by Lissar » April 6th, 2008, 9:19 pm
As someone who's studying immunology, inflammation, and hypersensitivity, and as someone who suffers from several chronic inflammatory diseases, some of which are allergy-like in nature, I have to say that hypersensitivity is a lot more complicated than just antibodies.
IgE isotype antibodies can actually activate mast cells by cross-linking, even without any antigen. Also, people can develop allergies late in life, or even get over childhood allergies. It's freaking ridiculous. One of my professors likes to joke that if anyone ever did come up with a cure for allergies, Johnson & Johnson would have them assassinated, since then no one would ever buy Benadryl.
I have heard of alternative ways to treat allergies, and while I don't want to devalue them when they've worked, I do think that it's important to keep in mind that being sick or having allergies shouldn't be boiled down to "choices." I didn't choose to have chronic inflammatory diseases (going on four years now), and while there are things I can do to treat them, I don't think it's a good idea to make people feel as if it's as easy as hypnotizing yourself out of your allergies. Again, I'm not saying that hypnosis hasn't worked to help people with allergies in the past. But I've been working very hard to get into a position to do hard, scientific research to figure out more about hypersensitivity and inflammation, and it's friggin' complicated.
Ugh, I'm finishing up a book (for class) on the FDA ban on silicone-gel breast implants in the US in 1992, and the author had an entire chapter putting down several "anti-science" groups, as well as alternate medicine and homeopathy. I do use homeopathic remedies for things such as colds and yeast infections, and so I resent the author's attitude (I especially hate how she poo-poo'd feminists while claiming to be a feminist herself--yes, that's how you unite women against patriarchy).
But at the same time, allergies are more complicated than your body reacting against a non-dangerous antigen, and while I don't want to invalidate people living with specific allergies, at least you can avoid an allergic reaction by avoiding allergens. For me, the cause of my allergies and inflammation are idiopathic, and so while everyone else can avoid cats or peanut butter, I just have to take an antihistamine every night and hope that I don't wake up the next day with any hives or swelling. So while I'm not suggesting that you shouldn't try to utilize hypnosis to alleviate allergies, please keep in mind that the immune system is incredibly complex and hard to understand, and hypersensitivity is so under-researched that we're not that close to coming up with better treatments or even a cure for allergies. So if hypnosis doesn't work to treat your allergies, it's because allergies really, really, really suck.
Maybe I'm just bitter because I'm in the middle of a flare-up, and I had my lip swell up today when I had to play a master class tonight. Uuuugh. Anyway, good luck to anyone who is trying to use hypnosis. If anyone has any questions about allergies, I have my textbooks and access to a lot of journal databases, so feel free to ask if you think it will help refine scripts.