Allergy is not about Allergens

In clinical practice many times people come and tell – I am allergic to pollens. I am allergic to dust. And some will blame- curd or wheat for their allergies.

I, as a clinician, always wonder- really- pollen, dust, curd and wheat are responsible for the allergic problems? I understand these are not behind the allergies. But almost every patient believes that the main culprit is the allergen!

Not really.

This is human body and its system which is reponsible for all these unwanted activities. Not the allergens.

Before getting the proper answer of this question we need to find the answer for the two basic questions.

What is allergy and what are allergens?

So here we go…

What is Allergy?

Allergy is the response of the body towards “some-specail” things. When body comes in contact of these specific things, the immune system reacts to these. When this response of immune system is “hyper”, this is condition we know as allergy.

So, allergy is a response of human body. Or to be precise, this is a response of “immune-system”.

What are allergens?

The things against which body reacts are known as- allergens. These can be as simple as dust and as complicated as pollens of some special plant.

Anything and everything can be an allergen.

So now we have definition for both the things- allergy and allergens. We need to know how does it initiates.

I think we should know that how does an allergic reaction start? Once we can be sure about this, we can better understand the whole thing, very easily.

So let’s understand this…

How Does Allergic Reaction Start?

When body comes in contact with certain things- allergens- body interprets that this thing is not good. Not good for rest of the cells.

The work of scrutiny is done by some local cells and antibodies. After the primary scrutiny, these cells pass this message to the immune system. Now immune system takes over.

Certain cells, chemicals flush to the site. The blood flow to the area increases and body gets ready to remove the allergens from the body. This response is allergy.

Does it occur all of a sudden?

No.

Body should have some memory. The memory which tells that “allergens” are not good. Because, these antibodies are neither natural not congenital.

So, these reactions are not just- invague. NEither these happen all of a sudden. These are results of the some chain sequences.

Therefore, this is sensible to say that allergy is not about allergens. Allergy is all about the human body.

This is the reason, as a clinician, I always recommend- treat the human body through training. We can change the complete system of the body through training only.

So next time, please don’t blame something else for the allergy. We need to understand our body only.