Now, a number of people - both patients and physicians - are looking for other solutions to these standard remedies.  Many are finding what they seek in the alternative, noninvasive allergy treatments of sublingual therapy and the Nambudripad Allergy Elimination Technique (NAET).

Sick and Tired

Lynda Woodside, 32, stumbled upon sublingual therapy at the most unhealthy time in her life.  During her sophomore year in college, she began experiencing constant fatigue, diarrhea, skin rashes, acne, sinus problems and a low-grade fever.  Doctors at the college health center couldn't figure out what was causing her debilitating illness.  She eventually wasted away to 98 pounds and became too weak to walk to classes.

"It was one of the most devastating experiences of my life.  I went from being a very active person to having days when I was literally crawling to the bathroom" Woodside remembers.

Her illness proved too much to handle on her own.  Woodside scaled back her college curriculum and moved home with her parents.  During that time, she was misdiagnosed with viral infections, depression and an eating disorder.  Doctors prescribed antibiotics and advised Woodside to start eating more dairy foods to put on weight.  Yet, her health didn't improve.  "Their diagnoses didn't add up,"  Woodside argues.  "It didn't make sense for what I was experiencing."

A breakthrough came when Woodside saw an allergist on the news, talking about many of the symptoms she was experiencing.  Based on his comments, Woodside suspected she was suffering from food allergies and met with the physician a few weeks later.

The Lowdown on Drops

The antigens used in sublingual therapy, which are allergen extracts that stimulate antibody production, are the same substances used for traditional injections.  Both the shots and drops are designed to increase tolerance by exposing the patient to small, escalating doses of the allergenic substance over a two- to five- year period.

Allergy shots are successful in treating inhalant allergies, like hay fever.  However, the treatment is not safe for food and chemical allergies.  Instead, traditional allergists and doctors advise avoidance of the offending allergen and prescribe antihistamines to manage allergic symptoms.  Sublingual treatment, on the other hand, is effective for all types of allergies.

"The area under the tongue has a rich complex of veins," says Dr. John Boyles, an ears-nose-and-throat surgeon who practices sublingual therapy in Centerville, Ohio.  "When you put something in there, it's absorbed."

Proponents of sublingual therapy argue that it is more convenient, less expensive and safer than allergy shots.  Patients can administer the drops in the comfort of their homes instead of going to a doctor's office once a week for shots.

Developed in 1983 by Devi Nambudripad, an acupuncturist, chiropractor and registered nurse in southern California, NAET uses acupressure to eliminate allergies.  The therapy's underlying premise lies in the energy pathways that acupuncture calls meridians.When energy flows freely along the meridians, no allergic reactions will occur.  Allergies arise when blockages prevent the movement of vital energy to the body's organs.  Blockages occur because the individual's immune system responds to normally harmless substances as if they were a threat.  When NAET is performed, the blockages are released, and the body is reprogrammed to not react t the substance as if it were a threat.  The patient can then use or come in contact with the allergen without further allergic reactions.

This is an excerpt of an article featured in a past issue.
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