This is the blog of Kory Kapitke, Seattle acupuncturist and allergy-removal specialist. How Your Pollen Allergy Can Lead to a Sinus Infection
By Kory | June 6, 2008
If you’ve got seasonal allergies, you’ve certainly noticed all the particles in the air lately—puffs of cottony material from blooming trees, flecks of flower pollen and the like—but more specifically, you’ve noticed because you’re sneezing like crazy or suffering from the chronic nose drips.
You may be used to the annoyance of your pollen allergy, but did you know that these allergies, left untreated, can lead to worse health issues, such as sinus infections and asthma?
When your system reacts to an inhaled allergen like pollen, your mucous membranes become inflamed as your body releases histamine, and can stay inflamed for hours or days as your allergy symptoms persist. While this reaction is happening, your mucous membranes are not in a state of full integrity and health.
Then come bateria, which we encounter everyday. But when your mucous membrane is compromised, bacteria can more easily infiltrate your system, creating a sinus infection. This is just one of many ways that untreated allergies can result in more serious health problems.
Getting your seasonal allergies treated with a technique like NAET can not only rid you of the spring sniffles, it may help you avoid nasty sinus infections throughout the whole flowering season.
Topics: allergies, inflammation | No Comments »
Four Reasons to Boost Your Vitamin C Intake
By Kory | April 8, 2008
If you’re like most people, when you think of taking vitamin C, it’s probably when you feel like you’re getting a cold.
True, vitamin C can help your immune system when you’re feeling under the weather, but not many know it serves other purposes in the body.
1) For starters, this vitamin is a major antioxidant, meaning it quenches free radicals (free electrons that can disturb your body’s metabolic activities, causing things like cancer and signs of aging). Vitamin C binds those free radicals so they are part of a bigger molecule and can’t go around mucking up your system.
2) Vitamin C also repairs and maintains mucous membranes anywhere in the body — ears, nose, throat, respiratory system, reproductive organs. Anyone with allergies can benefit from taking vitamin C to help support healthy mucous membrane.
3) It’s good for skin, as well. People with dermatitis often are allergic to vitamin C, which means they’re not absorbing it as well as they ought to be.
4) There is some ongoing research showing that vitamin C deficiency is linked to heart disease. Studies show that vitamin C is necessary for the production of collagen which maintains the integrity of the arteries.
These are all great reasons to boost the amount of vitamin C in your diet, and to make sure that you’re absorbing it properly. The majority of my clients with asthma and allergies have an allergy to vitamin C, preventing their system from making good use of the nutrient. Fortunately, clearing up vitamin C allergy is one of the first treatments in the protocol for NAET. With this allergy cleared, we set a stronger foundation (healthier mucous membranes) to support your system through the clearing of other allergies.
Topics: allergies, vitamins | No Comments »
Got Tension? Get Calcium!
By Kory | February 29, 2008
Everyone knows that calcium plays a role in the development of healthy teeth and bones. Not everyone knows that it is necessary for the contraction of every muscle in the body, including the heart. No calcium, no contraction.
A lack of calcium absorbtion can be the cause of disorders like restless leg syndrome, charlie horses, muscle tension and cramping, constipation, and heart problems (e.g. palpitations).
Calcium also affects the central nervous system. People who are allergic to it (meaning the calcium isn’t doing what it’s supposed to be doing in their system, or it’s not doing it as well), often have insomnia and anxiety. Calcium has a calming affect on the nervous system, so when I have a client complaining of insomnia and/or anxiety, one of the first things I check for and clear is an allergy to calcium.
Topics: allergies, calcium, tension | No Comments »
Inflammation: When Your Body Is Its Own Worst Enemy
By Kory | February 11, 2008
There is growing evidence that suggests inflammation plays a key role in a lot of diseases such as cancer, asthma, diabetes, allergies, heart disease, arthritis, and osteoporosis. What you may not know is that what you eat has a strong impact on how much inflammation is in your system.
I’m not a fan of telling people to restrict their diets; life has enough restrictions already. So here are some foods you can add to your diet that can help reduce inflammation:
- cold-water fish high in omega-3 fatty acids, or high-quality fish oil
- pecans, almonds, walnuts, flaxseeds, and other raw nuts and seeds
- dark green vegetables such as collard and mustard greens and broccoli
- extra-virgin olive oil
- antioxidants either found in foods, teas, or in supplements
If I can get a little scientific here: your immune system identifies foreign bodies via their protein coat. Sometimes the immune system gets confused and reacting to your body’s own protein, which causes inflammation.
The first thing we clear with NAET is the egg mix. Egg contains all of the essential and non-essential amino acids, which are the building blocks of proteins. When we clear egg mix, therefore, we are clearing one of the biggest contributors to inflammation.
Topics: allergies, inflammation | No Comments »
The Autism and Allergy Connection
By Kory | January 29, 2008
Most families working with their autistic children have learned that there is some connection between autism and allergies. Therefore many families have chosen to put their autistic children on restrictive elimination diets.
The advantage of this approach is that it reduces the number of allergens in a child’s diet, and therefore lessens symptoms such as poor digestion, gassiness, and bloating.
The disadvantage of dietary restrictions for autistic children is that it makes it more difficult for them to get the nutrition that all growing children need.
From the perspective of NAET, autism is the direct result of a multitude of allergies in the child. Because the child is so allergic to so many foods, he cannot adequately process and absorb all the nutrients that his brain needs to function normally.
What NAET can do is provide an alternative or supplementary treatment for autism by systematically identifying and eliminating a child’s allergies. This treatment can be used for allergies to foods, environmental factors, pharmaceuticals, and vaccinations.
Topics: allergies, autism | 1 Comment »
The Connection Between Allergies and Pain
By Kory | January 18, 2008
How often have you heard someone say, “I reached this way and tweaked my back”?
It’s common for us to assume that the movement or repetitive action (such as typing or playing tennis) is responsible for our pain, when, actually, one or more allergies may be to blame.
Now, you may be thinking, Allergies? How in the world could my eating cheese give me lower back pain?!
Let me bust out some Eastern medicine wisdom to explain:
Whenever we’re exposed to something we’re allergic to (be it food, environmental or other), what’s happening is our chi, or vital energy, is being blocked in one or more of our twelve energy pathways. This blockage often results in physical pain like neck tension, lower back spasms, carpal tunnel syndrome, etc.
Wow, ok, so my back pain wasn’t caused by moving my couch…now what do I do?
Disciplines like acupuncture and NAET can help resolve physical pain by identifying the allergens you’re reacting to and then quickly removing the vulnerability.
Topics: allergies, eastern medicine, energy | No Comments »
FAQ About Seattle Allergy Relief
By Kory | January 2, 2008
How do you actually “remove” allergies?
By administering a combination of acupuncture and acupressure while you are exposed to a small element of whatever it is you are allergic to, I am able to reset your system to no longer recognize the element as an allergen. The specific technique I practice is called NAET (Nambudripad’s Allergy Elimination Techniques), which has been developed and perfected over the last twenty years by an MD, chiropractor, and Doctor of Chinese Medicine.
How can you tell for sure what I’m allergic to?
I use applied kinesiology (muscle testing) to access the innate wisdom of the subconscious mind and body. This is what tells us what you are and are not allergic to.
What is muscle testing? How does that work?
Applied kinesiology assumes that your body knows best what it suffers from and needs. In my practice, I have you hold in your hand a small vial containing the allergen we want to check out. You would hold out your other arm, and I lightly put pressure on it to see if your body’s resistence to that pressure is strong or weak. A weak response (your arm falling down) means you are allergic to the substance in the vial, and a strong response (arm holding steady) means you are not.
If you would like to experience this for yourself to really understand the power of this technique, I am happy to meet you for a free consultation.
I’m afraid of needles…do we have to use them to treat my allergies?
No, if you don’t like needles, we can substitute acupressure (gently rubbing the acupoint), which can be just as effective as acupuncture.
How long do these allergy treatments last?
Each session lasts about an hour.
Are the results permanent?
Yes. If done correctly, the treatment results should last your lifetime.
*Caveat: If you undergo extreme emotional or physical trauma, you can become allergic again to the same substance.
Isn’t this just another elimination diet?
No, elimination diets ask you to permanently avoid or rotate foods. NAET will allow you to eat the foods you want after a very brief avoidance period of 25 hours.
Topics: FAQ | 2 Comments »