study really strongly reinforces the hygiene hypothesis, showing that it requires dirt, dogs AND bacteria for the full beneficial effect.