Drinking Milk to Ease Milk Allergies??

[Codewiz]

How about a break from the election stuff.

http://www.physorg.com/news144603442.html

Now I don't have any allergies at this point in my life. I believe the rise in allergies is a result of parents who are too freaked out by small reactions. My wife's parents freaked the first time she got a small reaction to peanuts.

I believe the human body learns how to compensate. Just like this study has shown, the human body will learn how to deal with things that irritate it.

My wife has a peanut allergy but it has gotten progressively better the more often she eats peanuts. Now her peanut allergy was never a life threatening issue. At worst, she would get hives. Now that rarely ever happens even when she eats a bunch of roasted peanuts and that used to send her over the edge.

Now my wife's case isn't a study but I believe the milk study just confirms something that is pretty straightforward. The human body for 99% of people out there can compensate and learn to deal with whatever environment it is exposed to.

 

[Moonbeam]

I'm allergic to Bush. He makes me break out in cringe and the more I see him the more I break out in it.

 

[Moonbeam]

Serum Palin is like a huge dose of horse protein. She makes me break out in hives and go into anaphylactic shock because she's so mavericky.

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

Hmm, the one person I knew who was allergic to peanuts said the first few times she got reactions they weren't so bad, but they got worse on subsequent exposures. Not really definitive evidence I know.

 

[dullard]

Yep. The more you expose yourself to the allergen, the more likely that you will lose your allergic reaction to it. People right now tend to avoid the allergen like the plague - which only serves to make the allergy worse. They should do the opposite and carefully confront the allergy. This can be true even for deadly allergies - but be VERY careful.

Even deadly peanut allegies can be "cured" by eating peanuts.

 

[nonameo]

Originally posted by: dullard
Yep. The more you expose yourself to the allergen, the more likely that you will lose your allergic reaction to it. People right now tend to avoid the allergen like the plague - which only serves to make the allergy worse. They should do the opposite and carefully confront the allergy. This can be true even for deadly allergies - but be VERY careful.

Even deadly peanut allegies can be "cured" by eating peanuts.

Weird. I've heard just the opposite - that the more you expose yourself to an allergen, the worse you will react to it. I've only heard this, though.

 

[dullard]

Originally posted by: nonameo
Weird. I've heard just the opposite - that the more you expose yourself to an allergen, the worse you will react to it. I've only heard this, though.

What you describe is the common "wisdom". It was based solely on fear. Studies keep coming out that say the opposite. Two of them are linked in this thread, and there are plenty more if you wish to search for them.

Heck, many of the conventional allergy ideas are completely wrong. Early introduction of infants to peanuts REDUCES the chance of getting peanut allergies. Conventional "wisdom" says to avoid peanuts in infants - which is the exact opposite of what you need to do.

 

[Zebo]

This seems to be for children not for adults. I have suffered from lactose intolerance since about 30 and there is no cure for adult onset - your body simply quits making the lactase enzyme. As my doctor describes it - sugar diabetes but for milk. Are you going to tell diabetics to load up on Heath bars and Laffy Taffy? Fortunately for millions of us the cure does not require an injection but a simple pill to mitigate lower intestine spasms. Thats why it's not a big deal/big news. Well there are some that think there is a racial element since the overwhelming people who suffer from lactose intolerance are of non-Europa decent and research into medical cures often follows white money.

 

[desy]

intolerance and allegies are two different things
If you go into anaphalactic shock because of an allergy, you die.
Its why the current treatment is total avoidance until they outgrow.

My daughter outgrew her egg allergy and is slowly outgrowing milk. Once your reactions to milk become less severe its very much like the article where you introduce milk in cooking and such to build tolerance and work up to eventually a glass of milk.

 

[silverpig]

Originally posted by: dullard

Originally posted by: nonameo
Weird. I've heard just the opposite - that the more you expose yourself to an allergen, the worse you will react to it. I've only heard this, though.

What you describe is the common "wisdom". It was based solely on fear. Studies keep coming out that say the opposite. Two of them are linked in this thread, and there are plenty more if you wish to search for them.

Heck, many of the conventional allergy ideas are completely wrong. Early introduction of infants to peanuts REDUCES the chance of getting peanut allergies. Conventional "wisdom" says to avoid peanuts in infants - which is the exact opposite of what you need to do.

When I was 10 I got prescribed some penicillin. I broke out in a rash all over my legs. The doctor said I was allergic and prescribed something else. Years later I went to the doctor again because I was sick and the doctor was writing out the prescription. He asked if I was allergic to anything and I told him I was allergic to penicillin. I said it wasn't that bad as I just got a rash and it was a long time ago and he said that allergies generally get worse with time...

That's my only experience with it.

 

[silverpig]

Originally posted by: Zebo
This seems to be for children not for adults. I have suffered from lactose intolerance since about 30 and there is no cure for adult onset - your body simply quits making the lactase enzyme. As my doctor describes it - sugar diabetes but for milk. Are you going to tell diabetics to load up on Heath bars and Laffy Taffy? Fortunately for millions of us the cure does not require an injection but a simple pill to mitigate lower intestine spasms. Thats why it's not a big deal/big news. Well there are some that think there is a racial element since the overwhelming people who suffer from lactose intolerance are of non-Europa decent and research into medical cures often follows white money.

I think lactose intolerance is different though. It's not an allergy.

AFAIK all babies are born able to metabolize lactose - they basically have to be able to in order to digest mother's milk. However, much like the mother will stop producing milk when she stops continually breastfeeding, the baby will stop producing lactase when it stops consuming milk. The only reason why human adults can consume milk is because we constantly drink it from cows. It's like having a woman breastfeed until her kids are adults.

Once you stop drinking milk, you lose the ability to produce lactase and you become lactose intolerant. IIRC no other mammals are able to metabolize lactose into adulthood for this reason.

This is just what I read somewhere. I don't remember where, so don't shoot me if it's wrong.

 

[dmcowen674]

Originally posted by: Codewiz
Topic Title: Drinking Milk to Ease Milk Allergies??

Absolutely and another case I can say first hand.

When I was 12 and I had just finished mowing the yard I couldn't breathe.

I crawled into the house and collapsed on my bed.

My mom took me to the hospital and they determined I was having a huge allergic reation.

My arm lit up like a christmas tree with the allergy test:

Grass
Dirt
Dust
Pollen
Trees
Cats
Dogs
etc etc etc

They recommended immediate shots and come in for shots every week.

I said no way. I read up on allergies and decided that the best bet would be to expose myself more to what was bothering me.

I worked on the yard everyday making sure I dug up alot of dirt and dust.

I had my cat sleep on my pillow and head every night.

The symptoms started to subside and I've never had allergy problems ever again.

 

[Gibsons]

Originally posted by: silverpig

Originally posted by: Zebo
This seems to be for children not for adults. I have suffered from lactose intolerance since about 30 and there is no cure for adult onset - your body simply quits making the lactase enzyme. As my doctor describes it - sugar diabetes but for milk. Are you going to tell diabetics to load up on Heath bars and Laffy Taffy? Fortunately for millions of us the cure does not require an injection but a simple pill to mitigate lower intestine spasms. Thats why it's not a big deal/big news. Well there are some that think there is a racial element since the overwhelming people who suffer from lactose intolerance are of non-Europa decent and research into medical cures often follows white money.

I think lactose intolerance is different though. It's not an allergy.

AFAIK all babies are born able to metabolize lactose - they basically have to be able to in order to digest mother's milk. However, much like the mother will stop producing milk when she stops continually breastfeeding, the baby will stop producing lactase when it stops consuming milk. The only reason why human adults can consume milk is because we constantly drink it from cows. It's like having a woman breastfeed until her kids are adults.

Once you stop drinking milk, you lose the ability to produce lactase and you become lactose intolerant. IIRC no other mammals are able to metabolize lactose into adulthood for this reason.

This is just what I read somewhere. I don't remember where, so don't shoot me if it's wrong.

This is mostly right. IIRC Some human populations have a mutation in the lactase gene that enables it to produce lactase through adulthood (mostly European ancestry). The mutation is only found rarely in asians, so they tend to be lactose intolerant. But there are some environmental effects as well.

As for allergies, it can go both ways. Allergies (aka Type I hypersensitivities) are mediated by a specific kind of antibody (IgE) binding to the allergen. Higher doses of the allergen can prompt B cells to make a different kind of antibody (usually IgG) and this can reduce or even eliminate the allergic reaction. This is the basis of the allergy shots some people get.

On the other hand, chronic, long term low level doses of the allergen can make them worse, the reason allergies can get worse over time (as mine have) is that the repeated exposure prompts activation and expansion of the pools of cells that make the IgE.

Of course it's not completely that simple, there are a number of genetic predispositions to allergies.

 

[L00PY]

Originally posted by: silverpig
I think lactose intolerance is different though. It's not an allergy.

I don't think it, I know it. You're right about lactose intolerance coming mainly from the lack of lactase production. Allergies are a reaction by the immune system to an (environmental) substance. Researchers here tested children with milk allergies, not lactose intolerance.

 

[ebaycj]

Originally posted by: dmcowen674

Originally posted by: Codewiz
Topic Title: Drinking Milk to Ease Milk Allergies??

Absolutely and another case I can say first hand.

When I was 12 and I had just finished mowing the yard I couldn't breathe.

I crawled into the house and collapsed on my bed.

My mom took me to the hospital and they determined I was having a huge allergic reation.

My arm lit up like a christmas tree with the allergy test:

Grass
Dirt
Dust
Pollen
Trees
Cats
Dogs
etc etc etc

They recommended immediate shots and come in for shots every week.

I said no way. I read up on allergies and decided that the best bet would be to expose myself more to what was bothering me.

I worked on the yard everyday making sure I dug up alot of dirt and dust.

I had my cat sleep on my pillow and head every night.

The symptoms started to subside and I've never had allergy problems ever again.

This is basically what allergy shots do, though the shots do it in a controlled manner over a long period of time.

Basically it's 4 years of shots:
1st year is every week,
2nd year is every 2 weeks,
3rd year is every 3 weeks,
4th year is every 4 weeks.

They raise your dosage until you react to it, then they keep it the same until you no longer react to it. Once you stop reacting, they start increasing the dosage again. Basically by the end you are getting a whole syringe full of pretty concentrated allergens, the idea being that hopefully by that point you no longer react to them.

The shots are usually administered by a nurse (no co-pay) and are relatively cheap. Mine are $25 per shot with no discounts / no insurance. The insurance company gets a discount to $16, and I only have to pay that while I am fulfilling my yearly deductible ($250).