hey folks, longtime lurker, first time poster. I got my permaculture design consultant certification studying under Toby Hemenway. And for most of my life -- until this last year -- I've suffered from diffuse symptoms of progressive inflammatory disease.
A huge contributor to allergies, as other posters mentioned, is inflammation and gut health. I'd like to take a "peak under the hood" of what's often going on in these situations...
A major fundamental contributing factor to any inflammatory attack (including allergies) is gut health -- both the integrity of the semi-permeable barrier (increased intestinal permeability aka "leaky gut") and the microbial colony itself (gut dysbiosis). The gut is the largest interface between the human body and the outside world, and it's also the largest and most sensitive interface between the outside world and the immune system. Much moreso than skin on both accounts. On top of this, it is also the one of the strongest interfaces with the central nervous system via the vagus nerve, which has some profound implications re: mental health.
The body is basically a very rough donut, except in our case, the internal "donut hole" (our gut, with mouth and anus on either end) is actually several times larger, more complex and sensitive than the external surface area (our skin).
Due to these factors, chronic inflammatory disease can have literally hundreds of seemingly-unrelated symptoms that sometimes seem to alternate or "come and go" randomly, and two people with the same underlying pathophysiology can manifest completely different symptoms: neurological (depression, anxiety, dizziness, fogginess, migraines and mania), physical pain (e.g., joint and muscle pain, back pain, arthritis), fatigue, skin problems (dry, itchy or "prickly" skin, rashes, etc), digestive problems (constipation, diarrhea, vomiting, heart burn [generally from low stomach acid!!], itchy butt, etc), and immune system dysregulation (chronic illness or feeling thereof, ineffective or overactive immune system, heightened sensitivity to allergens) etc. Any or all of these and more. For example, two people with celiac disease can have completely different, non-overlapping symptoms, and neither may have clear "digestive problems" even though it's the gut that's getting attacked! So on the surface it can seem very confusing and complex, but underneath the hood are just a few basic principles (sound familiar?!).
Reduced digestive capacity (from dysbiosis, stress and other factors, such as an imbalance between the parasympathetic (rest, digest and repair) and sympathetic (fight or flight) nervous systems, which can mean one needs "calming" and another needs support or both at once) and leaky gut result in the constant presentation of intact proteins to the immune system, which can promote baseline inflammation. This is no bueno!
Although it's not a short-term, quick and easy pill popping symptom fix, addressing gut health can lead to massive quality of life improvements over time, including (often times drastically) reduced sensitivity to allergens. The major factors affecting this are 1. lifestyle: good quality sleep, moderate exercise, time outside, minimizing stress and 2. diet: nutrient density, probiotics and at least temporary removal of problem foods (generally grains and pseudo grains, legumes, nightshades, concentrated sugars and in some cases dairy and eggs, esp. egg whites and pasteurized cows' milk) until healing occurs and you can test foods for possible re-inclusion (basically an elimination diet). Some of these foods are inherently inflammatory and actively attack gut and digestive integrity directly through a variety of defense mechanisms that also tend to double as energy/nutrient storage for the seed embyro (many anti-nutrients also serve this same function). For more info on this, I cannot recommend Sarah Ballantyne's book highly enough. She writes with a rare combination of ethical sensitivity, intellectual rigor, passion and competency. The book is heavy, easy to read and worth its weight in gold for understanding a huge part of factors supporting to or detracting from baseline health and well-being. She addresses nearly every aspect of treatment, including social and psychological dimensions, all from a grounded, well-researched (PEER REVIEWED, not "find something that supports my arguments") foundation.
Note that this approach doesn't "cure" allergies. Rather, what it does is repairs digestive capacity, drastically reduces baseline inflammation, re-regulates the immune system and prevents complete proteins from flooding the body and producing a heightened inflammatory response every time you eat, and also prevents arbitrary proteins from producing an immune-related response. Bio-mimicry is thought to be one of the main mechanisms through which chronic inflammatory disease manifests: an undigested protein that floods the body produces an immune response, and over time, the immune system starts to "see" similar proteins of other similar foods (e.g., casein and gluten) or even other proteins in the body as part of the problem. The latter is a major factor in the development of auto-immune disease. In our society, whatever organ the body somewhat-arbitrarily decides to start attacking get the disease named after them.
This approach, however, can potentially cure many intolerances (another immune response, usually not as severe or immediate as allergies) and sensitivities to foods that have become "collateral damage" in the immune war created by compromised gut health due to direct exposure or bio-mimicry, which means potentially enjoying more digestive resilience a wider range of foods into the future with fewer negative consequences, depending on how much damage has already occurred (lots of proof in the quality of your poop vis a vis the bristol stool scale and smell -- it should not smell sour).
Be careful of herbs that say they are "immune boosting" (immunogenic, adaptpogenic) such as echinacea and lemon balm. Ginger is AWESOME, good all-around anti-inflammatory, immune-regulating digestive enhancer. Turmeric has a complex interaction with the immune system in various contexts and concentrations, and can actually promote inflammation in certain contexts, as can any high-carb, low-nutrient and low-fiber foods and foods with poor-quality fats (such as vegetable oils and grain-fed animal fats). Generally our bodies don't digest carbs so well after dark so even something like that can play a factor in someone's "allergy sensitivity" the next day. When things were really bad with me, right as I was beginning treatment, I couldn't eat more than a handful of berries during the day without getting a massive allergy attack during the height of allergy season (hives, sneezing, itchy skin and eyes, stuffy nose)!
This is a really cursory overview of something that affects different people in different ways. For example, one of my main challenges was cortisol dysregulation due in part to half a lifetime of chronic back pain (since i was a pre-teen), so my treatment has had additional emphasis on regulating my adrenal system to support overall effectiveness of the more general treatment parameters. For this reason, spicy peppers may forever be off my diet (capsacin has a steroidal effect on our bodies, which includes immunosuppression), and I even have specific "AM" and "PM" smoothies, probiotic "softeas" and tea-based jell-o's and other foods to support my circadian rhythm. Many people suffering from "neurological" issues actually suffer from chronic brain inflammation and may see a drastic quality of life improvement treating the underlying inflammation. I used to consider suicide fairly regularly, for example. Partly out of frustration with my health and condition, and partly because chronic brain inflammation created a "filter" through which every life experience I had seemed and felt bad, even if it was a really good experience.
In addition to Sarah Ballantyne's work, I really strongly echo her recommendation to find a good "functional medicine" specialist, which is someone who deals with underlying pathophysiology vs the abusive (mis)treatment of symptoms so prevalent in medicine today, and is usually much more adept at helping with diagnosis. Many (but not all!) naturopathic and some conventional doctors fall under this category.
Lastly, in full disclosure: Sarah's work is called "The Paleo Approach" and I hate that title and avoided it at first for the same reason that Paul avoided Mike Oehler's book. I'm not dogmatic about paleo stuff and fortunately neither is Sarah, and I really wish she would have used a more descriptive title. That's my biggest complaint by far. She strongly advocates that you learn how to listen to and interpret what your body is telling you, and learn how to work with it (sound familiar?!) on the belief that everyone's journey toward health is going to look different. I think there are a lot of really interesting intersections between paleo and permaculture frameworks and am beginning to identify them and explore their implications.
