Could You Be Suffering From Allergic Tension-Fatigue Syndrome?

As early as the 1930's it was theorized that constant or repeated exposure to an allergen put exhaustive stress on the body, including the immune system. Ultimately this exposure has a negative effect on the body's defenses and leaves it open to illness and other medical complications. In addition, these allergens can have a degenerative effect on energy levels which results in chronic fatigue and other more serious health problems. Under the Allergic Tension-Fatigue Syndrome theory if you remove the allergen you will relieve the not only the allergy symptoms but also the underlying medical conditions caused by the drain on energy levels.

While there can always be many potential causes for various illnesses or conditions, one of those causes may be undetected allergies. One of the most common causes for fatigue problems is allergies yet awareness of them may remain hidden for years. Removing the allergen may sound like a simple solution but what if you can't get away from the allergens? What if you can't even identify them?

To most people an allergic reaction implies you have breathed, eaten, or touched something that causes your body to sneeze, cough, itch, swell, make your eyes water and/or your nose run. But allergies can also be the root cause for a wide range of ailments including but not limited to:

>Gastrointestinal ailments such as indigestion, constipation, ulcers, etc.

>Headaches & migraines

>Backaches

>Arthritis, joint pain, restless leg syndrome, etc.

>Brain symptoms such as brain fog, depression & attention-deficit disorders

>Skin problems including rashes, boils, slow healing wounds, etc.

>Heart irregularities

Modern life assaults our bodies from without as well as within. We are exposed to chemicals in the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the food we eat.

Consider this. At the turn of the century bread making required only whole grains, water, butter, baker's yeast, and a little sweetener to help the yeast rise. Today a modern loaf of bread may contain more than 100 different ingredients, including preservatives, coloring agents, insecticides, pesticides, and fungicides, as well as chemical residue from various packaging and cleaning procedures. These can sensitize an immune system and cause us to react negatively to many other substances.

Our bodies are still biologically programmed to reside in a much simpler environment. Is it any wonder that the number of people complaining of allergic reactions has increased dramatically? At the same time traditional Western style medical schools and journals are broadening their definitions of allergies and recognizing that the immune system, when under a perceived attack, will respond in many different ways leading to the ailments mentioned above.

In the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Sept. 19, 2002 there was an article about findings published in the New England Journal of Medicine that counter decades of conventional thought regarding dust and allergies. Where it was always thought that dust causes allergies and therefore should be avoided, a European study has shown that household dust actually helps protect children from developing hay fever or asthma. The same has been found for children exposed to pets at an early age.

Conventional diagnosis has been to expose the body to small, concentrated doses of potential allergens by injecting the substance under the skin. The areas that show swelling and itching indicate an allergic reaction. Treatment usually consists of a long series of "allergy shots" over an extended period of time. Each shot contains minute amounts of the allergen and the theory is that the body will slowly build up a resistance.

Just as conventional thoughts about the cause and effects of allergies are being challenged and changed, so are treatments for allergies. Today there are several non-invasive, drug and needle free options for diagnosing and treating allergies that have provided relief for 10s of 1,000's of people. These techniques typically use a type of bio feedback mechanism to identify the allergen and then, in very simple, general terms, use a form of pressure point and breathing to reset the body so it does not react to the allergen. The most well known of these is NAET but there are numerous other non-invasive methods available.

If you suffer with chronic fatigue without a known cause you may want to explore the possibility that you are suffering from Allergic Tension-Fatigue Syndrome and work to discover whether or not you have "hidden" allergies.