Questions and Answers About Allergies
The following commonly asked questions are answered to help you in understanding allergic illness. In
questions regarding food, milk is used as an example only for purposes of discussion. You can substitute
any food in its place, however.
1. What is an allergy, anyway?
An allergy is a reaction to a substance that is usually harmless to other people. For instance, animal
dander, pollens, and shrimp are not toxic or harmful substances, but in some individuals, these sub-
stances may cause symptoms, and are then called allergens.
2. What does my immune system do?
Your immune system protects you from bacteria, viruses, and other substances that are foreign or
harmful to your body. It is the police force of your body. Life without an immune system is not
possible for long. Your white blood cells (policemen) help defend your body against invasions of
bacteria or viruses (the bad guys) by producing antibodies (bullets). The "policemen" use very
complex hi-tech warfare tactics in fighting germs. Your immune system has a memory and will quickly
attack those specific bacteria or viruses that it has had exposure to when exposed to them again,
even years later. However, things can go wrong with your immune system. It can produce anti-
bodies against things such as pollens, dust, molds, foods, and even your own body tissues. No
wonder you feel terrible when exposed to ragweed, etc. Your body is a battleground for a micro-
scopic war!
3. How do allergy shots work?
Many people have an understandably hard time figuring out how having a tiny amount of the same
substance which makes them ill injected into their arm can make them feel better. They are not
alone--medical professionals don't fully understand how it works either. One likely theory is that
allergy shots stimulate a different part of your immune system to produce what are called IgG anti-
bodies that block the allergic response. Allergy shots will still be effective even though the exact
mechanisms are not fully understood, much the same as you are able to use a telephone even when
you don't understand electric circuitry.
4. How often will I need allergy shots?
This varies, depending on the individual (each person responds differently) and the type of shots
you are receiving. The most frequently you will need the more traditional shots is once a week,
and the least frequently is once a month. The average interval for the traditional allergy injections
is once every one to two weeks. However, the newer, Low Dose Allergen (LDA) shots
usually induce longer-lasting desensitization. Therefore, these shots are only necessary every two
to three months initially, and generally even less often over time.
5. Will I need allergy shots for the rest of my life?
Most likely not. Eighty percent of persons on allergy shots (immunotherapy) notice improvement in
their symptoms while taking allergy shots. Eighty percent of this group, in turn, are able to stop allergy
shots after three years of treatment and experience no return of symptoms. The other twenty percent
of this group notice a return of their allergic symptoms after stopping their shots, and often choose to
continue them for a longer period of time.
6. Should I quit taking my allergy shots during pregnancy?
Absolutely not. Immune system changes during pregnancy can make allergic illness worse, and since
many medications should not be used during pregnancy, it is even more important to have the benefit
of the allergy shots. They cannot harm your developing baby.
7. My aunt told me that my baby is too young to have allergies or be tested.
Your aunt is mistaken. Your baby is born with a functioning immune system and can be born with or
develop allergies at any time. Two-day-old infants have been tested and successfully treated for
allergies. Different methods of testing are used for infants. It is very much in your baby's best
interest that you know what your baby is allergic to as early as possible, so that you are able to take
appropriate steps to prevent allergic illness from advancing.
8. How is this type of allergy testing different from the allergy testing I had before?
You most likely had "scratch" and "prick" testing on your skin--a method used by many traditional
allergists. We use an intracutaneous method at our clinic. What this means for you, the patient, is
a much more sensitive, reliable, and revealing testing method, and consequently you should feel
better sooner after beginning your allergy shots.
9. How long do I have to wait before I feel relief from allergic symptoms?
You may notice definite improvement with your first allergy shot, and certainly by the time you have
had your fourth allergy shot.
10. I can understand being allergic to ragweed, but milk? Milk is good food.
Cow's milk is indeed a perfect food. . .for calves. But the truth is that it can be a source of illness
for human beings. Many people use milk products all of their lives with no problems. But others,
particularly those with an inherited tendency towards allergies, can develop allergies at any time in
their lives to cow's milk, and particularly as infants or after severe illness or stress. It is difficult to
understand how cow's milk can be the cause of illness when it is promoted as the perfect food. Good
people such as mothers, teachers, and nurses encourage us to drink lots of milk. Other than calves,
no mammals need to drink cow's milk to assure their survival, humans included. Many people have
avoided using milk products for years and are in excellent health.
11. Should I feed my baby cow's milk?
The ideal food for your baby is human milk. It is perfectly formulated for human babies and their
needs, and the medical community strongly encourages you to breast feed your infant. Whether
breast feeding or not, the feeding of cow's milk to a baby should be postponed until six to nine months
of age. . .or longer. The intestine of your baby is immature and can allow large molecules of the
proteins in cow's milk (whey and casein) to pass through the intestinal wall and into the baby's
bloodstream. There, these large molecules are especially apt to be viewed as "enemies" by the
immune system and can cause antibody production specific to milk. . .then your baby will have a
milk allergy.
12. How can I be allergic to foods? They don't make me sick.
When you eat a particular food and shortly thereafter have a reaction to it, you don't need a doctor
to help you figure out that cause of illness. It is obvious. But most allergic reactions to foods are
hidden or "masked." What is masking? For an example, we will use milk. Let's say you have milk
for breakfast and develop a headache or sinus drainage. You have a milk product (cheese) for lunch,
but since you still have a bit of the headache and congested sinuses left over from the milk you had
for breakfast, you hardly notice that you become slightly more stuffed up after eating cheese. After
days or months or years of repetitiously consuming milk products, the symptoms of eating or drink-
ing milk products overlap from one meal to the next, and you end up chronically ill--your now
mysterious headaches come and go and you have a chronic sinus infection--and you truly have no idea
why. The cause of your symptoms is masked. Many people believe that seafood (and in particular
shrimp) is a common cause of food allergy. But because most people don't eat shrimp many times a
day or week, the frequent eating of that particular food does not mask their reaction. Actually milk,
wheat, corn, soy and yeast are much more apt to be the cause of food allergy symptoms--frequent
eating of these foods hides their effect in the body. It is highly unlikely that anyone with masked food
allergy would be able to figure out the cause of his or her illness. A trained physician can help you
identify the masked food allergy and very possibly help rid you of perplexing symptoms that come and
go without apparent rhyme or reason.
13. How can I be allergic to milk? I just love it!
Your body initially got a little lift from eating milk products--it made you feel good, you liked it. It
was generally pleasant and certainly not a problem. After eating milk products for a period of time,
you noticed that you felt irritable, anxious, or had a headache if you went without milk products. Or
more likely, you were irritable, etc., and had absolutely no idea why. Then you discovered, without
realizing it, that consuming milk products would prevent these annoying symptoms from developing.
All of the factors of addiction are present--the frequent use of the offending agent (milk), the with-
drawal symptoms (irritability, anxiety, headache) and the "fix" (consuming milk products). There is a
relationship between allergy and addiction. If food allergy is the cause of your symptoms, look to the
foods that you "just love" or "couldn't live without." These feelings about food are not coincidental.
Your body learns to crave and get what it needs to prevent withdrawal symptoms.
14. If I am allergic to milk, can I ever drink it again?
Probably. A small percentage of food allergies are "fixed"--meaning whenever you eat the food,
regardless of quantity or avoidance of it prior to eating it, you will have an allergic reaction. The only
treatment for a fixed food allergy is avoidance. You will learn quickly never to eat that food!
Fortunately, most food allergies are not fixed. Part of the treatment of your milk allergy will be to
avoid milk in all forms for a period of time specified by your physician--possibly six weeks. Then
you will reintroduce it into your diet to see if you have gained tolerance to it. Possibly you can find
a certain quantity of milk that you can tolerate without symptoms, or a frequency of eating milk
products that enables you to still enjoy them without developing symptoms. If you resume frequent
or daily use of milk products, you can expect your symptoms to return. Remember--your immune
system has a memory.
15. I can understand how cow's milk might cause diarrhea or a stomachache, but how can it cause my
mood swings?
The allergic effects of the skin and mucous membranes are familiar to most people--the swelling and
inflammation causing hives, cough, or wheezing--three very familiar allergic responses. The exact
mechanism of cerebral allergies (brain allergies) is not clear, but most likely the same mechanisms that
cause your skin and breathing passages to swell and become inflamed can occur in other organs,
including the brain. This swelling of brain tissue can result in your mood swings, as the brain controls
your emotions.
16. How can I be allergic to perfume? It's just an odor.
Perfume is more than just an odor. You can smell it because it is a very volatile (easily airborne)
chemical compound. It frequently contains alcohol, phenol, and orris root, a plant which serves as a
base for many fragrances. If, through previous exposure, you have been sensitized to any of the
chemicals in perfumes, you may find that perfumes provoke unpleasant symptoms--headache, irritated
mucous membranes, rapid heart beat, weakness, etc.
The information on this website is only the opinion of COHA. It is not meant to be medical advice. Before you do anything, you should seek the advice of your personal physician. This is information only. No treatment is proposed, no cure is implied, and no claim is made for the effectiveness of any treatment or test.