Allergy and Chicken Soup

Common myths about allergy and sinus disease:

Comics are always inserting chicken soup into their routines. As he lay dying of a heart attack, the mother called for chicken soup. The doctor explained that the heart was the problem. The mother answers, "But can it hurt him?"

But, as many Jewish mothers insist, is chicken soup a cure for allergy or sinus? Actually we know today that chicken soup helps allergies in several ways. It is warm and this aids the body. It contains chemicals that speed the nasal cilia. If the cilia move fast they can move out pollen and bacteria.

Got a cold? Drink Tea lemon and honey. Cough? The same. Stomach distress? The same. The way tea, lemon and honey is promoted, you would think there is no need for antibiotics. However green and black tea does contain chemicals that reduce allergy and increase the speed of the nasal and chest cilia. It is the ideal thing to take for a cold and a cough. The lemon and honey both thin thick mucus and aid cilia movement.

Father insists to his sniveling son, "Blow your nose hard." Junior blows hard, and then blows harder, and some green stuff exits the nose. So does fresh blood. Heavy nose blowing is a no-no. It is like rubbing your eye too hard and blows bacteria into healthy parts of the sinuses and the ear.

Sniffing salt water prevents a cold. Actually there is a basis for this. Done gently and with the right portion of salt, this removes

ICAM-1 from the nose. ICAM-1 is the protein in the nose that the cold virus enters the body through. If the ICAM-1 is washed out then the cold virus can't get in.

Garlic prevents a sore throat. Garlic does provide lots of antioxidants. Besides, people stay away and there is less kissing.

There is no proper evidence that Vitamin C does prevent a cold. The bigger the dose the more the stomach upset. Besides, Vitamin C leaches calcium from bones so those of the osteoporosis age should avoid it.

Singing and humming is good for allergy. True. Vibrations at a certain frequency around 14/second can get slow nasal and chest cilia to vibrate and resume good movement.

If you meditate you must go all the way and cleanse yourself by daily neti pot irrigation. This myth can be harmful. It is known that this type of irrigation can remove the natural defense products of the nose. A recent report at the American Rhinologic Society showed a high incidence of contamination in irrigation devices that have flowback. In one report, the patients with long term chronic rhinosinusitis were cured when they ceased daily irrigation. Better to use a pulsatile irrigator that doesn't have flowback and is designed to restore nasal cilia. Once the nasal cilia are restored, no further irrigation is needed.

Allergies are due to nerves. Wrong. In allergy you can show certain proteins in the allergic person that react to various products and allergic sensitivity clearly shows on blood and skin tests. But, a lot of misconceptions arise all the time. My patient was living in Augusta, Georgia and when he drove to Philadelphia to visit his girl friend, the closer he got to it, the more allergy symptoms he had. But it wasn't psychosomatic. He happened to be allergic to the pollen in that area.

You can die from an allergy. True. There have been deaths from allergy to peanuts and shellfish, as well as others.

A woman can be allergic to a man. True. Sometimes it is the dog or cat hair that he caries. A recent report showed that this woman was allergic to her husband's semen.

During allergy season I should give up lipstick. True. The perfume in lipstick can add to the allergy symptoms. However you can use unscented lipstick without increasing seasonal allergy symptoms.

During allergy season I should change my clothes when I come into the house. True. Pollen sticks to clothing and will continue your symptoms due to pollen inside the house.

I am allergic to sugar. If I avoid sugar I can avoid allergy. Wrong. Sugar is the basic product of being alive. Most foods break down to sugar and are utilized for metabolism.

Organic foods are allergy free. Wrong. If you are allergic to strawberries, you will be allergic to them whether organically raised or not.

I live in New York. If I move to Miami I will be free of allergy. Many persons have moved from New York and wrote back glowing accounts that now they no longer had their hayfever. Yet, after a year or so after settling in Miami, they filled the offices of the allergy doctors because they had become allergic to the local plants.

The best place to move to for allergy is a dry elevated area. Generally true. At the higher elevation you may not have as much pollen.

During my allergy season I need to give up mustard and salsa. True. Any hot spices will add to the histamine load and increase allergy symptoms.

During my allergy season I should live on a yacht on the ocean. True, in the ocean you are away from the pollen. See if your insurance will pay for they yacht.

Breakfast in bed is best for allergy. True. In sleep your body temperature drops and dust accumulates in your nose. The allergic person awakens and in order to correct his body temperature he may sneeze or cough. If he drinks the hot tea before he gets out of bed, he can avoid the morning cascade of sneezing and hawking and may avoid the allergy for the day.

If you cook a food you are allergic to, then you can eat it. This is true. Food proteins are highly complex. With cooking they are changed into less complex products and may not cause any symptoms at all. If you are allergic to raw apples, you can cook them in the microwave and
enjoy them.

Flowers are a leading cause of allergy. Pollen from flowering plants are often too heavy to get into the nose and as a rule are not a leading cause of seasonal allergy.

Allergy shots don't work. Although there are lots of anecdotes of persons taking "shots" for years without benefit, on the other hand many persons have been helped, and "cured." What is important is that the complications of allergy including asthma, can be reduced. There are considerably more allergy success events when attention is paid to restoring nasal cilia function. In severe allergy the nasal cilia lose speed. By using pulsatile irrigation to restore cilia speed, allergy treatments are much more effective.