Why do people now have so many allergies?

[UrbanPlanter]

Do you think it's bc of an increase in Vax in the past 30 years or so, or an increase in processed foods, or an increase in sugar in foods, or an increase in environmental toxins, or what?

Have allergies become more common in the past forty years, or did they always exist? Have they worsened?

I am just now learning about my mother's experience as a child back in her early teens - well, from around age 8 or 9 through her teen years. She is now 62 years old, so this was back in the fifties, I guess.

My mother had a terrible problem with eczema growing up, and they did all sorts of tests on her, including the skin scratch tests, and food elimination diets - she told me at one point she was only allowed to eat lamb, rice, and prunes every day, and she hated it. She had to wrap her legs every day bc the skin problem was so bad. Her legs would bleed, and her friends thought she had her period.

I'm thinking that my son inherited a lot of her food sensitivities. As far as I know, I have no food or other allergies (I've always been the healthiest in my family - never sick, no asthma, etc.).

Anyway, I'm intrigued with my mother's story bc I thought a lot of this allergy stuff was a newer development based on our post-industrial revolution ways of living, and the crappy American diet that has evolved in the past century.

[WC_hapamama]

In the case of my kids, it's more of a genetic thing than an environmental thing.

There is a very, very strong tendency towards atopy (asthma, allergies, eczema) in my DH's family. The majority of that family has some allergy or another, DH and FIL have mild eczema, and DH, SIL and their cousin had asthma as kids. A few in my family have eczema and allergies.

Supposedly if both parents have asthma, allergies (to anything) or eczema, the children have a 60% chance of ending up with any of those 3 conditions. The specific allergies aren't hereditary, but the tendency to be allergic is.

[wendy1221]

Originally Posted by WC_hapamama

In the case of my kids, it's more of a genetic thing than an environmental thing.

There is a very, very strong tendency towards atopy (asthma, allergies, eczema) in my DH's family. The majority of that family has some allergy or another, DH and FIL have mild eczema, and DH, SIL and their cousin had asthma as kids. A few in my family have eczema and allergies.

Supposedly if both parents have asthma, allergies (to anything) or eczema, the children have a 60% chance of ending up with any of those 3 conditions. The specific allergies aren't hereditary, but the tendency to be allergic is.

My family, too. My grandfather had 5 sisters die as children from asthma in the 1910's.

[Leatherette]

I think some of it is that there is a lot more awareness now and parents are more vigilant about taking their children to the doctor. My daughter has very mild asthma that could not have been diagnosed without careful listening to her lungs. She has never had an asthma attack, and only needs to use an albuterol inhaler one or two short stretches a year (usually when she has a bad cold).

Her eczema was not mild, and we did a lot to find the cause (animal dander). It was difficult to get support from doctors as we tried to pinpoint the allergen, as their general attitude was, "She'll outgrow it by the time she's two", which was probably the attitude in place when we and our parents were children. However, they have been very supportive of our stick-to-it-iveness since we pushed for allergy testing and found the cause.

And maybe she would have outgrown it, but I am glad that her eczema is mostly gone now, and we found a good home for our cats already, instead of unknowingly exposing our daughter to a major allergen for any longer, and possibly having to quickly "get rid" of our cats after a hospital visit for an asthma attack.

Sort of a long answer, but I think it illustrates how now parents have much more information at their fingertips (I did a lot of internet research), and can now have a more active role in getting complete care for their kids, instead of accepting "(S)he will grow out of it".

L.

PS She was adopted, so we are not sure if her atopy is hereditary.

[JaneS]

Originally Posted by UrbanPlanter

Do you think it's bc of an increase in Vax in the past 30 years or so, or an increase in processed foods, or an increase in sugar in foods, or an increase in environmental toxins, or what?

Yes, Yes, Yes and Yes.

And mercury in dental fillings, chlorine in water, antibiotics and toxins in conventional meat and dairy, contaminants in fish, pesticides on conventional produce, insecticides on our lawns. The use and abuse of "modern medicine": steriods, birth control pills, antibiotics, etc. etc. etc.

All of the above have been shown to reduce our natural immune factors and damage our body in some way or another. We are playing with fire.

Couple this with a modern diet that is severely deficient in high quality nutrition and probiotics and you have a recipe for auto immune disorders.

A damaged gut cannot digest food properly. Whole food molecules cause havoc on our digestion and already compromised immune system. Thus "food allergies" are created b/c the food is not being broken down to its essential components.

DH's family history has eczema and asthma, mine does not. However, I saw big correlations with DS's digestion and my reading led me to run some tests on DS.

His stool shows high counts of bad bacteria (klebsiella, citrobacter, proteus). He has no acidophilus (good bacteria) despite supplementation for a year.

Then we had a hair test done on him... he is high in aluminum, antimony, arsenic, bismuth, mercury and titanium. With mercury likely being the cause of all this b/c it kills the detox pathways in the body which allows one to get rid of the other metals. Metals also kill probiotics in the gut, which produce the immunoglobulins which are the cornerstone of our immune system.

Now no big surprise why his body was trying to detox out of his skin. This is definately not all genetics, something is going on here and now we have the tests to prove it.

I think heredity possibly only supplies the likely reaction that his body, once stressed, will show the weakening. (not sure that sentance makes sense)

[lenore80]

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