antagonising in order to suppress

i was compelled to visit the university health service to get some help in counteracting the attack of my immune system by the smallest of all things... dust, housedust mites, and pollen of sorts. the GP prescribed some form of anti-histamines and special eye-drops to help me cope. i am usually quite against drugs, pills and medication of sorts but monday evening's uncontrollable spasms of wheezes and tearing and itchiness made me succumb to the reliance of bio-chemical symptomatic relief (even if i don?t believe they will necessarily work).

i have never really suffered seriously from hay-fever until last summer when i was literally knocked-out by it. the reappearance of the symptoms (repeated sneezing, runny nose, itchy and watery eyes, general feeling of unwell) this year has fuelled my suspicion that my body might have grown sensitive to the various allergens that trigger the occasional spasmodic reactions. Hay-fever is medically known as seasonal allergic rhinitis, and is an immune reaction to pollen and fungal spores, which the body recognises as foreign bodies (or in this case, as allergens). pollen is released by various plants and trees at different times throughout the year, with trees being the first few culprits followed by flowers, grass, weeds and fungus as summer progressively emerges. my blood test in Germany indicated my allergy to pollens released by Birch and Hazel trees as well as the protein that housedust mites discharge (which is apparently everywhere and could plausibly explain my blocked stuffy nose ? a symptom of perennial allergic rhinitis).

apparently, the very first time one?s body encounters an allergen, it reacts to this ?intruder? by inducing plasma cells (which are mainly found under mucous membranes) to secrete lots of anti-bodies against it. our body is said to be capable of secreting an unique antibody for all possible allergens or intruders (anything that is not recognised as ?you?) so that other proteins become activated and they all cooperate in the destruction and removal of these foreign bodies. some antibodies also play a vital role in preventing such intruders (e.g. viruses) from entering cells and causing damage.

i learnt that Immunoglobulin E is an antibody commonly related to allergic reactions, and it is attached, in masses, to mast cells, which are found in nasal tissue linings, bronchial tubes, gastrointestinal tract and the skin, and also to the cells circulating in the bloodstream, which are known as basophils. these antibodies stand on guard for the next intrusion by the allergens to which they are made specifically against. when indeed an allergen (e.g. Birch pollen) does enter the body (e.g. me breathing it in) the Birch-antibodies capture the irritating pollens and inform the attached mast cells and basophils which then trigger a cascade of other signals and processes to rid these intruders. for example, potent chemicals (e.g. histamine, among others) are released almost immediately, and neighbouring tissues start to swell and become inflamed. the related autonomic sneezing and runny nose symptoms, itching, and various other uncomfortable experiences may well be our body?s means of removing these pollens from the system or preventing us from being subsequently in contact with the allergen.

i am no biology expert (with only 1 yr of intensive cramming of facts whilst in Germany!) but the world of biology is to me a world filled with metaphors. chemical messengers within your body, in the form of charged particles, travel and send their messages through various doors depending on their properties (e.g. whether they have the right shape, charge value, or chemical form etc).... fitting into a door or passage-way or key-hole (e.g. on the surface of a cell), these chemical messages elicit various subsequent processes within a cell?s body which sometimes induce electrical pulses being sent with light-years' alacrity from one end of a cell down its axon to its other end... then between other cells via other messengers and then all over you if they must. to stop this chain (and/or synchrony) of reactions (or message-relaying) many drug-designers and pharmacologists have sought to block these doors or passage-ways... making it difficult or impossible for these chemical messages to get passed on so as to trigger other biological processes.

drugs against allergy work like this too. they mimic certain properties of the actual key to a lock; enter the lock and block it instead of opening the door to let the message through (i.e. the subsequent processes normally associated with the presence of the key). that is, they antagonise specific receptors and prevent them from responding as they normally would.

in the case of hay-fever, the prescribed tablets are commonly a variety of anti-histamines; based the belief that histamine is one of the main culprits inducing the annoying symptoms. anti-histamines block histamine receptors and presumably prevent the effects of histamine (although it doesn?t stop the production of histamine per se) and so reduce or temporarily mitigate the symptoms of hay-fever. this form of treatment like many other clinical treatments is highly symptomatic. if i could have it my way, i?d much rather like to teach my body?s immune system to recognise the intrusive pollens as foreign but benign?. but i am not sure how this could be done. immunisation? hmm.

i am not convinced that the anti-histamine tablets i am prescribed do actually work. interestingly, i recently read about the herbal extract from the shrub, Butterbur, which seems to work just as well as anti-histamines. it seems that Butterbur has been used throughout history for a variety of illnesses; ranging from fever, coughs, asthmas, skin wounds, gastric ulcers, bladder problems, and migraines. maybe i ought to find some Butterbur extracts instead! but whatever it is, be thankful that you do not suffer hay-fever like i do? because it is a lot more fun to be outdoors (or indoors) without feeling like you will lose your nose or eyes when the tiny but potent pollen or mites' discharge get inside you.

posted by ~overacuppa~ on Sunday, 18 April, 2004 at 00:01 hrs