General advice on disease prevention and a healthy lifestyle can be found in the library article "General Advice - for healthy as well as for ill ones" in the VitaHealth section under Focus Articles. You can also test your health by taking our "Health Check".
To avoid having an allergic child both parents need to focus their attention on an overall healthy lifestyle even before conception. It is recommended for both parents to live healthily. Pregnant women who avoid the substances that they themselves are allergic to, can postpone the outbreak of their children's allergy.
It is recommended for both parents to eat many organic provisions and to avoid alcohol, smoking and passive smoking, to only take vital and prescripted medicine and avoid all others, and to make a large effort to avoid environmental toxins.
Drink at least 1½ l. of water daily, and it is also a good idea to have a daily supplement of vitamins and minerals, essential fatty acids, and lactic acid bacteria. Allergy sufferers generally have difficulties in metabolizing Omega 3 fatty acids from flaxseed oil. With regards to the new-born child, one should focus the attention on the digestion of the child as it is important that the production of gastric acid is balanced and adequate. One should breast-feed the child as long as possible, and for at least 6 months. The transition to solid food needs to be slow and gentle and infants should not be given cow´s milk.
Different investigations suggest that an antroposophical lifestyle reduces the risk of having allergic children substantially. In these investigations the children were not vaccinated against measels, mumps, and rubella, and they where not given any vaccines until they were at least 6 years old; and here typically tetanus- and polio vaccines. The children only received antibiotics on rare occasions and only after the age of two. They were only given antipyretics on a few occasions and only after the age of six, and they followed a particular diet eating only vegetables that had been treated with lactic acid bacteria and the overall diet was mainly organic and biodynamic.
Both children and adults with allergy should take a daily supply of lactic acid bacteria.
Often one is well aware of the fact that one is allergic to certain substances and these can be attained through diagnostic methods, and yet, sometimes people have allergic symptoms towards particular substances in spite of the presence of a positive allergic test. In this case, the condition might be intolerance and not allergy; for futher information see "Food intolerance". However, were both allergy and intolerance are concerned, although a complete cure for the condition might not be available, one can still rid oneself of the visible symptoms simply by avoiding the particular substances that one handles badly.
Ventilate the rooms of both your home and your place of work. Get rid of old mattresses and carpets since they might be full of dust mites. Remember to vacuum at cealings and other places in the house where dust may easily assemble. It might be necessary to part with pets, if one is allergic to them or if there are small children in the house since pets are very allergenic, especially cats and dogs. Fluff the pillows and bedding every day. Turn the covers inside out and place them in the sun for at least 4 hours, since the ultraviolet radiation of the sun will kill both dust mites and their eggs. Futhermore, bedding should be washed at at least 60 degrees C to eliminate dust mites. In addition to a daily supplement of vitamins, minerals, probiotics and essential fatty acids, immuno therapy may be necessary. Some also experience relief through reflexology, homeopathic-, and chiropractic treatment.
