|
ARTICLES and LINKS
Spring Cleaning
by Kylie Loynd, based on a conversation with Dr. David Ramaley
For many spring not only means longer days and warmer afternoons, but breaking out the tissue box as well; allergy season has hit full stride. During this season Dr. David Ramaley often talks to his clients about seasonal allergies and spring detox. The following is based on our conversation.
Winter has ended and spring is here, along with higher pollen counts. People are coming in primarily with allergies, looking at doing some kind of a detox and wondering what they can do to get their bodies back in shape. The most common things I see that exacerbate allergy problems are weakened adrenal glands and a congested liver.
When bodies have been depleted over the winter months, they become more congested and inflamed and tend to react more to the environment. The result is allergies. The adrenals act as natural steroids to reduce inflammation in the same way an allergy shot treats a severe allergic reaction. If your adrenals are fatigued, they lose their ability to bring down inflammation. The liver plays a big role in detoxifying the body. When your liver is congested, toxins build up in the body.
How are those adrenals holding up?
If you want to get some idea of how your adrenals are doing before you visit your health care practitioner, there are two easy tests that you can do. Blood pressure: Borrow a blood pressure cuff from a friend. Take a sitting blood pressure and then take a standing blood pressure. Your blood pressure should rise by 10 millimeters (points). If it doesn't, it is a general sign of adrenal fatigue. Flashlight test: Have someone take a light and shine it into your eyes. Your pupils should constrict and stay constricted. If they seem to rebound (constrict and then dilate) that is another sign of adrenal fatigue.
Liver is almost always hard hit.
The liver processes the majority of toxins from the body. About 90% of us have some sort of liver stress just from living in our environment.
It's time for a spring clean.
Often allergic reactions are not permanent conditions. Most of these temporary sensitivities will balance themselves out after a detoxification, often in a matter of two weeks. The general rule of thumb for a spring clean is to address the liver and the adrenals. I recommend the following cleanse for 2-3 weeks.
Adrenal cleanse:
Stay off refined carbohydrates such as processed food and grains that are not in their whole state (these act as simple carbohydrates and stress the adrenal glands.) Avoid caffeine in the form of coffee and strong black tea (a few cups of green tea a day is fine). Make sure you get a good supply of protein and eat plenty of vegetables. Remember, we are not talking about the extremes of current diet fads. This is a 2-3 week program meant to revive the adrenals.
Support for the adrenals:
Good herbs and vitamins for adrenal support are licorice, ashwaganda, vitamins B5 and B6. You can find them combined in common adrenal formulas at your local health food store or herbalist.
Detox for the liver:
For liver detox, try milk thistle, vitamin C, liver glandular, glucaronic acid, beet root and zinc. These vitamins, herbs and plants can also be found in common liver detox formulas in the same stores.
What if my allergy is not seasonal?
Some allergies relate more to a specific substance than a season. For specific allergies, you can take homeopathic remedies called Nosodes, which act like a vaccination to that particular substance. Homeopathics use minute amounts of the exact substance that the body has developed an allergy to. This serves to trigger the body's immune system so it can remedy the problem. As with seasonal allergies, specific allergies are also aggravated by liver and adrenal stress and are lessened through a cleanse.
Get your own read on allergies.
If you think there is something particular in the environment that you are reacting to, there is a simple test you can do at home. Take your pulse for one minute as a baseline. If it's a food that you are testing, put it into your mouth. Otherwise inhale or smell the plant, leaf or flower that might be affecting you. Or if you think you may be allergic to your cat, take a clipping of cat hair and dander and really smell it or rub it on your skin after you've been out of your house for awhile. Take your pulse again for one minute, and compare it to your baseline pulse. You will find an increase in pulse after exposure to allergens. They act like a noxious substance to your body, inducing a sympathetic response which raises the pulse.
Exercise gets things moving:
Exercise always helps. Do whatever gets your heart rate up and gets you moving. If nothing else, go out for a 10-20 minute brisk walk.
Get outside and look at the sky:
We all need to get outside, especially in spring. Like all animals, we react to light. The pineal gland in humans is the equivalent of the gland that tells birds when to fly south. Though ours isn't as attuned as a bird's gland, it still reacts to light and day. You especially want to let your brain clue into the changing seasons during the transition from winter to spring. Inside buildings and under fluorescent lights most of the day, our pineal gland never gets the information it needs to correct itself for each season. If you go outside, the pineal gland will become stimulated and start changing hormonal balances to the levels needed to deal with the transition.
I highly recommend just doing things outside; it doesn't even have to be exercise. Just getting out is important. For those who work in buildings with few window and especially those doing computer work, take a break every one to two hours to look at the sky. Try to get as many colors and as much light as you can into your eyes. My clients who have tried this have found that it has an amazing effect on their sanity and their ability to keep working.
How did you get involved in health care?
When I was 14 years old, I ran cross-country competitively and injured my back so badly that I couldn't walk. I saw a doctor who said that I wouldn't be able to run again. He referred me to an orthopedist who told me that I'd have all sorts of back problems the rest of my life. None of this made any sense to my family; even at 14 I had enough life wisdom to know that they were off base. My brothers took me to a chiropractor's office, and I was able to walk back out.
Around the same time, I was seeing a dermatologist for acne, who recommended that I take tetracycline. On the third day of taking it, I swallowed a pill that got stuck and severely burned my throat. I couldn't eat for two days. Both of these events happened within the same year. After that I never felt the desire to go to allopathic (Western) doctors. I started seeing naturopaths and chiropractors for all of my health needs. That was my introduction into the world of alternative medicine.
|
