You wouldn’t think Japan and Central Texas would have much in common. They clearly have very different landscapes. They are almost poles apart in cooking and culture. And even the best Japanese English speakers have to listen very carefully to understand Texas speech.
However, a common health condition in both places is allergy to cedar fever. Known as “kafunso” in Japan and as “cedar rush” in Texas, approximately 10 million people in both places suffer from allergies to tree pollens in the winter and early spring.
Cedar and juniper trees are abundant in both locations. Japan planted cedar trees to reforest hills burned during the war. The Texans planted “cedars” to replace the trees eaten by hordes of goats. Both places have vast areas covered by a single type of fast-growing tree, about 12 percent of Japan’s total land area and about 12 percent of Texas’ total land area.
The symptoms of tree pollen allergies are similar to having a non-infectious case of the flu for six to eight weeks each year. And it’s very hard to function if you have to take antihistamines and nasal sprays for so long.
Treating Tree Pollen Allergies With Allergy Shots
Since the 1960s, Texans have been receiving treatment for tree pollen allergies with allergy desensitization injections. Japanese allergy sufferers will be able to get treatment in 2014, but this is not necessarily a good thing.
“Allergy shots” have been around since 1910. The idea behind the method is that if the body is exposed to an extremely small amount of the offending substance by injection, it will not react. More and more concentrated injections are given over a period of months until, hopefully, the allergic person no longer has any allergies.
There is a major drawback to this technique. If the “shot” contains too much allergen, life-threatening anaphylaxis can occur. Texans used to be given vials of allergy serum and taught to give themselves shots at home, until too many shot users died of anaphylactic reactions.
Do allergy shots really work?
Another question about this technique is whether it really works. Identifying exactly the right pollen to make the serum takes a lot of work, so patients usually get a “one mix treats all” serum that the allergist hopes will contain the correct pollen. Maybe yes, and maybe no.
The other problem is that allergies can go away on their own, for no apparent reason, and they can come back on their own, also for no apparent reason. You can take long and expensive treatment for an allergy that you were going to get over with or without injections, and you can also develop a new allergy “out of the blue.”
Injections have their limitations and medications have their limitations. So what’s a pollen victim to do?
Treatment of allergic rhinitis with massage.
One of the oldest therapies for allergies is acupressure. By applying gentle pressure to predetermined points on the body, acupressure is sometimes explained as interrupting, amplifying, decreasing, or redirecting the flow of life force “chi” throughout the body. But you don’t have to understand or accept TCM for acupressure to work for you.