Breakspear Hospital offers specialist treatments for a wide variety of allergy and environmental illnesses. We use effective modalities of treatment not generally available elsewhere.
Illnesses related to allergy and environmental factors are becoming increasingly common as the rising incidences of asthma, hay fever and food intolerance attest.
We are able to offer treatment for a wide range of different conditions at Breakspear Hospital, including:
Breakspear Hospital regularly undertakes extensive assessment of our patients and treatment is customised often using proven methods of detoxification. Measurement of specific biochemical pathways is also routine, as these can explain the reasons for inter-individual variation in degree of toxicity from given exposures.
The precepts of allergy and environmental medicine include detailed attention to sources of exposure, to potential trigger substances, individual assessment of nutritional status and the reduction of the total burden of physical, chemical and biological stressors using specialised techniques. A holistic approach to treatment, the avoidance of drug therapy where possible, dietary amendment and supplementation, specialised elimination diet and challenge protocols, measurement and correction of environmentally-triggered alterations in gut permeability and intestinal flora, and low-dose immunotherapy are all integral to the techniques adopted at the Breakspear Hospital.
The Hospital specialises in the treatment of allergy, intolerance and sensitivity and using the proven system of allergy management called
low-dose immunotherapy (also known as provocation/neutralisation) together with a nutritional supplement programme. After allergy and sensitivity testing, antigen vaccines are custom-made in our in-house laboratory and used together with the custom-designed nutritional supplement programme to strengthen the immune system.
Nature Reviews Immunology 6, 761-771 (October 2006) featured an article titled, "Immunological mechanisms of allergen-specific immunotherapy" which evaluates allergen-specific immunotherapy (SAT). For people interested in more information about desensitisation, the full report is available on-line free as a special feature to registered visitors.
The technique of
low-dose immunotherapy
was refined in 1960 by Dr JB Miller in America and an estimated 20 million patients have been treated without significant adverse effects. Breakspear Hospital has been using the technique of allergen-specific immunotherapy for over 25 years and has received worldwide recognition for advancements in allergy and environmental medicine. Our allergen-specific
low-dose immunotherapy
programme is a safe and effective treatment for food, chemical or inhalant sensitivities of all kinds.
An increasingly occuring condition called "multiple chemical sensitivity" (MCS) is where patients become exquisitely sensitive to a range of substances including food, chemicals and particulate inhalants. Also occuring more frequently is the documented phenomenon of electrical sensitivity. It is estimated that electrical sensitivity affects at least 1 in 1,000 of the population. Almost all MCS and electrically sensitive people are also sufferers from food and/or chemical allergies. It is possible to treat these conditions by treating the food and chemical allergy/sensitivity, minimising electromagnetic exposures and overexposure to noxious chemicals and restoring nutritional status, especially of cell membranes. In many cases, chelation of heavy metals may help. As the food and chemical sensitivities come under control and the body detoxifies itself, the other sensitivities usually go as well.
Our multi-factorial approach has proved very successful in treating allergy and environmental illnesses, incorporating preventative measures to reduce risk of subsequent illness, and improving the quality of life for patients who have not responded readily to standard treatment, or who wish to pursue a more holistic, less drug-based approach to treatment or prevention of disease.
Loads on the body's immune system include things like indoor and outdoor air pollution, impure water and food. Learn more by reading about The Load Phenomenon.
Antigen vaccines are part of the allergen-specific immunotherapy
programme. For more information on how they work, see How antigen vaccines work.
For our latest price list, see Patient Information or
if you have any specific questions regarding prices, estimates and treatment programmes, please contact one of our Patient Liaison Officers, by phone 01442 261 333 ext. 293, or email: liaison@breakspearmedical.com.
Contact Us for directions and further information.
