Allergies and the stress response

Most information about allergies discuss what the specific allergen is and how once found out what needs to be avoided. Information about the emotions and the psychology of an allergy sufferer is often left out of the picture.

Types of allergies include food, and environmental. Some say that there is another which can be called situational. For those of you who are reading this and are highly intuitive or sensitive, you know what this is. I’ll save that discussion for another post. Each of these allergic substances are considered stress by the mind.

Allergic reactions occur when the immune system reacts to stress in an inappropriate way. Instead of digesting properly or cleaning the air that has been inhaled it reacts in a predetermined manner.

Photo by John Morgan

Dr Hans Selye, who wrote the book “The Stress of Life” and father of “stress” research coined the term, “General Adaptation Syndrome”, or GAS which is a great way to view allergic reactions..

1. ALARM REACTION Adrenaline and a variety of hormones is released to combat the stress and to stay in control.  The muscles tense, the heart beats faster, the breathing and perspiration increases, the eyes dilate, the stomach may clench.  Once the cause of the stress is removed, the body will go back to normal.
2. RESISTANCE OR ADAPTATION occurs when the stress isn’t resolved.  Hormones that increase blood sugar levels to sustain energy and raise blood pressure are released. The adrenal cortex (outer covering) produces hormones to continue battling the stress.  Should there be a  prolonged period of time with no relief, sufferers become prone to fatigue, concentration lapses, irritability and lethargy as the effort to sustain arousal slides into negative stress.
3. EXHAUSTION Finally, the body has run out of its reserve of body energy and immunity. Mental, physical and emotional resources suffer heavily. The body experiences “adrenal exhaustion”. The blood sugar levels decrease as the adrenals become depleted, leading to decreased stress tolerance, progressive mental and physical exhaustion, illness and collapse.

Allergens continue to enter the body unless they are removed.  Unfortunately there have also been studies of people who suffer from hay fever will begin to sneeze when exposed to a picture of a meadow.  At this stage the mind does not differentiate what is real from the unreal.  To it everything it sees or perceives is real and in the case of the picture a potential threat.
Symptoms:

Aches and Pains: stomach, intestine, back, joints, chest, head (migraine), pain over and behind left eye.

Respiratory symptoms: feelings of breathlessness, poor lung expansion, asthma (wheezy), catarrh, phlegm, sore throat, tonsillitis, severely damaged throat membranes, bronchitis, chest pains, burning chest, nasal discharge, post-nasal drip, rhinitis, ‘sudden outpouring of fluid from nose, eyes, back of throat’, hay fever, sneezing, sinusitis, colds and congestion, night cough.

Gastro-intestinal symptoms: nausea, vomiting, feeling ill most of the time, bloated feeling, colic, constipation, diarrhea, passage of mucous, passage of blood, evil smelling wind, pain in stomach, intestinal cramps.

Mental symptoms: agoraphobia and other phobias, panic, general unease and anxiety, mental confusion, fatigue and lethargy, depression, inability to concentrate, learning difficulty, poor coordination, dyslexia, shaking, mood swings, illogical, dizziness, memory loss, insomnia, light headedness.

Behavioral symptoms: temper outbursts, obstreperous, disobedient, hyperactive, aggressive, cannot stop talking, difficulty making friends, being dishonest.

Skin symptoms: dermatitis, hives, eczema, burning lips, dry skin patches, itching, swelling and blisters, red weals, sores on face, ulcers, perspiration, dandruff.

Cardiovascular symptoms: pain around heart, racing heart, palpitations and irregularities, flushes, erratic pulse.

General symptoms: cancer with metastases, arthritis, swollen glands, constant infections, ear infections, flu type symptoms, M.E/Chronic Fatigue type symptoms, swollen body and eyes, weight gain, hypoglycemia, bed wetting, fluid retention, thrush, eyestrain, ulcerated mouth, ‘stroke’ effect down left hand side, dry vagina, inflamed knees, ‘incurable’ kidney disease, red face and flushes, weight loss, muscle problems.

When the total stress load is more than the body and the adrenal glands can cope with, that is when allergic symptoms appear. If the stress load can be lightened, they will tend to disappear. In other words, if the total body load of stress is high, the threshold at which allergic symptoms appear will be low, and vice versa. So basically the treatment for all allergic disease is the same; lower the total stress load.

WAYS OF REDUCING THE BODY’S TOXIC LOAD TO REDUCE STRESS

1. Avoid poor food choices: under stress the body loses the ability to metabolize foods correctly. This is called allergy. The foods that cannot be used correctly, become in effect, poisonous. To minimize this source of poisoning, avoid allergic foods and substances. The rule of thumb for recognising allergens (allergic substances) is that they are usually the things you do not like and never eat (these cause no trouble) or else the things you are over-fond of and eat a great deal. Of the nutritious foods, the commonest allergen by far is cow’s milk, the second is wheat. Can be other grains and sometimes soy.
2. Reduce chemicals in your environment. If you notice that you cannot take a full deep breath around any substance in your environment remove it from your surroundings.  Your body is signaling you that it does not want to process this type of air. Avoid polluting the air with sprays, perfumes, quick drying solvents, glues, oven cleaners, other cleaners with a chemical smell, gas heaters, pesticides, petrol fumes, smoke, tobacco smoke, paints, etc. Baking soda paste is an excellent cleaner for many surfaces.



3. Avoid Negative emotions: Hormones generated by negative emotions such as fear and resentment are very potent, and toxic in excess. To minimise them replace fear with belief in a good outcome, and belief in God’s love and protection. Replace resentment with forgiveness; forgiveness means saying “It doesn’t matter.” Fear is the root of all evil; resentment is its by-product.
4. Drink purified water – your body is made of 80% water, replenish it with clean water when thirsty
5. Eat clean foods – buy as organically as possible and learn to cook in a healthy style, without the fats, oils and sugars. Avoid white foods and processed foods.

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