Autologous blood-therapy for allergies and hay-fever

Hay fever - overreaction to harmless pollen

Many people get hay fever as soon as the trees and plants blossom in spring. People with allergic asthma also have more frequent asthma attacks than usual. For all of them, plant pollen in the air triggers an allergic reaction in the upper airways. Hay fever is also called allergic rhinitis or allergic rhinitis. The symptoms are caused by an overreaction of the immune system to substances that are actually harmless, such as proteins from plant pollen. Such substances are called allergens.

Type I allergies (immediate type), which include hay fever, are mediated by class E immunoglobulins (IgE). These antibodies bind to high-affinity IgE receptors, which are found on the so-called mast cells, among others. The allergen can then bind to the mast cells via the receptor-antibody complex and activate them. This leads to the release of histamine and other messenger substances (cytokines) as well as substances that promote inflammation, which play an important role in allergic reactions. These then trigger the allergic symptoms such as sneezing or itching.

Common conventional medical treatments for allergies and hay fever

The symptoms of allergies can be treated with antihistamines or cortisone. However, prolonged treatment often leads to side effects (e.g. water retention). If the allergen is known, hyposensitisation can be considered. This specific immunotherapy treats allergies to a few selected allergens, such as pollen from certain trees or grasses, in a long-term therapy (3-5 years). Repeated administration of an allergen in an extremely low dose, which does not cause an allergic reaction, should lead to habituation to the allergen in order to stop the immune system's excessive reaction to the allergen in the long term. Experience has shown that hyposensitisation has its limits when the allergen is unknown or when many different allergies are present.

Autohaemotherapy for the treatment of allergies and hay fever

The effect of autohaemotherapy is based on the homeopathic principle of healing like with like. The origin of autoblood therapy lies in experiments conducted by the English doctor William Highmore in 1874 and by Novotny in 1912. The Swedish doctors Elfstrom and Grafstrom, who lived in the USA, are regarded as the founders of autoblood therapy. In 1898, they administered autoblood to their patients suffering from severe infections for the first time. The Berlin surgeon August Bier helped own-blood therapy achieve a breakthrough in 1905.

The aim of this stimulation therapy is to retune the immune system to a higher tolerance to allergens that are not harmful in themselves, such as pollen.

In practice, unmodified autologous blood is most frequently used. Other variants of autologous blood treatment work with the addition of ozone or homeopathic remedies as well as irradiation with UV light. As a rule, autologous blood therapy is repeated several times.