A CBC/complete blood cell count, is an easy to acquire blood test that is often run by your conventional doctor at each lab examination and even privately only costs about $23. We run this test often in my practice.
Science tells us that we can look at this lab result by absolutes or percentages meaning we can look at the range the lab gives us to see if it’s out of range, which happens only in severe states, or more telling for your functional medicine work, is to look at the percentages to see where your white blood cells are out of optimal range.
Using this blood test result, let’s dive in to how to discover if you have a hidden allergy state in the body which can in time can compromise your main fighting system called the innate immune!
When many think of allergy they think of a classic IgE response which is very quick reaction to a food or environment issue, presenting with hives swelling itching and difficulty breathing to name a few. Did you know that you may have a hidden allergy state in the body that may only affect your nervous system, muscles and your brain which can cause symptoms such a seizure tendency, pain, migraines and behavioral issues as a start?
How do we know if we have a hidden allergy state?
Eiosinophils and Basophils are the white blood cell names that show on your CBC/ complete blood cell, blood work from your doctor or our office, that we are going to pay attention to in his blog !
1. Basophils are one way to discover your hidden allergy and immune imbalances:
In the lab number ranges (absolutes) basophils are an allowable number but in biology we understand that basophils have no housekeeping function, which means they are not around for safety, prevention work…they are there for a problem! If basophils exist in any number it could be a problem with hidden allergy in the body which can be the result of particular infections.
…..a reminder…. an allergy state, hidden or obvious….means you may begin having or already have a suppressed immune system meaning more risk of getting sick from chronic illness or infection!
There are further functional immunology ways to assess this CBC blood test to determine if your innate immune is suppressed or impaired from your allergy state/Th2 dominance…. those details are saved for another blog !
2. Eiosinophils on your blood work as a way of determining hidden allergy:
So back to that easy to acquire CBC/complete blood count blood work….
Next you’ll take a look at your range of eosinophils. For this white blood cell type, we require a little bit of math as some eosinophils in our blood can be normal.
The math:
Take the eosinophil number from your blood work and divide it by your total wbc/ white blood cell number….shows as
WBC or total or complete white blood cells on your bloodwork.
Now multiply this number by 100.
If the number is greater than 2 this means that your numbers of this white blood cell are higher than 2% which is a warning of hidden allergy tendency and immune suppression risk.
If this number is 4% or higher than you are in the high-risk zone and I suggest that you receive treatment for th2 dominance which is another word for allergy tendency in the body.
Remember that just because you don’t have obvious allergy symptoms doesn’t mean you are okay with this imbalance.
You will be more prone to aggravating known or hidden autoimmune conditions in your body with this imbalance, causing more tissue/cell/organ damage potential (via TH17). You would be at risk of having a suppressed immune system meaning more infection risk and chronic illness such as cancer risk.
A clear example is how some people will mention that they are having an allergy reaction and then it turns into a cold and they’re not sure if it’s allergy or infection…in both the allergy and infection exist in this case! This is why most doctors are now treating upper respiratory infections, such as ear infections, with an added allergy medication!
Some researched ways to target this concern of hidden allergy, is first to address the root cause! There could be a parasite, Lyme/Borrelia infection or yeast/candida infection triggering this TH2 dominance. See you ND for detailed investigation…I am happy to help!
To simply target the immune directly when the hidden cause is in investigation, here are some research proven natural ways to correct the th2 dominance/hidden allergy tendency:
taking Perilla
Nac
or Quercetin.
Lets all keep our immune systems strong and ready to fight with these simple DIY tools !
Dr B ND
519.767.9224
E: [email protected]
