Published March 19, 2008 in the North Island Weekender 

Lucy, age 32, came into my office one year ago complaining that every year her hay fever symptoms were getting worse. Instead of just lasting one month they were lasting up to 3 months from April to June. She had a friend who had allergies all year round and she didn’t want to go there! I assured her that naturopathic medicine had some good strategies for her but they would take effort on her part. She was ready to throw away her antihistamines and dive in!

The first thing we did was have her tested for food and environmental allergens with Electrodermal testing using a German made MORA machine. What does diet have to do with environmental allergies Lucy wanted to know?  I explained that the body is a receptacle for stress and if we lowered the stress in her body in various ways, we would give her back more reserve to fight off the environmental allergens. In other words, we would be reducing her total allergic body burden. I told her that in my many years of practice I had seen this with others. Within a year of removing food sensitivities from their diet their seasonal allergies were handled a lot easier and, for some, eliminated!

Lucy also tested very high for overgrowth of candida (yeast) in her body so in addition to eliminating foods to which she tested sensitive, I put her on a candida program. This program optimizes the intestinal health, removing unwanted bacteria, yeasts and parasites and replacing them with healthy gut flora using strong and viable probiotics such as acidophilus and bifidus found in HMF forte, a mainstay of my practice. Within 3 months of following this program she was having fewer allergy symptoms, her digestion was much improved and the eczema, she had forgotten to tell me about, was gone!

Prior to seeing me Lucy, like most, thought that allergy symptoms were mainly those associated with sinus and nasal congestion, hives and in the more serious cases anaphylactic reactions. But she learned that Dr. Breneman, M.D. in his 1978 published book: “Basics of Food Allergy” wrote that 60% of all undiagnosed symptoms are due to food allergy or sensitivity. This list is very long but may include: bedwetting, asthma, bursitis, depression, chronic low back pain, fatigue, gallbladder attacks, headaches, hyperactivity, low blood sugar, itching, recurrent bladder infections, seizures, and colitis.

In addition to treating her candida overgrowth I also had Lucy take a few nutrients that act as natural anti-histamines. These included therapeutic doses of vitamin C, quercitin and B vitamins. I also taught her how to do home-based detoxification programs and suggested that this would also reduce her total allergic body burden.

Three months later Lucy still had a few symptoms remaining so I recommended that we do some desensitization with her using the MORA machine. I explained that the MORA remedy made by the machine, using the substances she was sensitive to, would make her body less sensitive over time. She found this to be true and, after using these remedies for one year, she found her allergies much reduced.

Lucy admitted all of this took determination and effort on her part but she was very happy to lose a few of the unwanted extra pounds and regain the energy she needed to get back to her beloved marathon training.