Most of us think of health as “freedom from disease.” But good health - apart from the absence of disease encompasses a harmony between the essential functions of body, mind and soul. Nature has given us tremendous capacity to live in good health. But as we keep deviating from Nature's laws (principles) and as we are constantly exposed to various allergens, the body's defense mechanisms keep getting weaker day by day. This often predisposes our body to disease and it tends to acquire various physical or mental illnesses.

Allergy (Greek: allos, other + ergon, work = altered reaction) is an abnormal and individual hypersensitivity to substances that are ordinarily harmless and which results in various types of reactions. Pollens, for example, are generally harmless, yet many people are acutely sensitive or allergic to their presence.

With our vast experience of studying allergic patients it can be firmly concluded that every person on the street is a 'Walking Pathological Laboratory' suffering from allergies in one form or the other.

Broadly speaking allergies may appear to be of two kinds:

EXOGENIC (OF EXTERNAL ORIGIN) AND ENDOGENIC (OF INTERNAL ORIGIN)

Exogenic allergy is caused by various external allergens like industrial wastes, chemicals, insecticides, pesticides etc. These allergens are actually just a tip of the iceberg. Our highly polluted environment compels us to inhale and ingest various chemicals that are potential allergens. Allergens, therefore appear to be unavoidable: We can't really avoid dust, wheat or sun. Even human mother's milk has been proven to contain various pesticides that are well recognised as allergens.

Eventually, all allergens seem to cause gradual changes in the genetic make up and subsequently the allergy becomes Endogenic. The body tissues get 'sensitized' to various allergens and this leads to hypersensitivity reactions. These 'sensitized' response characteristics are passed on to the succeeding generations.

Substances that provoke an allergic reaction are called Allergens. The 'list' of allergens can be best described by the dictum that "Everything under the Sun including the Sun itself can act as a potential allergen". This makes our body a virtual 'battle field' with different allergens attacking from various directions leading to various allergic manifestations.
The fundamental cause of all allergies, therefore, is endogenic and in most cases it runs in the family tree of the patient.

 

Often allergy remains dormant in the patient's body system until a situation arises when the patient's immune system is at low guard and his resistance is highly compromised. 'Physical stress states' such as surgery, infections, serious diseases, pregnancy, old age etc. are some of the conditions where the body is predisposed to attacks by allergens.

Many children suffer from repeated attacks of cough & cold which might gradually disappear as adulthood approaches. But the respiratory problems flare up once again - often in form of Allergic rhinitis, Asthma or in the form of Eczema when body's resistance is low or it comes in contact with the relevant allergens. Recurrent pain in legs experienced by children (known as growing pains) is a sign of Arthritis in later age.Women who have recently delivered (particularly Caesarian delivery) or have had Hysterectomy, suddenly develop symptoms of one or the other allergic disorders which were hitherto lying dormant.

Some of the commonest allergic diseases alternate in a patient's life. A patient suffering from Eczema in childhood may suffer from Bronchial Asthma in adult hood. Usually there would be a history of Hay Fever, Urticaria, Eczema, Asthma, Arthritis etc. in the family.

For more than five decades late Dr. K.S. Bakshi followed by his son Dr. S.P.S. Bakshi have treated millions of cases of Allergy.