Allergy Model

In a prior post I discussed how models could be used to understand something more fully.  Well today I’m going to be discussing the allergy model.

An allergic reaction is an abnormal  (remember not good or bad) reaction to a certain stimulus.  The allergy model looks as follows:

We are exposed to certain things which I’ll call allergens.  These could include anything from the environment or something you eat or drink. I’ve represented those allergens as the faucet. Those allergens go into the body, which has a limited amount of capacity to handle those allergens which is represented as the bucket in the diagram.  Lastly the immune system within the body has a way of filtering out these bad cooties.  I’ve represented that in the diagram as the drain in the lower right.  When things are in balance water flows from the faucet into the bucket and then exits out the drain and all is well.

What happens during an allergic reaction?  The analogy here is when the bucket overflows from the top, the body has the allergic reaction which is the body’s poor and abnormal (again not good or bad) response.  That can be shown in the following:

So what can be done to reduce the likelihood of an allergic reaction from happening?  We can work on reducing the risk (not eliminate, but reduce) of having that allergic reaction.  That can be represented by the following:

There are 3 general approaches to reducing the risk of the allergic reaction:

• Reduce the allergens in your surroundings – Manifest change in your life to reduce the number of allergens you are exposed to.  If you are a hay fever sufferer perhaps that would look like using an air conditioner during hay fever season (closing the windows to dust and pollen) and perhaps buying and using a HEPA air filter.  If you have a mold problem in your apartment the change you may need to make is to move.
• Improve the capacity of the body – Putting into place a set of actions to increase the body’s ability to accept those allergens without going into an allergic reaction.  I had activity induced asthma as a preteen and I was also allergic to dust and pollen and a few other things.  The approach that I took to increase my body’s capacity involved getting allergy shots and also participating in a competitive swim team as a means to increase lung capacity.
• Increase immune system functioning – The body eventually has to get rid of these allergens (contaminants).  There are several systems in the body that I’m lumping together and calling the immune system.  I’m including the classical immune system, the liver and kidneys (the body’s filtering system), the inner microbiome of intestinal bacteria, perspiration, urination and defecation.  There are things that can be done to increase the functioning of these filtering systems.  These could include increasing the intake of pure filtered water, decreasing or eliminating alcohol (the liver has to work overtime to get rid of alcohol and while it is doing that it can’t be filtering out allergens), taking a probiotic supplement (minimum 8 strains, minimum 8 billion CFU’s), taking supplements that boost the immune system (echinacea and others).

There you have it.  The allergy model can be used to model many different conditions from hay fever to alcoholism.  Begin using the allergy model to understand the things you respond to in an abnormal or unhealthy way.  Again read my post on normal for further information on what is normal.