As far as I can remember, I’ve struggled with allergies. Over some months it’s not so bad, but over others it’s worse. Whether in winter, summer, night, day, at home or travelling, something always sets it off.
Whilst it’s very uncomfortable, there are far worse things that could happen, and day full of sneezing often feels offset by a period where I would be relatively fine. For this reason, I had not taken the time to get it looked at properly, by someone who knows better than me.
That was until recently. Over the last few months my symptoms have been getting worse, and whilst I’ve tried taking daily antihistamines, frequent deep house cleaning, and tracking my diet, I hadn’t found a trigger.
So, as a last resort, I booked an appointment with a GP who advised I have a blood test to screen for allergies. The results of that gave evidence to a mild/moderate intolerance to cats and grass, in addition to a very high intolerance to dust mites.
Finally… something I can point to with some degree of accuracy. Now I could focus on the area that matters. Killing the mites. There are many ways you can achieve this, none of which I will bore you with here, but being confident in my goal gave me a level of focus and discipline that I wouldn’t have otherwise had.
But what if I didn’t have the opportunity to get a blood test in the first place? Perhaps my diligent efforts to find a trigger would have eventually led me to some kind of answer. Perhaps I would have realised the relief I’d find in washing bedding twice a week instead of once per week.
However, I would likely have never determined the true root cause. Dust mites are everywhere. They thrive under high humidity, feeding on shed skin cells in the fibres of bedding and sofas. They’re only visible under a microscope, and the proteins found in their droppings trigger an immune response in those who are sensitive, including me.
If my symptoms were persistent, it may have eventually driven me mad. My head circling a never ending list of ideas, bogged down by incessant sneezing, wondering about what kind of travesty I must have committed in another life to deserve such a fate.
I’m aware this sounds rather dramatic, but I wonder if it’s the kind of thinking we lean towards should no other rational explanation present itself. If blood science wasn’t an option, how else might you attempt to explain it?
If you’re reading this, you have access to the internet, and it’s not likely you would pin down allergies to anything other than a medical issue. But what if someone doesn’t think this way?
I mentioned to my wife Lexi the idea behind this post and one of her first thoughts led to bloodletting. A practice common in Europe for around 2000 years, up until the late 19th century. It was based on the idea that you have 4 main bodily substances called “humors” that should be in harmony with each other. Draining someone’s blood was seen as one of the ways to bring these substances back into harmony. It has now been disproven to work for the majority of conditions, but without the collective knowledge of a more proven method, this was seen as something that would help.
Alternatively, some would explain illnesses and disease as being a form of punishment, something I hinted at myself earlier. It’s funny to think about it that way today, but in the middle ages, it was seen as a rational explanation. The most famous piece I can find on this is highlighted in a text named “Malleus Maleficarum”. It was published in 1486 and written by a catholic inquisitor. It acted as a textbook highlighting how witches allegedly caused conditions such as blindness and joint pain through the help of demons.
I don’t think there are many people alive today who would subscribe to these specific ideas, but I’m sure there are some who think similarly. Even if you completely agree with the rationale surrounding modern medicine, it feels a very human instinct to supplement that with other forms of reason, even if that reason is ultimately faulty, like mine.
Thankfully though, I don’t have to rely much on those other ideas, because I can focus on the vastly more reliable methods found in present-day medicine, freeing up my head space to focus on far more important things, like enjoying the day, and looking after the people I care for most.
Time will tell if the steps I take help. Perhaps in 100 years time we’ll look back at this current understanding as something crude, something that’s missing essential variables needed to understand our ailments better. Hopefully it’s a better understanding. But as it stands today, at least it’s not witchcraft.
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