Allergies: alternative diagnostics & therapy

The specialist treatment of allergies and allergic asthma has made great strides in recent decades. The sound effects of various medications have been proven in a large number of scientific studies. Specific immunotherapy (allergy vaccination) has also proven itself for many years. However, not all allergy sufferers trust conventional medicine. Many resort to alternative healing methods or alternative methods of allergy diagnostics.

Does an alternative therapy work?

However, the use of alternative methods for allergies is controversial. “Alternative healing methods are usually not paid for by health insurance companies either because there is usually no proof of effectiveness,” explains Professor Wolfgang Czech, President of the Medical Association of German Allergists (ÄDA). Nevertheless, alternative healing and test methods such as pendulum, autohemotherapy, resonance and Bach flower therapy as a miracle cure for allergies continue to make headlines. So, what’s the point of alternative allergy treatment?

Allergists have examined alternative methods.

The Complementary Medicine working group of the German Society for Allergology and Clinical Immunology (DGAKI) has evaluated alternative methods after carefully examining the available scientific studies. Except for proven methods such as respiratory and physiotherapy, Kneipp’s procedures, bathing or climate therapy, the experts working with the Munich allergist Professor Wolfgang Dorsch found almost no evidence of effectiveness:

The efficacy of alternative methods is controversial.

“Alternative methods are not a real alternative. They cannot replace classic therapy,” says AEDA President Professor Czech. The specialist believes sufficient evidence of allergy effectiveness has yet to be available. “Those affected should consult an allergist. In the case of hay fever, antihistamine tablets to relieve the symptoms and cortisone nasal sprays to reduce inflammation are highly recommended. In addition, the cause of the allergy can be combated effectively and over the long term with specific immunotherapy (allergy vaccination). “After that, most patients are largely symptom-free,” says Professor Czech.