Difference between Allergy, Sensitivity
What’s the difference between allergy, sensitivity, and intolerance? There’s a lot of confusion about these terms, and the whole subject is confusing enough without that. The “correct” meaning of each of these terms is as follows:
• Allergy: This term is used by medical allergists to denote those body reactions which involve the entire immune system, in particular the IgE (immuno-globulin, type E) reaction.
• Sensitivity: This term is used by environmental ecologists, scientists, and many medical allergists to denote somewhat different body reactions (mostly white blood cell actions) which often do not involve IgE, and other parts of the immune system. (IgG reactions are often used.)
• Intolerance: This term refers to a food intolerance, which is characterized by a missing enzyme that is needed to digest a particular food. Familiar examples include the enzyme “lactase” which is necessary to digest milk products, and the enzyme needed to digest beans. Both cause intestinal problems, mostly gas from the fermentation of the food instead of digestion. Since intolerance is not a true problem involving allergens, we’ll stop with the definition here.
The first two – allergy and sensitivity – are very similar in their effects. Either or both can cause virtually any symptom known to man. A partial list of known allergy/sensitivity symptoms is as follows:
• Head: Headache, neck ache, fullness, pressure or tightness in the head, dizziness, imbalance, vertigo, blackout. Sneezing, runny or stuffy nose; puffy, watery, or itchy eyes, blurred vision, excessive mucous formation; ringing, popping or fullness in the ears, fluid in the middle ear, earache, hearing loss; sore throat, hoarse, weak voice, gagging, itching in the roof of the mouth, difficulty swallowing, canker sores, excessive thirst, frequent yawning, sinusitis, increased sensitivity to light & sound.
• Chest: Coughing, wheezing, reduced air flow, tight congested feeling in the chest, shortness of breath, chest pain, rapid pulse, palpitations, heart irregularities, sudden changes in blood pressure.
• Stomach: Nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, constipation, bloating after meals, belching, passing gas, feeling of fullness in the stomach long after finishing a meal, abdominal pains or cramps.
• Skin: Hives, rashes, eczema, itching, sweating, flushing, chilly, cold or hot flashes.
• General: Faintness, clumsiness, excessive drowsiness or sleepiness soon after eating, muscle pains, cramps, spasms, weakness, twitching, jerking, or tics, joint aches, warmth, or redness, backache, neuralgia, swelling of the hands or feet, urinary frequency or urgency, vaginal itching, excessive hunger or binge eating.
• Mental: Schizophrenia, depression, hyperactivity (ADD/ADHD), Emotional instability or hypersensitivity, Insomnia, Chronic fatigue, crying jags, stuttering, excessive daydreaming, anxiety, panic attacks, withdrawn, listless, seizures, aggressive behavior, anger, irritability, silly, tense, restless, excited, agitated, behavior problems in children, difficulty concentrating, memory loss, poor comprehension, confusion, impaired attention, obsessive thoughts, compulsive behavior, feelings of unreality, disorientation, false beliefs or delusions, hallucinations, suicidal, feel like hurting self.
NOTE that all of the above “brain problems” may be caused by allergy or sensitivity. This is a very important point in understanding solutions to “brain problems”. As a matter of fact, since the unconscious mind controls the physical body, (including the immune system) all of the above “symptoms” could be thought of as brain controlled. This leads to possible cures using the unconscious mind. This explains the success of both the Bate Auditory Training system and EEG Biofeedback, (AKA Neurofeedback), as well as hypnosis. All are methods that have been used for brain training.
A lot of the confusion comes from medical allergists not being up-to-date on testing methods of sensitivity. Many are still using the obsolete “scratch” test. Others are using the newer RAST (Radio-AllogoSorbent Test). Although the scratch test will sometimes show food sensitivities as well as direct food allergies, it is often confusing to these professionals. The RAST test only tests IgE, and most food/chemical sensitivities do not show up on this test at all.
It is generally considered by “experts” in allergy that the “scratch” test is only 75% accurate, the RAST test is about 85% accurate on allergies and 20% accurate on sensitivities, and other tests for sensitivities are about 80% accurate. Both false negative and false positives are seen on all tests.
There’s another very important difference between allergy and sensitivity. A food or chemical
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