Allergies & Immune Health
Bring balance to your body’s best defense.
Build Immune Resilience
Calm Over-reactivity
Reduce Immune Stressors
Your immune system is your greatest asset and your biggest ally.
When it functions as it’s supposed to, it’s a lifesaver. But genetic disorders, everyday stressors, and toxins can throw it off balance.
When an imbalance is present, you start seeing an underperforming – or overperforming – immune system. This results in allergies, inflammation, infections, cancer, and other diseases.
At Holistic Healing Arts, we understand that having a strong immune system is about more than whether you catch a cold or not.
That’s why we specialize in restoring balance to your immune system using treatments that target the root cause of your illness .
Your immune system is essential to your survival.
Your immune system is the most complex and complicated part of your body outside of your nervous system.
It’s an intricate network of cells and molecules that coordinate your body’s defenses against foreign bacteria, viruses, and fungi – all of which can wreak havoc on your health.
Immune responses are highly complex. They require your immune cells to work together seamlessly to make sure appropriate responses occur only at the right time and in the right place.
The Two Types of Immune Responses
Innate Immunity
The innate immune system is your body’s group of first responders. When a disease-causing microorganism invades your cells, your immune system sends out proteins called cytokines.
Cytokines quickly sound the alarm, calling on white blood cells to mobilize, multiply, and destroy the intruder. These white blood cells literally “eat” the pathogen.
But this first line of defense isn’t very precise. It’s a bit like a shotgun blast that tries to kill all the bad guys.
While it lacks precision, your innate immune system is fast – it responds within minutes of a pathogen’s entry to shut it down as quickly as possible.
Adaptive Immunity
Your immune system is learning and adapting constantly. The adaptive immune system includes specialist white blood cells (T-cells and B-cells) that produce antibodies against specific pathogens they’ve encountered before.
Unlike the innate immunity you’re born with, these adaptive responses are much slower to respond.
But they’re far more sophisticated and specific to the triggering pathogen.
They also have great memories. For example, if you were sick with the measles as a child, you’ll likely be protected for life.
Immune System Problems
When your immune system’s defenses fail, it can trigger damage and disease in your body’s tissues. Immune system disorders typically fall into the following three categories.
Immune Deficiencies
As the name implies, immune deficiency disorders arise when your immune system gets off track or doesn’t function properly. Some immune deficiencies can also be inherited.
But secondary immune deficiencies are the result of environmental factors and are much more common.
Common factors include:
Infections
Obesity
Toxins
Smoking
Alcohol
Malnutrition
Radiation
An example of a secondary immune deficiency disorder is AIDS. Another is the suppressed immune function we often see in chronic Lyme disease, mold illness, and PANS/PANDAS.
Autoimmunity
Not all immune system disorders have to do with a deficiency. Your immune system can also be overactive, meaning it reacts to harmless substances.
In autoimmune disorders, that harmless substance happens to be your body. Instead of creating antibodies to fight an invading microorganism or faulty cells (“non-self”), your immune system creates them against its own tissues (“self”).
In other words, your immune system gets confused and it begins to attack itself.
Allergies
An overactive immune system can be hypersensitive, meaning it reacts to substances that normally wouldn’t trigger an immune response. Allergies are a type of hypersensitivity.
Allergic reactions occur when your body produces a large amount of an antibody called immunoglobulin E (IgE) in response to a substance, or allergen, in your environment. The next time you’re exposed to the substance, the IgEs recognize it and activate immune cells. The release of chemicals from these immune cells produces the allergy symptoms we’re all familiar with.
Causes of Immune Dysfunction
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Toxins
Toxins like heavy metals and pesticides accumulate inside your body and disrupt its proper functioning.
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Malnutrition
Malnutrition encompasses both under- and overnutrition. Immune cells are particularly sensitive to nutrient deficiencies. They can lead to altered metabolism, inflammation, and gut dysfunction.
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Chronic Stress
Chronic stress can increase inflammation and suppress the function of immune cells, putting you at greater risk of diseases and infections.
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Genetic Variation
Genetic disorders like common variable immune deficiency (CVID) leave you highly susceptible to infections.
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Medications
Medications like steroids and antibiotics have long-lasting effects on your immune system. Some gut bacteria may never bounce back after antibiotics.
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Infections
Certain infections lead to chronic immune system conditions. For example, the Lyme disease bacteria can alter the immune system, so it attacks healthy cells.
How We Treat Immune Conditions
Build Immune Tolerance
Low-dose antigen and immunotherapy (LDA/LDI) helps train your immune system to tolerate a particular trigger. Over time, you may find relief from symptoms of an overactive immune system. Learn more about LDA/LDI therapy here.
Modulate Immune Response
Immune system modulation is the process of modifying the immune response to prevent or minimize tissue damage. We may use LDA/LDI to train your immune system. We also use supplements that have been shown to modulate the immune system, like low-dose naltrexone, peptides, and transfer factors.
Treat Infections
Antibiotics lead to antibiotic resistance and destruction of your gut microbiome. We treat infections with herbs, ozone therapy, and prescriptions only when necessary. Even if you haven’t tolerated treatments before, it may be related to the combination of treatments used, or your body needing additional support.
Reduce Toxic Burden
An unbalanced immune system may mean your natural detoxification mechanisms aren’t functioning properly. We offer several detoxification therapies and IV therapy to eliminate toxins from your body safely.
Replenish Nutrients
Although you try to eat a balanced diet, you can still be lacking in certain nutrients. In some cases, it might be nearly impossible to get a therapeutic dosage of a nutrient. In this case, we use IV therapy to ensure optimal bioavailability. We may also recommend dietary changes or supplements.
Optimize Genetics
Methylation is a process that regulates various functions, including immune balance, DNA repair, hormones, detoxification, and energy production. We look for signs of methylation and genetic issues to determine if these are contributing to your symptoms – especially in those who have failed other treatments
At Holistic Healing Arts, we work with you to determine the underlying causes of your immune system dysfunction.
Then we use a variety of therapies to restore balance and tolerance to your body so your immune system can once again function as it should.
There is hope.
