Michael Carlston, M.D. - Family Practice & Complementary Medicine

Carlston, M.D.
Family Practice and Complementary Medicine

www.carlstonmd.com

March 16, 2009

Dear Patients,

In this newsletter I was planning to offer you an inexpensive hay fever treatment possibility. New research touted in today’s newspaper confirms that this is an even better idea than I had thought – see below for details.

I want to remind you also of my talk this Wednesday on Nutrition for Endurance Training and Competition at the Santa Rosa Fleet Feet store. As with any discussion of good nutrition for a specific issue, the principles apply to all of us in some way. If you are interested you need to RSVP to the store (569-1494) as they have limited room.

Best,
Michael Carlston, MD
www.carlstonmd.com

Very Important Allergy Treatment Studies – Oral Desensitization
Inexpensive Allergy Desensitization
Positive Study of Homeopathy for Chronic Conditions

Very Important Allergy Treatment Studies – Oral Desensitization

In the last newsletter I wrote about recent research on sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT), which is a method of swallowing dilutions of specific allergens to eliminate hypersensitivity to those allergens.   It is the most widely used form of allergic desensitization in Europe and has many advantages, particularly ease of use, minimal expense and safety. Frustrating me for around 30 years now, the FDA has yet to approve this therapy.

At the meeting of the American Academy of Asthma and Immunology, researchers discussed the early findings of two studies they carried out using this approach to treat children with peanut allergy.   Although peanuts are only one of the eight most common food allergens, they are the leading cause of fatal allergic reactions to foods. (The other most common food allergens are wheat, eggs, milk, soy, nuts, fish and shellfish are the others). By giving a group of children with moderately severe peanut allergy tiny daily doses of peanuts over the course of many months, experimenters were able to help and in some instances cure, these children of their peanut allergy. Approximately 8% of the children quit the study due to adverse effects, but the other 92% treated this way have become increasingly tolerant of peanuts. Some have been able to drop the treatment entirely as they are no longer sensitive to peanuts. In addition to the improvement in their symptoms, the children’s blood also showed a reduction in allergic markers.

These trials are ongoing and others should follow, helping us determine how to apply this discovery most effectively for patients.

Inexpensive Allergy Desensitization

As I wrote at the outset, when planning this newsletter I had decided to suggest an inexpensive “hay fever” allergy treatment option we are making available through the office. These new studies will hopefully propel the acceptance of oral desensitization and lead to finally having specific preparations available. Ironically, homeopaths have used something like this for over 100 years. Just 10 years ago, I consulted with the NIH-OAM Center for Complementary and Alternative Medical Research in Asthma and Immunology on a study using wheat grass juice as a quasi- homeopathic treatment for grass allergic patients.

The physician who recognized that airborne pollens caused hay fever was also a homeopath named George Blackley. Since that time nonclassical homeopathic treatment has included using preparations of pollens to treat suffering patients. Classical homeopaths believe that choosing the homeopathic remedy that most precisely matches the patient’s symptoms leads to the optimal result. That homeopathic interviewing process is complex and detailed, as you all know because you experience it every time I see you for any visit. It would be nice to offer even simpler yet still safe and effective treatment.

Homeopathic remedies are very dilute, often far more than the dilutions used in conventional allergy treatment.   In fact, there is some speculation that the homeopathic tradition of dilution influenced conventional allergy treatment procedures. The oral desensitization products the FDA has yet to approve are pretty close to what is available as homeopathic remedies, such as “Mixed Grasses” or “California Pollen Mix”. Notably, one of the very first important studies of homeopathic treatment published in an important medical journal used one of these preparations to treat allergic patients, with great success. It is interesting that the study used a homeopathic remedy made from pollens common in Pennsylvania to treat allergy patients in England. That was the case because the homeopathic pharmacy that made that particular remedy was located in Philadelphia, so they used their pollens.

I would like to make these homeopathic preparations of local pollens available without the need for an appointment. While a specific treatment may be better, research indicates that this approach is likely to be a useful preventive. It is also relatively inexpensive, and unless your reactions are extremely severe, quite safe to use.   Unfortunately, and incorrectly in my view, you can’t just go to the health food store and buy them.

The problem I am learning now is that the pharmacies that used to make these remedies either stopped producing them or went out of business.   So, if you know of anyone who has access to typical local pollens (maybe a botany professor at SSU or SRJC?), please have that individual get in touch with me ASAP. At least one pharmacy is willing to make them into remedies as I wish. Obviously there will be an ample supply of pollen blowing in our air quite soon, but the idea is to prepare these remedies so that people can start them immediately as a preventive.

We do have a few bottles of “Mixed Grasses” available and are working hard to get another order of mixed pollens in as quickly as we can, in anticipation of the looming allergy season. Call the office (707-545-1554) and talk to Melanie if you want to try some. If you are interested, I recommend starting right away because my experience has been that this approach is less effective as a treatment than as a preventive.

Positive Study of Homeopathy for Chronic Conditions

An eight year-long study of over 3,700 homeopathic patients in Germany and Switzerland treated for chronic conditions found that they got better. Just under half of the patients reported that their symptoms were 50% or more reduced, and 1/3 of the patients were so much improved that they quit treatment, feeling they no longer needed it.   Another third of the patients dropped out of homeopathic treatment because they were not improving. While this latter finding is a disappointment, the chronic nature of these patients’ problems makes it less so. Inevitably there is no treatment that cures all patients.

Best
Michael Carlston, M.D.

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