You may have heard of people getting allergy shots (allergic immunotherapy) to help decrease their symptoms of asthma and rhinitis (runny nose, itchy eyes) when exposed to their specific allergens. Introducing very small amounts of the bothersome grasses, pollens, foods, etc to the body can help decrease the body’s sensitivity to these allergens, and can often lead to lasting relief of these symptoms even after the treatment is finished. (1). Low dose immunotherapy was developed in the 1960’s as “Enzyme potentiated desensitization”, which involved administering minute doses of mixed allergens with the enzyme hyaluronidase, (2) which stimulates our body’s immune system to produce new T-suppressor cells that can disable miscoded T-helper cells (aka the hypersensitive cells that are overreacting to the allergens in the first place). So essential this is a re-training program for our body: to be able to be exposed to the allergens and not have the previously instilled over-reaction. (3)

It is a known fact in the medical world that certain chronic illness are a bit harder to treat than others. Especially immune meditated, inflammatory conditions where one thing works for a patient, and does absolutely nothing for the next patient (like IBS, Crohn’s, chronic fatigue syndrome, multiple sclerosis, eczema and other skin conditions, autism spectrum disorders, inflammatory arthritic conditions, etc). To find how to treat these diverse diseases, we must search and find the ROOT CAUSE. But what exactly is the root cause and why are conventional treatments not working for patients suffering from these diseases?

Low Dose Immunotherapy: A promising treatment for chronic illnesses causes by pathogens

We will use Lyme disease as an example here. Most think the Borrelia bacterium itself is the ‘root cause’ that causes the severe and diverse symptoms of Lyme disease. But what if it was actually due to our bodies reactions to this bacterium? Dr. Ty Vincent’s extensive research in this field has found that healthy people can be ‘carriers’ for species of borrelia, babesia, ehrlichia, etc, and have ZERO symptoms. So why is it that some people can live with moderate levels of bacterium, viruses, or parasites in their bodies while others cannot deal with even a minimal amount of an invader without having severe reactions?

According to Dr Ty Vincent, Lyme disease may not just be the true infection causing the symptoms, but actually a triggered immune-mediated inflammatory disorder. (4). This makes sense if you think of it as similar to an allergy: most people don’t have allergies to the grass, but when our immune system starts to recognize it as an invader, we will begin to have serious symptoms. This isn’t necessarily because grass is bad for our health, but just that our body THINKS it is. The basis behind the LDI for chronic illnesses is the same as the allergic immunotherapy: it’s a RE-TRAINING PROGRAM FOR OUR BODIES, re-establishing a normal reaction from our body when exposed to certain bacterium or viruses.

When giving patients suffering with an organism dilute doses of the same organism (dilute meaning less than one part per trillion), this can theoretically stimulate the body (like the allergy shots) to re-regulate itself and lower the hypersensitivity to the organism causing the severe symptoms. The possibilities we are given with Low Dose Immunotherapy are very extensive–the trick is to just find the ‘root cause’ of the disease.