Participants: Agatha Thrash (Host), Don Miller, Rhonda Clark
Series Code: HYTH
Program Code: HYTH000236
|
00:01 Hello! Probably that most important disease that brings
00:08 people to the doctor above all others is allergies 00:12 and while we may grin and say yea, lots of folks have 00:18 allergies, not very big but actually allergies can be 00:22 life threatening, but most of the time when we deal with 00:25 the allergies they are just uncomfortable. 00:27 We would like to talk about allergies in this program 00:31 and so we hope you will stay with us, we think you will 00:34 enjoy it and we believe you will learn some new things. 00:57 Welcome to Help Yourself to Health 00:59 with Dr. Agatha Thrash of Uchee Pines Institute 01:02 and now here is your host Dr. Thrash. 01:06 From time to time we learn something really big about 01:13 allergies and about the immune system, because allergies depend 01:18 on the immune system for their response. 01:21 Now we might think well the immune system if it were perfect 01:26 it would not allow us to have allergies, but in one sense 01:31 we require allergies in order that we can develop an immunity 01:36 against things that could threaten and kill us, 01:41 and so as we study these things we can be thrilled by the wise 01:47 design that our divine designer made for us. 01:51 Now some of the things that we look at the most and think 01:55 this thing is likely to cause an allergy is that of foods. 02:00 We take in a little bit of air all the time, we take in a lot 02:05 of food, we take in a lot of water every day, 02:09 we don't breathe substances in the air that we breathe in 02:16 and we might think well pollens that represents our biggest 02:20 allergenic substance does it not, and the answer is no 02:24 air borne pollutants are not our biggest allergenic substances 02:30 but our food, so I have asked Rhonda Clark who has done a 02:34 study on this, Rhonda welcome to this program. 02:36 - Thank you! 02:37 - And I am looking forward to hearing what you have to say 02:41 on food allergies and how they affect us. 02:44 - Yes, I'm glad to share. 02:45 - You know we think about pollens and we say 02:48 well pollens they are such an important factor 02:53 in most people's allergies 02:55 that maybe it is that these allergens that we have in 03:01 the air, this is what we're most likely to have a problem 03:05 with, within the whole pollen season we might take in 03:10 a half teaspoonful total of pollens. 03:14 But in one meal we take in cupfuls of food and that can 03:21 represent quite an impact on the immune system. 03:25 - It certainly can. - Tell us some things about 03:27 food allergies. 03:29 - Ok, happy to. - And the difference between 03:32 allergies and sensitivities. 03:34 - That is an important difference and really kind of 03:38 where I wanted to start and sharing the information today, 03:40 many people think that they have a food allergy when instead 03:43 they have a sensitivity to food, it's important to distinguish 03:47 between the two. 03:48 It is the food allergy that can be life threatening, 03:52 people who have symptoms of food allergy have symptoms from 03:56 the moment that food begins in their mouth, their mouth 03:59 may tingle, their throat may begin to burn, tingle or start 04:04 to swell, they may notice that they are beginning to wheeze or 04:07 feel a little short of breath, hives may pop out on their body. 04:12 If this condition progresses they may begin cramping, 04:16 have diarrhea, their blood pressure may drop, 04:19 they enter a shock stage and this is also a state then can 04:23 lead then to death. 04:24 There are six main food culprits that cause a true food allergy 04:31 they include milk, wheat, soy, eggs, peanuts, and shell fish. 04:40 These allergies are really the ones that are the most 04:44 life threatening and it's a courage that people who have 04:47 allergies to these substances even indicate that by wearing 04:50 a Med Alert bracelet, or Med Alert tag to let healthcare 04:55 professionals know if they find them in an unconscious 04:57 state, this might be the thing that triggered this state. 05:00 Food sensitivities on the other hand, cause distressing and 05:05 uncomfortable symptoms but they are not life threatening, 05:08 bloating, gas, upset stomach, headache, tiredness and fatigue, 05:14 these are the types of symptoms... 05:16 - A sore mouth after one has eaten a lot of fresh pineapple. 05:19 - That can be definitely a food sensitivity, another common 05:22 is how some individuals don't tolerate lactose well. 05:27 Lactose intolerance in a wonderful example of a 05:30 food sensitivity, not life threatening, will certainly 05:33 make you miserable but it's an example of a sensitivity to a 05:37 category of foods. 05:39 The main treatment for either a food allergy or a 05:44 food sensitivity is to avoid the substance that is causing 05:48 you so much distress, and this can be trickier than you think. 05:51 I brought with me a list today of some unusual places 05:56 you might find ingredients that fall within the category 06:01 of these six foods that cause such devastating food allergies. 06:05 For example Dr. Thrash would you ever think you would have 06:08 to be concerned about deli meats if you are allergic 06:11 to milk? 06:12 - No I wouldn't ever think... - Seems an odd place to look. 06:16 - that meat and milk would go together but I guess it must. 06:19 - Well it does but you need to remember products like cheese 06:22 also are to be avoided if a person has a true milk allergy 06:26 and in the deli, deli meats and cheeses are sliced on the 06:30 same slicer and so there can be a cross contamination. 06:33 Other surprising things, eggs occur frequently in pastas 06:38 that's a little more well known but specialty coffee's often 06:42 contain eggs. 06:43 - I sometimes try to find noodles and it's very difficult 06:47 to find noodles without eggs. - Indeed! 06:49 You may have to make your own noodles, my mother used to make 06:52 something called dumplings, I guess they were sort of 06:56 noodles. - Uh hu! Egg free! 06:59 - Egg free! Just flour, water and a little salt. 07:02 - Salt! Another place you might be surprised to find eggs 07:07 is in egg substitutes, of all things a place you would not 07:10 expect to find them at all. 07:11 If you can indeed have eggs, read the labels carefully. 07:14 When it comes to peanuts I actually brought an example, 07:19 peanuts can cause life threatening anaphylactic shock 07:23 in individuals who have strong allergies to peanuts 07:26 and it's been so many deaths so many serious cases of 07:30 peanut allergy that now products that... 07:32 This is a product called Cashew Crunch that you might 07:36 think is safe for peanuts is processed in a factory that 07:40 also processes peanut products. 07:42 Companies that do that now have to put a disclaimer 07:45 statement, this one happens to be located on the bottom 07:48 of the package, all it indicates is that this product has been 07:52 in a manufactory that also processes peanuts and 07:56 other nuts, you need to look for this label on products if 08:00 you are allergic to peanuts. 08:01 It's surprising that even sunflower seeds or almonds 08:06 things that you would just eat and think of course 08:08 this doesn't have peanuts in them, if they've come in contact 08:11 with peanuts they can still provide that allergic reaction. 08:15 - I have seen also on packages of grains that certain grains 08:21 have been processed in a factory having also wheat 08:26 processed there. 08:27 And for people who are very allergic to wheat they of course 08:31 need to avoid even the products that comes from these factories. 08:35 - Indeed and you can't rely on that label being there 08:38 it may very well be that this product has been made at a 08:43 factory that was also in contact with wheat, 08:45 they may not have put that label so don't rely on that 08:48 being there still be careful. 08:50 Wheat show up in unusual places imitation crab meat, ice cream 08:57 hot dogs, wheat can occur in any of these, read labels 09:01 carefully, shell fish, I didn't know this shell fish can 09:05 show up in Cesar's salad dressing, Caponata, which is a 09:09 which is a wonderful Italian vegetable, I thought, topping 09:13 for bread that has been broiled in the oven, 09:15 it has anchovies in it. 09:17 Worcestershire sauce and even restaurants that serve fish or 09:23 shell fish, the implements used in the kitchen 09:26 may have been used on the fish, the deep fryer that 09:30 fried the breaded shrimp may have just fried your 09:32 French fries and there is a cross contamination if you 09:35 are allergic to shell fish you need to be very careful. 09:39 And on this point of restaurants a person who has a true 09:42 food allergy has to be so careful to really stay away 09:46 from restaurants, you just don't know when a product 09:49 that you are highly allergic to has come across the things 09:53 that you have ordered which seems safe. 09:55 - And have gotten a cross contamination from something 09:57 that seems quite safe. 09:59 - Yeah! You know I do have a couple of other treatment 10:02 recommendations for individuals with food allergies other than 10:06 simply avoiding the food that is the key and most important 10:10 part of the treatment, but other things that you can do 10:12 take the load off your immune system in every way that you 10:16 can think of, don't treat your immune system cruelly, 10:19 avoid sugar, sugar in the enemy of your immune system 10:23 so stay away from it strictly, and even refined foods that 10:26 will break down in the body very quickly, like sugar. 10:30 Eat a plant based diet, animal products in themselves 10:35 carry a bacterial load with them, that puts a burden 10:38 on the immune system. 10:39 Plants inside are clean, we have to wash the outside 10:44 of our fruits and vegetables but inside they are clean 10:47 animal products are not that way. 10:49 - And animal products may carry on them or in them herbicides 10:54 and pesticides and hormones and a variety of contaminates 10:59 and loads of germs, and many people are truly allergic 11:03 to germs. 11:04 - Yes! So these are some tips that we can give you if 11:06 suffer from allergies to make sure that you lighten that load 11:11 on your immune system, do those things that boost and 11:14 help support your immune system like get your rest, 11:16 take good care to get fresh air and sunshine every day 11:20 keep your home environment clean those are some of the 11:23 additional things that we can recommend. 11:25 Now sometimes when I am working with a person who calls on the 11:29 telephone Dr. Thrash, they may ask how can I know 11:32 if I have a food sensitivity or a food allergy and 11:36 what do you recommend for people for testing for that 11:40 or for learning how they have those, if they have those. 11:43 - Well you mentioned about avoidance and that being the 11:45 very primary thing that a person needs to do 11:50 in the treatment of any kind of allergy, 11:52 we have nothing better than that and the treatment of the 11:56 allergic reaction is not so good as making it so that 12:01 the body does not have a reaction. 12:03 I always start with the same kind of information that 12:09 you gave about take as much of the load off of your immune 12:13 system as you can, if you know you have a certain 12:16 sensitivity or a certain allergy to a food, eliminate 12:20 that food as well as you can, don't get into the habit 12:24 of saying well I know that I am going to get hay fever 12:26 or stomach ache, or a headache or a cough from eating this 12:31 food or being exposed to this or that fragrance. 12:35 But just so that I can enjoy or indulge myself in that thing 12:41 I'm going to risk having the headache or the other thing 12:45 that you have, a symptom, now if you do that then that 12:49 not only put a current burden on the immune system 12:53 but that also tends to damage the immune system and make 12:58 it so that the immune system will over react to something 13:01 else and then if the immune system becomes habituated 13:06 to over reacting, then when it gets something that it has 13:11 a little allergy to, that may become a major allergy. 13:16 And I think that severe allergies to peanuts may often 13:21 be in that way, the person began to react to something 13:26 and then had a little reaction to peanuts and that allergy 13:31 mounted because there are so many things in peanuts 13:35 that can make the individual have an allergic reaction. 13:39 Same thing is true with many of the other nuts, tree nuts 13:43 and some of the most intense allergies that we see 13:46 are to nuts. 13:48 One little girl 11 years old was with a friend of hers 13:54 he knew she had a peanut allergy, she always avoided it 13:57 but her friend was eating a peanut butter sandwich, 14:00 the friend tripped and as she tripped the peanut butter 14:06 sandwich just brushed across her cheek, and the little 14:11 11 year old girl spent the next four days in intensive care 14:16 being treated for her peanut allergy, which was of course 14:20 not her fault at all. 14:21 So some of the most intense allergies known are to 14:27 various kinds of nuts. 14:29 Oh you wanted me to tell about what I tell people when they 14:36 call on the telephone. 14:38 Avoidance in number one, and number two is test yourself 14:44 with an elimination and challenge diet. 14:47 Now we may say, but I would like to get it over with now 14:53 so I want to have a serum test, so would you just please 14:57 draw some blood, send that off to the lab and let the lab 15:01 tell me what I have food allergies to. 15:05 Yes we can do that and it's somewhat expensive 15:10 and it takes a little time to get the answer back, 15:14 maybe a week, but we get a list of things, we may have 15:20 30 or 40 things and a person has a 1+ to squash 15:24 and a 3+ to wheat, and a 4+ to dairy and a little bit of a 15:30 trace to a few other things and maybe an all they have 10 15:37 severe allergies according to the serum test and maybe 15:42 20 things that they are a little allergic to. 15:46 Then the person looks at the list and I don't remember ever 15:50 having any kind of problem eating this or this or this 15:54 or this, and then we say well yes, this is not really the 15:59 best test. 16:00 The best test is in the laboratory of your own body, 16:04 in your own kitchen, in your own surroundings and so what 16:08 we like to tell people is do an elimination and challenge diet. 16:13 What you can do is get a list of foods to which people are 16:17 most likely to be sensitive, we have such a list, 16:21 I give this out to patients all the time, 16:23 if you would like to contact 3ABN they can put you in touch 16:27 with us, we'll be happy to mail a list to you or e-mail a list 16:31 to you and this is a very easy way for you to do an elimination 16:37 and challenge diet, you eliminate all of the things 16:40 on the list and then when your symptoms have gone away 16:44 then you start adding one thing back at a time, 16:47 about every week or ten days add a new food back that you had 16:53 eliminated and your symptoms had gone. 16:56 When you find the symptom returning, one of those things 17:01 that you have added back is the cause of your symptom. 17:05 Now I wish I could say that it's always the very last thing 17:08 but sometimes you have to eat something for a day or so 17:12 before you start having your symptom again. 17:14 So what we recommend is that you just keep a list 17:18 of everything that you are adding back and you may have 17:21 re-test a few things to see was it really this or was it 17:25 really that, so I can easily tell you how to do the test. 17:29 It's a little bit more complicated in your own 17:32 laboratory, but most of the time a person who has allergies 17:36 can find 5 or 6 foods to which they are truly allergic 17:42 by eliminating those foods then they can live very comfortably. 17:45 - Works well. - Thank you so much for telling 17:50 us about these things with food allergies. 17:51 - Sure. 17:54 - Now probably that food to which more people 17:58 have sensitivities and allergies than any other 18:02 is that of milk- milk and dairy they represent 60% 18:07 of all food sensitivities, so we recommend immediately 18:11 that you eliminate those, with the elimination of 18:14 dairy products, all of them, that includes ice cream 18:18 and anything that has dairy in it, some of the things that 18:22 you would never suspect that might have dairy in it 18:25 may have a little whey or a little sodium caseinate 18:29 or sodium lactate, and these are milk products, 18:32 putting those in the food can make it so that food is going to 18:37 make the allergic person have a severe reaction, 18:41 so remember that about dairy. 18:43 Then the other things that Rhonda mentioned, you should 18:47 eliminate those or be careful to avoid them. 18:50 Now I have asked Dr. Don Miller to talk with us some more about 18:56 these things having to do with allergies, Dr. Miller thank you 18:59 for being on the program, and I would like to find out what 19:03 you would like to say about allergies. 19:05 - You've mentioned the immune system a few times and 19:08 one thing we have learned about the immune system is as you 19:11 grow older it gets a little bit weaker. 19:13 Now some people out there, there are certain things called 19:17 contact dermatitis which are an allergy, and the main one 19:23 that we have in the United States is a thing called 19:24 poison ivy, I have never been allergic to poison ivy, 19:29 I have no allergy to this thing at all, I can pull it with 19:32 my hands, rub it on myself no problems but I have as I've 19:36 gotten older thought that I better quit testing fate 19:39 because one of these days my immune system might drop down 19:42 low enough that I sit there and do all of my rubbing 19:45 on my face and come down with the worst case in the world. 19:48 But there are other types of allergies that we know are 19:52 very common in our society and one of these things is an 19:57 allergy to animal dander, if you have a dog or a cat, 20:00 these things can be the very thing that you are allergic to. 20:03 Whether it's the hair that they leave, the organisms that live 20:08 in the hair of your animal what ever it is, if you are allergic 20:12 to your animal, that might be the very thing that you have to 20:15 make a really hard choice about should I keep this 20:18 animal or not. 20:19 - And especially with children. - Especially! 20:21 - Children can be intensely allergic to animals, 20:25 pets in the home, the children love the animals and parents 20:30 also love them, and we can have as much affection for an animal 20:35 as we do for a family member but we must make the choice. 20:40 Affection is one thing, and it brings up a very warm feeling 20:47 for us but love is altogether different, love is not that 20:51 sentimental, love says this is what is good, we will follow 20:56 this path and so we may have to eliminate animals from the home. 20:59 - May have to, but it's not just the homes, an interesting 21:02 study in Brazil where they went into buses and taxi cabs 21:07 where no animals are allowed, vacuumed these vehicles 21:11 and found large amounts of animal dander. 21:14 Because if you have an animal you are around the animal 21:18 you yourself pick up the dander you go to the restaurant, 21:22 you go to the theater, you go to this place where it's a 21:26 common gathering place and sit in an area leave and then 21:30 someone else sits there that has the allergy, you pick up 21:33 the dander and take it home with you and it doesn't take 21:36 much sometimes, just small amounts of animal dander 21:39 can cause a lot of problems. 21:41 Another one is things like dust mites, they usually think 21:45 it might be the Kapok tree which they use to stuff a lot 21:48 of animals or perhaps some feathers that they stuffed 21:51 animals with and pillows and comforters and whereas those 21:55 things might be allergenic, we are finding more and more 21:59 it's a fact that they are the ones that hold molds 22:01 and dust mites. 22:02 Before storms we sit there and we think ahh! before the storm 22:05 it's so clear the wind is blowing and everything, the wind 22:09 blows up more molds and normally before a storm mold counts 22:13 can jump up ten times of what they were before the storm 22:17 because now we are having this agitation, especially a 22:20 cold front that whips things up from the ground and 22:22 brings it into the air. 22:24 Yes, after the storm it may be a little bit better, 22:26 but after the storm things are more humid and you have 22:29 more moisture and that causes more molds to grow, and probably 22:34 one of the main ones we have and it doesn't discriminate 22:37 whether you are poor or rich is that little thing called 22:40 the roach. - Oh yes! it comes in the house 22:42 dies and then the... - That's it, it's the dead 22:47 roaches and the feces of a roach which are some main 22:50 allergens and this is everywhere in the homes especially down in 22:55 the southeast... I lived in California too we had 22:59 these large palmettos there and these things just happened, 23:03 especially where it is moist, any leaks in the house, 23:06 fix the leak because the leak is going to draw the roaches 23:09 because they like the moist areas and so does the mold. 23:12 And we've got major problems, we had a home near Uchee Pines 23:16 not long ago, and not in our home but it got black mold 23:19 and they had people come in with masks and big bags 23:25 and put the whole house is bags and then they had to burn 23:29 the ground upon which the house sat. 23:31 Molds are a major problem, we had a patient come to 23:34 Uchee Pines some years ago she was looking for a home 23:37 went down into the basement took one breath and realized 23:41 there is something wrong down here, and she ended up being 23:43 our patient from that one breath, maybe two breaths 23:46 in the basement just because she took in all these mold spores 23:50 and unbelievable allergies for that poor woman. 23:54 - Well environmental allergies are certainly an important part 23:58 of what we have to face when we have allergies. 24:01 - Yeah, and cigarette smoke is another allergen. 24:03 - Oh yes, all sorts of fumes, thank you so much Dr. Miller. 24:06 - My pleasure, thank you. 24:07 - Now we have ways that we can look at allergies, 24:12 I think the very fine article that came out in 24:18 Scientific American in January of 2005 is well worth your 24:24 looking up, maybe you can find it on line or certainly in a 24:28 library, Scientific American January in 05. 24:33 Look this up and read about the new things that are being 24:37 discovered about the immune system, we had always thought 24:40 about the immune system as yes we produce antibodies, we have 24:45 some killer cells, and some macrophages and all of these 24:51 they are part of the immune system but we didn't understand 24:54 until some recent research which started back in the 90's 24:59 about the allergic response or the immune response. 25:04 It is amazing how we have two separate systems 25:09 that we might call an early waning system in the body 25:14 and it protects us remarkably. 25:16 Now I would like to show you a chart which can help you 25:19 to understand a bit more about this matter of allergies 25:23 and just how widespread it is. 25:27 Here is a little child walking through some grass and gets 25:33 skin allergies from just walking through the grass, 25:36 and of course the food allergens that we have already mentioned, 25:39 the eggs, the peanuts, the shell fish, the milk and many others 25:44 and then the environmental allergies which is getting this 25:50 poor person the hay fever. 25:52 And asthma that we have portrayed here, 25:58 asthma is truly an allergic reaction in most people. 26:03 One can be allergic to something on the outside that comes 26:09 from the outside of the body or from the inside, germs mainly. 26:13 And then household allergens such as dust mites and 26:18 carpet mites and all sorts of insects that crawl on us 26:23 or bite us, or sting us, those things, insect allergies can 26:29 be really quite severe. 26:31 When I began my work in pathology, one of my first 26:35 assignments was to investigate a case, a man who had died 26:39 some 30 minutes by being stung by a bee, and he was mowing 26:46 a lawn and went to sit on the porch and he began to feel bad 26:51 and within 30 minutes had died from it, so we know that 26:54 yellow jackets and hornets can really be 26:58 a serious problem for us. 27:00 Another big problem with allergenic things is that 27:05 of drugs, drugs we sometimes think well I got this as 27:11 a prescription drug, surely it's not going to cause a 27:15 problem, but one of the important allergenic substances 27:19 in our environment today is that of drugs, 27:22 often prescription drugs, sometimes it's 27:25 over the counter drugs. 27:27 Now we have a host of other kinds of allergenic substances 27:33 for the individual person who has allergies, they simply need 27:37 to discover what these allergens are and eliminate those 27:42 from the body. 27:44 When we think about the beauty of the immune system 27:47 it's not to hard to believe that Satan would want to 27:51 use that to annoy us also. |
Revised 2014-12-17