By: Angela Sannapu M.H. Dip.H.Ir., Phoenix, AZ
What would you do if you were allergic to something healthy? Something that is raw, organic and the main ingredient in many different salads and smoothies? Would you give in and never have that food or would you try and figure out the reason for the allergy and do something about it?
My husband found himself in this situation. The allergy was to strawberries. He was not always allergic but after having some of those great red berries he found himself getting canker sores, very bad ones. They were so bad that he could barely talk properly for over 2 weeks at a time. The allergy became so bad that he could not even touch food that had touched strawberries. In fact, we once went out for breakfast and he ordered waffles, not noticing that strawberries were added as a topping. Upon receiving the plate, he promptly removed them, leaving just a little red juice where they had sat. Thinking that wouldn’t hurt him, he ate the waffles. By that afternoon, he had a huge canker sore that lasted over 14 days.
As a new student at the School of Natural Healing, I came across Dr. Christopher’s Immucalm formula of 1 part Astragalus Root and 1 part Marshmallow root. I read that Astragalus will strengthen the immune system and Marshmallow will calm it. I read several stories on how people used this formula to overcome some serious allergies. I was interested to see if it would work with my husband. Before trying though, I thought I would call the Healthier You Radio show with David and Fawn Christopher and get their advice. My instinct was right to use the formula and use a lot of it. I was encouraged to have him take as much as was needed to train the immune system.
So I explained to my husband what we would do. [Eat] only organic strawberries and then lots of Immucalm capsules. The first day he ate one of the forbidden fruits followed by 5 capsules. 20 [minutes] later, he felt a sore coming on, [so] I urged him to take 5 more. He continued taking 5 capsules every 30 minutes until there were no signs of sores. We felt hesitant to try this again the next day, perhaps we were just lucky? We tried again though, with 5 capsules of Immucalm every 20-30 min until no signs appeared.
The next day, [for] just as an experiment, he ate an organic strawberry and didn’t take the capsules. Within 20 min a sore started to form. He took the capsules and the sore stopped growing.
We repeated this procedure off and on for several weeks and months, eventually even venturing into the conventionally grown strawberries. We were always sure to have lots of Immucalm on hand. Eventually he got to the point of needing to take less and less formula. His body was taking the training very well.
I am happy to report that in less than a year’s time he can enjoy a whole bowl of strawberries, organic or not, and not receive so much as a tingle in his mouth! He seldom if ever reaches for the Immucalm bottle anymore. His immune system has been trained to not react negatively to this wonderful food.
I am so thankful for the herbs and natural remedies we have available to us. And I am also thankful to the Christopher’s and the School of Natural Healing for keeping the knowledge alive. I have learned so much and applied so much of that knowledge to help my family and friends. My training to become a Master Herbalist has been wonderful. Many thanks to you all.
Angela Sannapu is a Master Herbalist from the School of Natural Healing as well as a Diplomat in Holistic Iridology from the Internal Institute of Iridology.
©2013 Used with permission from Herbal Legacy. This article can be found at: http://articles.herballegacy.com/can-the-immune-system-be-trained/
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