December 23, 2025 • 33 mins
Michael Berry continues his conversation with Dr. Chris Colosso about pollen, dust mites, allergy shots, and the science behind why spring hits so hard.
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
What it's that time, time, time, time, luck and loak.
So Michael Verie Show is on the air. Chris Colosso
(00:26):
is our guest. He is my new, relatively new allergist.
He's been my wife Salar just for five years.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
She's had amazing results and I wanted him to come
on with it being when we started. He said, look,
we're about to start pollen season, so you are going
to have a flare. Let's talk about what we're going
to do. And I said, that's a perfect time to
have you on the show. I like the fact that
he very patiently answers all my many questions and you
can imagine what it's like to be my doctor. Mary
(00:52):
Telly Bowden told me one time that I shouldn't ask
so many questions. It's distracting, and I just laughed and
I said, Mary, tell you don't know.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
That's that's just me.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Every doctor this s Treamy will tell you that, and
they all know, they all hate it, but they all know. Anyway,
he patiently answered my questions and with a lifetime of sneezing,
runny eyes congestion. I wanted him to share with you
his experience because he kind of geeks out on this stuff,
and I'm glad to know that somebody does.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
Chris Colosso is our guest.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
So doctor Colosso, we see this pollen that's coming down,
and you were talking about you and I were talking
about this being the season where it really causes people
to flare. What are the big allergies and antigens that
people would know the street name of that make this
(01:42):
season so bad?
Speaker 4 (01:44):
So you know this this season, everybody, you know, all
that yellow stuff you see coding the oak pollen is
going to you know, is going to go through the roof,
I mean every street and you don't. And people are like, oh,
should I take down my oak tree in my arm
And I'm like, no, it's going to make no difference
because the pollen level is going.
Speaker 5 (02:07):
To be thick in the air.
Speaker 4 (02:08):
And you can and you can you know, on our
website we have you know, there's a link to the
City of Houston pollen counter, and you know it'll get
up to the thousands and thousands of pollen count in
the air.
Speaker 5 (02:23):
And the biggest you know trees over here that we have.
Speaker 4 (02:25):
Trouble with is old pecan ash and you know, and
they start off at you know, different times, and so
as reason to be a little bit early, oak is
through the major springtime and then you know, pick contends
to be a.
Speaker 5 (02:38):
Little bit later in the season.
Speaker 4 (02:39):
But besides that, you know, the hedges and all those
things that are pollinating. Springtime tends to be the worst
for more for most patients. And we have patients who
are you know, typically they'll have allergy to uh to
springtime trees that they all show a dust my allergy
(03:02):
and so, you know, and that's why sometimes when I
explain to patients, I was like, they're like, but dust say,
I don't feel anything with the dust smiles, And it's like, no,
you probably do. But it's just that you have this
baseline because the dust my stuff is there year around, right,
so you have symptoms throughout the year, and so you
just sort of if you will, you're sort of used
to being miserable, and then you have this and then
(03:25):
a long come spring and just adds on to that.
And so part of controlling allergy is trying to reset
that baseline. And so as I did with Michael, I
stressed with him that you you know, make sure that
you do dust my covers. Now dust my covers are
not going to you know, one hundred percent eliminate dust mites,
but it's going to drop the load. So it's going
(03:46):
to drop that load. And so now that baseline is
set a little bit lower so that when that spring
pollen comes hits you, you're not already at the super
high level of you know, being miserable. And so that's
why you know, seeing a specialist you know, can help
you understand and sort of target the allergy from you know,
(04:07):
not only just medicines, but also avoidance.
Speaker 5 (04:10):
Measures and other treatment and.
Speaker 4 (04:12):
Modalities, and that's that will just help you feel better overall.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
Chris colossos ourselves.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
He is an allergist and his clinic is Advanced Allergy
and Asthma Center.
Speaker 5 (04:21):
Go ahead. That was just.
Speaker 4 (04:25):
Oh, Michael, I just want to you know, we are
Advanced Asthma Analogy Center, but it's you know, it's semantic
allergies before let me ask you this advance asthma analergy.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
Okay, let me ask you this.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
So this treatment to make your body not you know
through these like one of the forms of treatment.
Speaker 3 (04:45):
Is the shots.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
And that's what I've started doing, is what's my wife
has gottencouraged with if our body no longer reacts to
the pollen, when when is there any downside to that?
I mean, did our body react to try to protect us?
Speaker 5 (05:00):
No, they just remember that arm of the immune system.
Speaker 4 (05:03):
Your body started reacting to the pollen, not because it
was truly protecting you. That arm of the immune system
was designed to fight parasites. But when you don't have
much parasite exposure, you don't have you know, worms and
those kinds of things, it had nothing to do and
so it was not it wasn't reacting in the first
(05:26):
place to protect you. It sort of it started reacting
just because it wasn't busy enough to do that, and
so that comes. You know, there's an interesting thing known
as the.
Speaker 5 (05:39):
Hygiene hypothesis of why allergies go.
Speaker 4 (05:41):
And it's very interesting with something you said, So your wife,
like me, grew up in India, and it's very interesting.
Allergy tends to be a disease of the advanced world.
Speaker 5 (05:59):
In in the.
Speaker 4 (06:01):
In the Third World, they tend to have much less allergy.
And the thinking is a lot of that has to
do because we get exposed.
Speaker 5 (06:13):
You know, people who grew up in the Third World or.
Speaker 4 (06:18):
Even in farming communities tend to be exposed to a
higher level of endotoxin.
Speaker 5 (06:24):
And endotoxin is just.
Speaker 4 (06:26):
Dirt or you know, for lack of a better word,
and sometimes what you find in manure and that kind
of stuff outside, and when that part of the immune
system is stimulated, it tends to suppress the allergic response.
And so remember how you said that, you know, when
(06:46):
your wife first came, she had never had trouble with allergy, right,
And that's what we see over here too, Like I
never had allergy for twenty years, And it's only being in,
you know, in sort of a cleaner environment that that
arm of the immune system starts reacting, whereas in you know,
(07:07):
in a dirty environment, if you will, or just being
exposed to more dirt, it keeps the allergy part of
it under control.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
So it's almost if you don't use it, you lose
it or a weak muscle. Because the developed world, and
especially the United States, is so hygienic, our body does
not develop the ability to fight off these things, and
so when they hit us, it hits us harder as
opposed to growing up on the rough streets of the
third world sort of thing, and your body has has
(07:37):
developed an immunity to that, it's a fascinating hypothesis.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
I'm absolutely fascinating.
Speaker 4 (07:43):
Right, And that's what's considered the hygiene hypothesis. And so
it's it's not so much that the body didn't develop
the immunity, but it's that the infection keeps this arm
of the immune system, the allergy part, not reacting. And
once you take away you know a lot of those
(08:06):
the infecttion.
Speaker 5 (08:07):
I know you know.
Speaker 4 (08:08):
And they talk about just being outside and playing in
the dirt and those companies helped decrease allergies.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
Let's talk about that, because you and I have had
that conversation. I think it's important. Doctor Chris Colosso advanced
asthma an allergy coming.
Speaker 4 (08:21):
Up today to the Colonial house requirements and receiver free
even we're recorded.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
Doctor Chris Colosso has been my wife's allargist for five years.
Speaker 3 (08:34):
She's had phenomenal results.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
I have recently started with him and he answered all
my questions and he literally sat down. He owns the clinic,
so it's not like being part of one of the
big hospital systems where you got to turn people so fast.
But he in much the same way that I have
conversations with Mohit Kara and Jim Munks and other doctors
that are just you know, they geek out over their
area of expertise and I love that and I asked
him to share some of that with you, doctor Colosso
(08:58):
let's talk about what people if someone doesn't have Medicare,
doesn't have a healthcare program, doesn't is not able to
come and see you, what are some basic things that
people can do to.
Speaker 3 (09:08):
Get through pollen season when they're having difficulty.
Speaker 4 (09:13):
So you know, the best thing to do is to
try and avoid it. So it's so sinus instance. Now
that's something simple and.
Speaker 5 (09:23):
You know, very easy to do. And so if you do,
go take the dog out for a walk. As soon
as you come back, do a science trends.
Speaker 4 (09:31):
That's you know, if you're going to blow all your
leaves out, wear a mask because the higher level of
pollen that you that you expose yourself to, the more
chance that you're going to have were symptoms. The other
the one of the other things you can do is
you know, if you know that you know dust may
be a trigger or those kind of things, then you know,
keep the humidity low because the lower the humidity in
(09:53):
the house, the less dust, my populations, uh, you know,
survive or you know, your decreased.
Speaker 5 (10:00):
That's my population.
Speaker 4 (10:01):
And then you know there's medicines and so you know,
using the medicines during you know, during pollen season and
now since that most of these things are over the counter,
So using an antihistamine and using a nose pray will
help control the symptoms so you're.
Speaker 5 (10:16):
Not as miserable.
Speaker 4 (10:17):
So in those you know, and that's in that way
you can try and you know, sort of keep the
symptoms controlled. That this would not be the time to
you know, when you know, when you see you know,
these guys blowing all the pollen all around. To walk
through that pollen cloud, you're going to be miserable, and
so you know, trying to sort of avoid it. Using
(10:41):
and using the medications that are over the counter judiciously
will help you a lot.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
You seem to prefer to start with zyrtech and if
somebody can handle it, use that and if they can't,
move on, why is that is that the best over
the counter drug?
Speaker 4 (10:53):
I feel Zertec tends to work a little bit better
than some of the antihistamines, but you know, it as
a thing that it can cause drowsiness, and so five
percentral maybe a little bit less of the people who
take it, you know, will say it makes them sleeping.
And so there's other there's other anti histories over the counter.
Allegra does not you know, a cross the Bloodbain barrier,
(11:14):
and so you know, in pilots or someone with a
commercial drug driver's license, you know, i'd say, hey, you
need to use Allegra as your anti history because we
can't have any of those.
Speaker 5 (11:24):
You know, you can't have the drowsy and those kinds
of things.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
But you don't start Allegra because you think Zertech, if
the person can handle it, is more effective.
Speaker 5 (11:33):
Typically is a little bit is a little bit better.
Speaker 4 (11:36):
But you know, everything every and you know, I run
into this all the time where patients will tell me, no, doctor,
see Allegra.
Speaker 5 (11:43):
Works better for me or whatever.
Speaker 4 (11:45):
Everyone's immune system is sort of a little different, and
so you know, sometimes patients tend to prefer, you know,
which medicine works best for them without the side effects.
But I feel Zotech is a is a really good
antihistamy to help control.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
And then after that down the list you would go Allegra,
and then what.
Speaker 5 (12:04):
I go, yeah, mine is clariton.
Speaker 4 (12:06):
After that, I don't like chronic use of first generation
anti hist means because all of those tend to cross
the blood brain barrier and they all tend to make
you drowsing. And then there was you know, some studies
out from a while ago with you know, with New
England General Medicine. They talked about you know, long term
(12:27):
use of first generation antihistamines maybe and you know, maybe
associated with dementia later on. And so I try to
avoid using chronic use of first generation anti history means.
Speaker 3 (12:38):
And the first generation anti histamines are zerotech, Allegra and claritin.
Speaker 5 (12:42):
No no, no, sorry. The first generation answer his means
are bena drow oh okay. And then there's some from
Phenomenal in Love. There's a little bit hard to find, okay.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
So just to wrap that up in case people weren't
paying close attention, you're not in favor of using benadryl
long term because that was an early drug and you
think there may potentially be some problems.
Speaker 4 (12:59):
With that, right and everyone, you know, And my thing
is I explain to patients that the way these anti
histamines they tend to block or trap the historine receptor.
In the enactive forms of combined histamin benadro will do that.
Speaker 5 (13:13):
For four to six hours, and then it falls off
the receptor, so the receptor is open again, and you
have the bad side effect that it can put you
to sleep. So why would you do that if there's better,
if there's.
Speaker 4 (13:23):
You know, the most of the second generation anti hist
means like zootech and Clarenton Leger and those kind of
things last twenty four hours, and they are much less
They cause much less drowsiness than the first generations. So
that's why I don't like the first generation as instruments.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
It's very interesting the over the counter of zytech, I think,
I mean you talked about it tends to mask problems
for people who for those who end up with very
chronic conditions. But I would be interested to know, and
I don't know if you have any sense what percentage
of the population is on one of those latter generation
tech Allegro Clerton on a relatively regular basis, which by
(14:05):
the way, he put me on zartech and I do
fine with it. I wonder what percentage of the population
is on that, because I would assume that makes a
big difference at least at least to giving people some comfort,
some relief.
Speaker 4 (14:15):
No, I think a lot of people and then they
say maybe sixteen hundred million people have allergy. But once
those things go over the counter, then you know, I
guess at some point they used to be able to
crack it, but.
Speaker 5 (14:26):
Now you don't. But you know, given.
Speaker 4 (14:29):
How well those you know, the drugs have done. And
you know, I see many people who are those antihistamines
year around.
Speaker 5 (14:36):
All the time.
Speaker 3 (14:38):
Do you see a problem with that?
Speaker 4 (14:42):
There's pretty good data out and right now, I sometimes
you know, like I told you that if zerotech doesn't
knock you out, then then it's fine. But you know,
I try to make sure that you use drugs that
you know don't affect uh, you know, slow you down
and those kinds of things.
Speaker 5 (15:00):
You know.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
Well, I don't know my wife told you, but Nandata
is she said.
Speaker 3 (15:05):
She says that.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
It makes her drowsy, which it does, but she didn't
tell that it makes her a little angry. And the
reason we knew that, the boys and I is because
she's never angry. She is the sweetest person one hundred
percent of the time. People don't believe she could be
that nice. And she started on that, and about the
third time she took it, she said, hey, I'm going
to take my zyrtech and go to bed. I'm just
(15:28):
warning you in case I'm grumpy. I'm not mad at you.
It has that effect, but please tell me if I
do that. And so she started keeping notes herself and
said okay. That's when she came to you and said, okay,
I need to switch to something else. Chris Glosso is
our guest advanced asthma and allergy. If you would like
to go and see him, I would be happy to
connect you. Otherwise, we're talking in the middle of pollen season.
(15:51):
At least for those of you who don't know. I'm
in Houston and in Southeast Texas where we are right
about now.
Speaker 3 (15:57):
Most everybody you talk to is sneezing, nodding, stuffy head eyes.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
The whole, the whole deal. And that's why I wanted
to talk to him today.
Speaker 5 (16:08):
We'll see a process. Man's the term anal intercourse on
your program, Michael Arris.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
If it's relevant, but his story for journalistic purposes. Chris
Klosso is my wife's allergist, has been for five years
to great result. She finally dragged me to see him
a month or so ago, and I've gone through my
tests and I really like the fact that he takes
the time to answer all my many questions. I don't
believe doctors are gods. I think that doctors are like
(16:37):
everyone else, doing the best they can. I love the
fact that he quotes studies, which means he's keeping up with, uh,
you know, the developments in his field. I think a
lot some doctors, not a lot a few doctors, they
get kind of they get stuck in the in the
ways of doctor Spock's, you know, book on newborns, and
they don't keep up with new trends and new developments
and new data that's coming out.
Speaker 3 (16:58):
And he does. And I really like that.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
Doctor Colosso let's talk about you told me something very interesting.
I had had the test done on the allergy test
that a lot of people have had earlier in life,
where they do the pin pricks and then you see
what flares, and y'all have changed the dosage you use
for that because people were literally dying through that, and
(17:20):
now you have a two pronged approach.
Speaker 3 (17:22):
Can you explain that?
Speaker 5 (17:25):
So that's true?
Speaker 4 (17:26):
So in adults, and so for for allergy testing, my
cutoff is sixteen and above. And so in you know,
a long time ago, maybe twenty thirty years they would
ask the patient, hey, how's your allergy, and you know,
usually it's guys, and they'd be like, eh, it's not.
Speaker 5 (17:44):
That bad dog.
Speaker 4 (17:45):
And so they would go straight to an intradomal test,
where you would inject the allergen into the surface of
the skin. And as a result of that, they gave
some people anaphleaxis, which is like a full body allergic reaction,
almost kill them.
Speaker 5 (18:01):
And so.
Speaker 4 (18:02):
Then about you know, maybe twenty five years ago, they said,
you can't you know, kill the patient to make the diagnosis.
That's not good medicine. And so they change it and
they said, you always do a scratch test, so literally
we just barely scratch the skin with the extract, and
you know, as in your case, Michael, there were several
of the things that had strong positive reactions. So you
(18:27):
could imagine that if I went, you know, if I
didn't do that and I went straight to the needle test,
where we'd inject a little bit into the surface of
the skin, we could have caused your whole arm to
swell up and you know, shortness of bread and all
those things, you know, which is like a full body
allergic reaction. And so that's why we now, I don't
(18:50):
you know, it's it's kind of hard.
Speaker 5 (18:52):
But with some of the old hourgies.
Speaker 4 (18:55):
When I first started, you know, in training, I mean
they would do needle tests. That means the introdome test,
even on little kids, I don't typically we usually do
scratch testing, and whatever's positive is positive. In adults, we
do the needle test because it'll pick up some minor
(19:16):
allergens that you don't see on scratch testing. And so
sometimes that way, if the patient you know, decides to
do allergen and in a therapy alergy shots, we would
put not only would reacted on the first step, but
also on the second step. And so you know, that's
that's how we try to do both so as to
(19:36):
not and do it in a step wise fashion, because
if someone has a big reaction on scratch testing, I
would not do the second part that day. Because when
I first started, you know, a lot of patients would
be like, now have to see do it. I'll be fine,
And we go ahead and start three or four and
then they're like, oh, my throat feels weird, or I
(19:58):
have difficulties swallowing or you know those kind of things,
and when we have to stop and you know, treat
the reaction. And so now we just split it up,
and someone has a big reaction with just scratch testing,
we don't do the second part of the allergy testing
on that day. But then I use usually use both
of the testing.
Speaker 5 (20:15):
Data to decide the best way forward.
Speaker 2 (20:19):
So with that data, I know you personally do the
recipe for the shots. How does that work you personally?
What do you then do?
Speaker 4 (20:30):
So then I will write a recipe and say, hey,
so let's just make up something. Let's just say for
for for the sake of argument, someone and there's case,
let's say your allergy it's not help Let's see, yeah
that's true. So let's say you're allergic to dust mites
and oak and and you know some of the moles
(20:52):
or whatever, and so then you physically, So I would
write out a recipe of how much of these different
extracts that I would put into a vial to make
up you know, make a vial so that would have
those extracts in there.
Speaker 5 (21:11):
And then we.
Speaker 4 (21:12):
Would dilute down that vial one hundred thousand fold, and
then physically.
Speaker 5 (21:19):
You would you know, if we were doing.
Speaker 4 (21:20):
Alergie shots, you would come in. There's two ways, and
we talked about this. There's different ways you can build up,
but let's just do the slow normal way.
Speaker 5 (21:28):
Patients would come and.
Speaker 4 (21:29):
They get this most shot first. And each time you
get a shot, it's a higher dose or a higher concentration,
and so you're moving up and the goal is to
get to the highest dose that the patient can tolerate
without having any systemic symptoms.
Speaker 5 (21:50):
And one of the other things I'll.
Speaker 4 (21:51):
Bring out is, you know why you get shots at
a doctor's office, but the goal is to try and
keep you know, so each time, so you start off
at one is to one hundred thousand delution. Once you
finish that one hundred thousand dilution will take about four weeks,
you go to the one is to ten thousand, you
finish that, you go one is to one thousand, then
(22:12):
you go one is to one hundred, you one is
to ten. So each time when you're moving up in shots,
you're getting a tenfold increase in the concentration of the shot.
And what that is doing is slowly training the immune
system to not react to and most of our patients
tend to, you know, over the period of the shots,
(22:32):
tend to tolerate the full strength bile, which is you know,
and you'll see where the vial is yellow because that's
the color of pollen and so it's fairly thick and
has a lot of pollm nextract in there.
Speaker 5 (22:46):
But it's only in the higher doses.
Speaker 4 (22:48):
Of the thing that the of the vials that you
notice that you start seeing, you know, clinical benefit. And
that's why I warn you that this is too late
to help you for spring, because spring is sprong or springing,
and you know, the initial part of the shots is
not going to help much with that because again, this
(23:10):
is a process of changing the immune system and it
you know, took fifty four years for your immune system
to get this way.
Speaker 5 (23:17):
It would be unreasonable.
Speaker 4 (23:18):
To you know, think that it would change in you know,
a few weeks. And so you know, alergenemmut therapy is
a process and and that's why you do it. And
there's always a risk and so there's a very small
risk it happens maybe one in five hundred thousand shots,
but you could because we're giving you stuff you're allergic to,
(23:41):
and so there's a rare risk that you could have
an allergic reaction. And that's why you know, with all operations,
we you know, have them have their own either injectable
or now nasal at the effort. So that's what the
guidelines are. And they usually get their shot and they
have to sit in the clinic for twenty minutes, make.
Speaker 5 (23:58):
Sure everything's good, good go.
Speaker 4 (24:01):
But that's why you know, I don't let patients do
shots at home because you know, God forbid something would happen.
You have to be somewhere where someone can take you know,
help you take care of every reaction.
Speaker 2 (24:16):
Doctor Chris Colosso is our guest. He has been very
kind to stay with us this long. We will have
one more segment with him so he can get back
to his patients. If you want to connect with him,
it's spelled co l aco. It's Advanced Asthma and Allergy.
Or you can email me through our website Michael Berryshow
dot com and I will connect you with him.
Speaker 3 (24:36):
One more segment with doctor Colosso, Community Joy, Alma, Michael Bay,
Good Show, Paul Plum.
Speaker 2 (24:47):
Doctor Chris Colosso is my wife's allergist and now my allergist,
and he has UH managed phenomenal healing for her, and
I asked him at my last appointment if he would
come on and share with you some of his experiences
and some of these stories, especially with it now being.
Speaker 3 (25:05):
Full blown UH allergy season. Uh Doc, I want to go.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
I want to move kind of fast here because I'm
going through my report and a legal disclaimer. I have
told doctor colosso he can talk about my case because
they don't like to do that. The first thing that
you test for on indoor allergens is dust mighte.
Speaker 5 (25:25):
Why is that.
Speaker 4 (25:27):
Because in Houston, dust might is a you know, a
very common allergen that people get sensitized to. And dust
mites are around anywhere in the country where it's very humid.
They're actually even and you know you can have it
in New Mexico, but they tend to the population tends
to be very high in places where it's very humid,
and you know, you think about it, dust mites is
(25:49):
an indoor allergy and and so all night you sleep,
you bleed it in and that's why you have a
good chance of becoming allergic to it. And because that
exposure is there chronically, and so that's why it's one
of the major indoor allergens all over the country that
would drive allergies, and so that's why most allergists will
(26:09):
check for dust.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
Might The next thing on the list was dog hair.
Fortunately I'm not allergic to that, but I am allergic
to cat hair, which was the one after that. How
often is that flaring for people are coming up as positive?
Speaker 4 (26:22):
A cat is a very common allergen, and most people
will will know this. Cat and cat allogen tends to
be a little bit worse for patients than dog allergen.
And partly that's because cat allergen is very very sticky,
and so it tends to sort of spread all over
the house very quickly, and so patients can even if
(26:43):
you you know, someone who's very allergic to cat, if
you sit in the side in a car and someone
who had a cat and you have a cat allergy,
you will notice that evening that you have more symptoms well,
and so so that's a thing, and that's that's a
real thing.
Speaker 3 (27:00):
Was roach mix and mixed feathers? Why are those so high?
Speaker 4 (27:05):
So roach makes we you know, tend to do again
because you know, roaches, if you know some people, if
you exposed to it an apartment, I mean most of
you know our patient, My patients pray for roaches, so
that's not a problem. But if it is positive, then
it's it's an It's an allergen that can drive sort
of allergy and asthma a lot. And so you know,
(27:25):
if it is positive, I tell patients to do stuff
to you know, mitigate roaches. Feather sometimes not a very
strong allergen, but if you have a lot of down
comforters and pillows and those kinds of things, and you're
getting worse at night when you sleep.
Speaker 5 (27:41):
And may not be the best thing for you to do.
Speaker 2 (27:43):
So in your listing, if those were the indoor allergens
you test for, and you said to me that what
you test for is about ninety five percent of what
people are going to have. You could test for a
million things, but this is what it makes the most sense.
In your listing of trees, live oak followed back pecan
than white ash, did you list these in order of
how likely someone typically is to get them or how
(28:04):
how prevalent these trees are, Although I guess that would
those would be the same thing maybe.
Speaker 4 (28:09):
I think it's more those are the most common ones
in Houston, and I didn't. I didn't at the time.
I didn't think about, you know, just based on prevalence.
But I just listed the most common trees when I
first set out, you know, the practice. You know, I've
got with a botanist from Greer, who's you know, one
of the major companies that supply alogy extracts, and so they,
(28:29):
you know, tell you which are the most prevalent trees
in the area and those kind of things on what
you should be testing for. And but you know, oh,
cash and pakan are the ones that are you know,
very common, and so that's what ones we pay.
Speaker 2 (28:41):
Interestingly, I don't even like pine, and that was one
of the only trees I was not allergic to. You
then went from there to grasses, Bermuda, Johnson vernal mix
and bahia.
Speaker 3 (28:55):
Saint Augustine within that, Am I am I mixing that up?
Speaker 4 (28:58):
Or is that not?
Speaker 5 (28:59):
So? No, there's no.
Speaker 4 (29:00):
So Saint Augustine is a you know as a broad
leaf grass, and Saint Augustine would have to grow a
foot before it pollinatees.
Speaker 5 (29:07):
Okay, so most most you know won't. No one ever
lets it grow that long, and so that's why we don't.
Speaker 4 (29:13):
So so a lot of people will say, oh I
feel bad when I cut the grass, it may not
actually be that. And most of us have Saint Augustine,
you know, around you know, that's the most common grass,
but it's actually sometimes if you're if you don't have
a good harm and you have a lot of you know,
bermuda or some other wild grasses in there, that is
what is causing the symptoms. And then sometimes one of
(29:35):
the other tricks, because it rains so much here, sometimes
these broad leaf grasses grow mold on them. And so
even though Saint Augustine doesn't pollinate, it's when you're when
it's being cut, you're pouring off.
Speaker 5 (29:48):
A lot of mold. Oh well, and that would be
what's the reacting to.
Speaker 3 (29:51):
And then we move to the weeds.
Speaker 2 (29:52):
You have ragweed first, and pig weed then marsh elder
I've always heard of, you know, ragweed is one of
the things that a lot of people will tell you
they're allergic to.
Speaker 5 (30:02):
Is that the number one ragweed is the number one.
Speaker 4 (30:05):
And also just historically, you know, whenever they show pictures
on the news, the ragweed pollen looks like the spike ball,
so it's very sort of photogenic and look something like
something you know to attack you. And so that's why
ragweed is the most known fall pollen. And the way
I listed those things was spring, summer, and fall. So
(30:28):
in the broad sense, trees are typically in spring, except
cedar and elm, which are from fall. Grasses are on summer,
and then weeds on fall. So that was, you know,
the listing of how I did you know or going
to be tested people for allergies.
Speaker 2 (30:45):
I want to skip past modes and come back to
it in a moment and go to foods. That's one
of the things that a lot of people feel that
they have an allergy to. And I noted, you've got milk, eggs,
soy peanut. I read recently that we didn't have peanut
allergies one hundred years ago, and the reason is because
one of the vaccines we take as children affects us.
(31:06):
And it's not the peanut we're allowed we're allergic to.
It's the copper in it.
Speaker 3 (31:11):
Do you believe there's anything to that.
Speaker 5 (31:15):
I don't think so.
Speaker 4 (31:17):
And the reason for that is because you can have
microscopic amounts of peanut and you react to the protein.
Now there's more chance that it is the hygiene because
if you look so so if you look at the
again in India and let's say in China, so it's
(31:43):
it's interesting, right, they don't have much peanut allergy.
Speaker 5 (31:46):
And again in India, it's because when you.
Speaker 4 (31:49):
Have more of you know, the dirt and those kind
of things, you are suppressing this arm of the immune system,
so it's not trying to react to those foods. In China,
per capita, they probably eat the most peanuts that anyone
does in the world, but they have very low no
(32:09):
peanut allergies, and partially it's because they eat boiled peanuts.
When you boil a peanut, you denature that antigen that
people tend to get allergic to, whereas roasting a peanut
brings the antigen that you react to perfectly on the surface.
Speaker 3 (32:29):
But I like them roasted so much better.
Speaker 5 (32:31):
Dot I know, I know, but that's part of the thing.
And even now they tend you know, incorporating some of
those foods early.
Speaker 4 (32:41):
You know, now the new guidelines are that you know,
if the child is not allergic to the food, you
incorporate some of that stuff much earlier, right, and that
may help you not you know, react to those food.
Speaker 2 (32:55):
I promised I would keep you no longer. And you
have been wonderful. Doctor Chris Colosso c O.
Speaker 3 (33:01):
L L A c O Advanced Asthma and allergy.
Speaker 2 (33:05):
He's he's been a magic uh maker for my wife
and now he's my doctor. And obviously you can see
why he has. He's passionate about this and I hate allergies.
Thank you for being our guests, my man, thank you
very much
What it's that time, time, time, time, luck and loak.
So Michael Verie Show is on the air. Chris Colosso
(00:26):
is our guest. He is my new, relatively new allergist.
He's been my wife Salar just for five years.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
She's had amazing results and I wanted him to come
on with it being when we started. He said, look,
we're about to start pollen season, so you are going
to have a flare. Let's talk about what we're going
to do. And I said, that's a perfect time to
have you on the show. I like the fact that
he very patiently answers all my many questions and you
can imagine what it's like to be my doctor. Mary
(00:52):
Telly Bowden told me one time that I shouldn't ask
so many questions. It's distracting, and I just laughed and
I said, Mary, tell you don't know.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
That's that's just me.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Every doctor this s Treamy will tell you that, and
they all know, they all hate it, but they all know. Anyway,
he patiently answered my questions and with a lifetime of sneezing,
runny eyes congestion. I wanted him to share with you
his experience because he kind of geeks out on this stuff,
and I'm glad to know that somebody does.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
Chris Colosso is our guest.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
So doctor Colosso, we see this pollen that's coming down,
and you were talking about you and I were talking
about this being the season where it really causes people
to flare. What are the big allergies and antigens that
people would know the street name of that make this
(01:42):
season so bad?
Speaker 4 (01:44):
So you know this this season, everybody, you know, all
that yellow stuff you see coding the oak pollen is
going to you know, is going to go through the roof,
I mean every street and you don't. And people are like, oh,
should I take down my oak tree in my arm
And I'm like, no, it's going to make no difference
because the pollen level is going.
Speaker 5 (02:07):
To be thick in the air.
Speaker 4 (02:08):
And you can and you can you know, on our
website we have you know, there's a link to the
City of Houston pollen counter, and you know it'll get
up to the thousands and thousands of pollen count in
the air.
Speaker 5 (02:23):
And the biggest you know trees over here that we have.
Speaker 4 (02:25):
Trouble with is old pecan ash and you know, and
they start off at you know, different times, and so
as reason to be a little bit early, oak is
through the major springtime and then you know, pick contends
to be a.
Speaker 5 (02:38):
Little bit later in the season.
Speaker 4 (02:39):
But besides that, you know, the hedges and all those
things that are pollinating. Springtime tends to be the worst
for more for most patients. And we have patients who
are you know, typically they'll have allergy to uh to
springtime trees that they all show a dust my allergy
(03:02):
and so, you know, and that's why sometimes when I
explain to patients, I was like, they're like, but dust say,
I don't feel anything with the dust smiles, And it's like, no,
you probably do. But it's just that you have this
baseline because the dust my stuff is there year around, right,
so you have symptoms throughout the year, and so you
just sort of if you will, you're sort of used
to being miserable, and then you have this and then
(03:25):
a long come spring and just adds on to that.
And so part of controlling allergy is trying to reset
that baseline. And so as I did with Michael, I
stressed with him that you you know, make sure that
you do dust my covers. Now dust my covers are
not going to you know, one hundred percent eliminate dust mites,
but it's going to drop the load. So it's going
(03:46):
to drop that load. And so now that baseline is
set a little bit lower so that when that spring
pollen comes hits you, you're not already at the super
high level of you know, being miserable. And so that's
why you know, seeing a specialist you know, can help
you understand and sort of target the allergy from you know,
(04:07):
not only just medicines, but also avoidance.
Speaker 5 (04:10):
Measures and other treatment and.
Speaker 4 (04:12):
Modalities, and that's that will just help you feel better overall.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
Chris colossos ourselves.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
He is an allergist and his clinic is Advanced Allergy
and Asthma Center.
Speaker 5 (04:21):
Go ahead. That was just.
Speaker 4 (04:25):
Oh, Michael, I just want to you know, we are
Advanced Asthma Analogy Center, but it's you know, it's semantic
allergies before let me ask you this advance asthma analergy.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
Okay, let me ask you this.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
So this treatment to make your body not you know
through these like one of the forms of treatment.
Speaker 3 (04:45):
Is the shots.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
And that's what I've started doing, is what's my wife
has gottencouraged with if our body no longer reacts to
the pollen, when when is there any downside to that?
I mean, did our body react to try to protect us?
Speaker 5 (05:00):
No, they just remember that arm of the immune system.
Speaker 4 (05:03):
Your body started reacting to the pollen, not because it
was truly protecting you. That arm of the immune system
was designed to fight parasites. But when you don't have
much parasite exposure, you don't have you know, worms and
those kinds of things, it had nothing to do and
so it was not it wasn't reacting in the first
(05:26):
place to protect you. It sort of it started reacting
just because it wasn't busy enough to do that, and
so that comes. You know, there's an interesting thing known
as the.
Speaker 5 (05:39):
Hygiene hypothesis of why allergies go.
Speaker 4 (05:41):
And it's very interesting with something you said, So your wife,
like me, grew up in India, and it's very interesting.
Allergy tends to be a disease of the advanced world.
Speaker 5 (05:59):
In in the.
Speaker 4 (06:01):
In the Third World, they tend to have much less allergy.
And the thinking is a lot of that has to
do because we get exposed.
Speaker 5 (06:13):
You know, people who grew up in the Third World or.
Speaker 4 (06:18):
Even in farming communities tend to be exposed to a
higher level of endotoxin.
Speaker 5 (06:24):
And endotoxin is just.
Speaker 4 (06:26):
Dirt or you know, for lack of a better word,
and sometimes what you find in manure and that kind
of stuff outside, and when that part of the immune
system is stimulated, it tends to suppress the allergic response.
And so remember how you said that, you know, when
(06:46):
your wife first came, she had never had trouble with allergy, right,
And that's what we see over here too, Like I
never had allergy for twenty years, And it's only being in,
you know, in sort of a cleaner environment that that
arm of the immune system starts reacting, whereas in you know,
(07:07):
in a dirty environment, if you will, or just being
exposed to more dirt, it keeps the allergy part of
it under control.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
So it's almost if you don't use it, you lose
it or a weak muscle. Because the developed world, and
especially the United States, is so hygienic, our body does
not develop the ability to fight off these things, and
so when they hit us, it hits us harder as
opposed to growing up on the rough streets of the
third world sort of thing, and your body has has
(07:37):
developed an immunity to that, it's a fascinating hypothesis.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
I'm absolutely fascinating.
Speaker 4 (07:43):
Right, And that's what's considered the hygiene hypothesis. And so
it's it's not so much that the body didn't develop
the immunity, but it's that the infection keeps this arm
of the immune system, the allergy part, not reacting. And
once you take away you know a lot of those
(08:06):
the infecttion.
Speaker 5 (08:07):
I know you know.
Speaker 4 (08:08):
And they talk about just being outside and playing in
the dirt and those companies helped decrease allergies.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
Let's talk about that, because you and I have had
that conversation. I think it's important. Doctor Chris Colosso advanced
asthma an allergy coming.
Speaker 4 (08:21):
Up today to the Colonial house requirements and receiver free
even we're recorded.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
Doctor Chris Colosso has been my wife's allargist for five years.
Speaker 3 (08:34):
She's had phenomenal results.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
I have recently started with him and he answered all
my questions and he literally sat down. He owns the clinic,
so it's not like being part of one of the
big hospital systems where you got to turn people so fast.
But he in much the same way that I have
conversations with Mohit Kara and Jim Munks and other doctors
that are just you know, they geek out over their
area of expertise and I love that and I asked
him to share some of that with you, doctor Colosso
(08:58):
let's talk about what people if someone doesn't have Medicare,
doesn't have a healthcare program, doesn't is not able to
come and see you, what are some basic things that
people can do to.
Speaker 3 (09:08):
Get through pollen season when they're having difficulty.
Speaker 4 (09:13):
So you know, the best thing to do is to
try and avoid it. So it's so sinus instance. Now
that's something simple and.
Speaker 5 (09:23):
You know, very easy to do. And so if you do,
go take the dog out for a walk. As soon
as you come back, do a science trends.
Speaker 4 (09:31):
That's you know, if you're going to blow all your
leaves out, wear a mask because the higher level of
pollen that you that you expose yourself to, the more
chance that you're going to have were symptoms. The other
the one of the other things you can do is
you know, if you know that you know dust may
be a trigger or those kind of things, then you know,
keep the humidity low because the lower the humidity in
(09:53):
the house, the less dust, my populations, uh, you know,
survive or you know, your decreased.
Speaker 5 (10:00):
That's my population.
Speaker 4 (10:01):
And then you know there's medicines and so you know,
using the medicines during you know, during pollen season and
now since that most of these things are over the counter,
So using an antihistamine and using a nose pray will
help control the symptoms so you're.
Speaker 5 (10:16):
Not as miserable.
Speaker 4 (10:17):
So in those you know, and that's in that way
you can try and you know, sort of keep the
symptoms controlled. That this would not be the time to
you know, when you know, when you see you know,
these guys blowing all the pollen all around. To walk
through that pollen cloud, you're going to be miserable, and
so you know, trying to sort of avoid it. Using
(10:41):
and using the medications that are over the counter judiciously
will help you a lot.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
You seem to prefer to start with zyrtech and if
somebody can handle it, use that and if they can't,
move on, why is that is that the best over
the counter drug?
Speaker 4 (10:53):
I feel Zertec tends to work a little bit better
than some of the antihistamines, but you know, it as
a thing that it can cause drowsiness, and so five
percentral maybe a little bit less of the people who
take it, you know, will say it makes them sleeping.
And so there's other there's other anti histories over the counter.
Allegra does not you know, a cross the Bloodbain barrier,
(11:14):
and so you know, in pilots or someone with a
commercial drug driver's license, you know, i'd say, hey, you
need to use Allegra as your anti history because we
can't have any of those.
Speaker 5 (11:24):
You know, you can't have the drowsy and those kinds
of things.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
But you don't start Allegra because you think Zertech, if
the person can handle it, is more effective.
Speaker 5 (11:33):
Typically is a little bit is a little bit better.
Speaker 4 (11:36):
But you know, everything every and you know, I run
into this all the time where patients will tell me, no, doctor,
see Allegra.
Speaker 5 (11:43):
Works better for me or whatever.
Speaker 4 (11:45):
Everyone's immune system is sort of a little different, and
so you know, sometimes patients tend to prefer, you know,
which medicine works best for them without the side effects.
But I feel Zotech is a is a really good
antihistamy to help control.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
And then after that down the list you would go Allegra,
and then what.
Speaker 5 (12:04):
I go, yeah, mine is clariton.
Speaker 4 (12:06):
After that, I don't like chronic use of first generation
anti hist means because all of those tend to cross
the blood brain barrier and they all tend to make
you drowsing. And then there was you know, some studies
out from a while ago with you know, with New
England General Medicine. They talked about you know, long term
(12:27):
use of first generation antihistamines maybe and you know, maybe
associated with dementia later on. And so I try to
avoid using chronic use of first generation anti history means.
Speaker 3 (12:38):
And the first generation anti histamines are zerotech, Allegra and claritin.
Speaker 5 (12:42):
No no, no, sorry. The first generation answer his means
are bena drow oh okay. And then there's some from
Phenomenal in Love. There's a little bit hard to find, okay.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
So just to wrap that up in case people weren't
paying close attention, you're not in favor of using benadryl
long term because that was an early drug and you
think there may potentially be some problems.
Speaker 4 (12:59):
With that, right and everyone, you know, And my thing
is I explain to patients that the way these anti
histamines they tend to block or trap the historine receptor.
In the enactive forms of combined histamin benadro will do that.
Speaker 5 (13:13):
For four to six hours, and then it falls off
the receptor, so the receptor is open again, and you
have the bad side effect that it can put you
to sleep. So why would you do that if there's better,
if there's.
Speaker 4 (13:23):
You know, the most of the second generation anti hist
means like zootech and Clarenton Leger and those kind of
things last twenty four hours, and they are much less
They cause much less drowsiness than the first generations. So
that's why I don't like the first generation as instruments.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
It's very interesting the over the counter of zytech, I think,
I mean you talked about it tends to mask problems
for people who for those who end up with very
chronic conditions. But I would be interested to know, and
I don't know if you have any sense what percentage
of the population is on one of those latter generation
tech Allegro Clerton on a relatively regular basis, which by
(14:05):
the way, he put me on zartech and I do
fine with it. I wonder what percentage of the population
is on that, because I would assume that makes a
big difference at least at least to giving people some comfort,
some relief.
Speaker 4 (14:15):
No, I think a lot of people and then they
say maybe sixteen hundred million people have allergy. But once
those things go over the counter, then you know, I
guess at some point they used to be able to
crack it, but.
Speaker 5 (14:26):
Now you don't. But you know, given.
Speaker 4 (14:29):
How well those you know, the drugs have done. And
you know, I see many people who are those antihistamines
year around.
Speaker 5 (14:36):
All the time.
Speaker 3 (14:38):
Do you see a problem with that?
Speaker 4 (14:42):
There's pretty good data out and right now, I sometimes
you know, like I told you that if zerotech doesn't
knock you out, then then it's fine. But you know,
I try to make sure that you use drugs that
you know don't affect uh, you know, slow you down
and those kinds of things.
Speaker 5 (15:00):
You know.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
Well, I don't know my wife told you, but Nandata
is she said.
Speaker 3 (15:05):
She says that.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
It makes her drowsy, which it does, but she didn't
tell that it makes her a little angry. And the
reason we knew that, the boys and I is because
she's never angry. She is the sweetest person one hundred
percent of the time. People don't believe she could be
that nice. And she started on that, and about the
third time she took it, she said, hey, I'm going
to take my zyrtech and go to bed. I'm just
(15:28):
warning you in case I'm grumpy. I'm not mad at you.
It has that effect, but please tell me if I
do that. And so she started keeping notes herself and
said okay. That's when she came to you and said, okay,
I need to switch to something else. Chris Glosso is
our guest advanced asthma and allergy. If you would like
to go and see him, I would be happy to
connect you. Otherwise, we're talking in the middle of pollen season.
(15:51):
At least for those of you who don't know. I'm
in Houston and in Southeast Texas where we are right
about now.
Speaker 3 (15:57):
Most everybody you talk to is sneezing, nodding, stuffy head eyes.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
The whole, the whole deal. And that's why I wanted
to talk to him today.
Speaker 5 (16:08):
We'll see a process. Man's the term anal intercourse on
your program, Michael Arris.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
If it's relevant, but his story for journalistic purposes. Chris
Klosso is my wife's allergist, has been for five years
to great result. She finally dragged me to see him
a month or so ago, and I've gone through my
tests and I really like the fact that he takes
the time to answer all my many questions. I don't
believe doctors are gods. I think that doctors are like
(16:37):
everyone else, doing the best they can. I love the
fact that he quotes studies, which means he's keeping up with, uh,
you know, the developments in his field. I think a
lot some doctors, not a lot a few doctors, they
get kind of they get stuck in the in the
ways of doctor Spock's, you know, book on newborns, and
they don't keep up with new trends and new developments
and new data that's coming out.
Speaker 3 (16:58):
And he does. And I really like that.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
Doctor Colosso let's talk about you told me something very interesting.
I had had the test done on the allergy test
that a lot of people have had earlier in life,
where they do the pin pricks and then you see
what flares, and y'all have changed the dosage you use
for that because people were literally dying through that, and
(17:20):
now you have a two pronged approach.
Speaker 3 (17:22):
Can you explain that?
Speaker 5 (17:25):
So that's true?
Speaker 4 (17:26):
So in adults, and so for for allergy testing, my
cutoff is sixteen and above. And so in you know,
a long time ago, maybe twenty thirty years they would
ask the patient, hey, how's your allergy, and you know,
usually it's guys, and they'd be like, eh, it's not.
Speaker 5 (17:44):
That bad dog.
Speaker 4 (17:45):
And so they would go straight to an intradomal test,
where you would inject the allergen into the surface of
the skin. And as a result of that, they gave
some people anaphleaxis, which is like a full body allergic reaction,
almost kill them.
Speaker 5 (18:01):
And so.
Speaker 4 (18:02):
Then about you know, maybe twenty five years ago, they said,
you can't you know, kill the patient to make the diagnosis.
That's not good medicine. And so they change it and
they said, you always do a scratch test, so literally
we just barely scratch the skin with the extract, and
you know, as in your case, Michael, there were several
of the things that had strong positive reactions. So you
(18:27):
could imagine that if I went, you know, if I
didn't do that and I went straight to the needle test,
where we'd inject a little bit into the surface of
the skin, we could have caused your whole arm to
swell up and you know, shortness of bread and all
those things, you know, which is like a full body
allergic reaction. And so that's why we now, I don't
(18:50):
you know, it's it's kind of hard.
Speaker 5 (18:52):
But with some of the old hourgies.
Speaker 4 (18:55):
When I first started, you know, in training, I mean
they would do needle tests. That means the introdome test,
even on little kids, I don't typically we usually do
scratch testing, and whatever's positive is positive. In adults, we
do the needle test because it'll pick up some minor
(19:16):
allergens that you don't see on scratch testing. And so
sometimes that way, if the patient you know, decides to
do allergen and in a therapy alergy shots, we would
put not only would reacted on the first step, but
also on the second step. And so you know, that's
that's how we try to do both so as to
(19:36):
not and do it in a step wise fashion, because
if someone has a big reaction on scratch testing, I
would not do the second part that day. Because when
I first started, you know, a lot of patients would
be like, now have to see do it. I'll be fine,
And we go ahead and start three or four and
then they're like, oh, my throat feels weird, or I
(19:58):
have difficulties swallowing or you know those kind of things,
and when we have to stop and you know, treat
the reaction. And so now we just split it up,
and someone has a big reaction with just scratch testing,
we don't do the second part of the allergy testing
on that day. But then I use usually use both
of the testing.
Speaker 5 (20:15):
Data to decide the best way forward.
Speaker 2 (20:19):
So with that data, I know you personally do the
recipe for the shots. How does that work you personally?
What do you then do?
Speaker 4 (20:30):
So then I will write a recipe and say, hey,
so let's just make up something. Let's just say for
for for the sake of argument, someone and there's case,
let's say your allergy it's not help Let's see, yeah
that's true. So let's say you're allergic to dust mites
and oak and and you know some of the moles
(20:52):
or whatever, and so then you physically, So I would
write out a recipe of how much of these different
extracts that I would put into a vial to make
up you know, make a vial so that would have
those extracts in there.
Speaker 5 (21:11):
And then we.
Speaker 4 (21:12):
Would dilute down that vial one hundred thousand fold, and
then physically.
Speaker 5 (21:19):
You would you know, if we were doing.
Speaker 4 (21:20):
Alergie shots, you would come in. There's two ways, and
we talked about this. There's different ways you can build up,
but let's just do the slow normal way.
Speaker 5 (21:28):
Patients would come and.
Speaker 4 (21:29):
They get this most shot first. And each time you
get a shot, it's a higher dose or a higher concentration,
and so you're moving up and the goal is to
get to the highest dose that the patient can tolerate
without having any systemic symptoms.
Speaker 5 (21:50):
And one of the other things I'll.
Speaker 4 (21:51):
Bring out is, you know why you get shots at
a doctor's office, but the goal is to try and
keep you know, so each time, so you start off
at one is to one hundred thousand delution. Once you
finish that one hundred thousand dilution will take about four weeks,
you go to the one is to ten thousand, you
finish that, you go one is to one thousand, then
(22:12):
you go one is to one hundred, you one is
to ten. So each time when you're moving up in shots,
you're getting a tenfold increase in the concentration of the shot.
And what that is doing is slowly training the immune
system to not react to and most of our patients
tend to, you know, over the period of the shots,
(22:32):
tend to tolerate the full strength bile, which is you know,
and you'll see where the vial is yellow because that's
the color of pollen and so it's fairly thick and
has a lot of pollm nextract in there.
Speaker 5 (22:46):
But it's only in the higher doses.
Speaker 4 (22:48):
Of the thing that the of the vials that you
notice that you start seeing, you know, clinical benefit. And
that's why I warn you that this is too late
to help you for spring, because spring is sprong or springing,
and you know, the initial part of the shots is
not going to help much with that because again, this
(23:10):
is a process of changing the immune system and it
you know, took fifty four years for your immune system
to get this way.
Speaker 5 (23:17):
It would be unreasonable.
Speaker 4 (23:18):
To you know, think that it would change in you know,
a few weeks. And so you know, alergenemmut therapy is
a process and and that's why you do it. And
there's always a risk and so there's a very small
risk it happens maybe one in five hundred thousand shots,
but you could because we're giving you stuff you're allergic to,
(23:41):
and so there's a rare risk that you could have
an allergic reaction. And that's why you know, with all operations,
we you know, have them have their own either injectable
or now nasal at the effort. So that's what the
guidelines are. And they usually get their shot and they
have to sit in the clinic for twenty minutes, make.
Speaker 5 (23:58):
Sure everything's good, good go.
Speaker 4 (24:01):
But that's why you know, I don't let patients do
shots at home because you know, God forbid something would happen.
You have to be somewhere where someone can take you know,
help you take care of every reaction.
Speaker 2 (24:16):
Doctor Chris Colosso is our guest. He has been very
kind to stay with us this long. We will have
one more segment with him so he can get back
to his patients. If you want to connect with him,
it's spelled co l aco. It's Advanced Asthma and Allergy.
Or you can email me through our website Michael Berryshow
dot com and I will connect you with him.
Speaker 3 (24:36):
One more segment with doctor Colosso, Community Joy, Alma, Michael Bay,
Good Show, Paul Plum.
Speaker 2 (24:47):
Doctor Chris Colosso is my wife's allergist and now my allergist,
and he has UH managed phenomenal healing for her, and
I asked him at my last appointment if he would
come on and share with you some of his experiences
and some of these stories, especially with it now being.
Speaker 3 (25:05):
Full blown UH allergy season. Uh Doc, I want to go.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
I want to move kind of fast here because I'm
going through my report and a legal disclaimer. I have
told doctor colosso he can talk about my case because
they don't like to do that. The first thing that
you test for on indoor allergens is dust mighte.
Speaker 5 (25:25):
Why is that.
Speaker 4 (25:27):
Because in Houston, dust might is a you know, a
very common allergen that people get sensitized to. And dust
mites are around anywhere in the country where it's very humid.
They're actually even and you know you can have it
in New Mexico, but they tend to the population tends
to be very high in places where it's very humid,
and you know, you think about it, dust mites is
(25:49):
an indoor allergy and and so all night you sleep,
you bleed it in and that's why you have a
good chance of becoming allergic to it. And because that
exposure is there chronically, and so that's why it's one
of the major indoor allergens all over the country that
would drive allergies, and so that's why most allergists will
(26:09):
check for dust.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
Might The next thing on the list was dog hair.
Fortunately I'm not allergic to that, but I am allergic
to cat hair, which was the one after that. How
often is that flaring for people are coming up as positive?
Speaker 4 (26:22):
A cat is a very common allergen, and most people
will will know this. Cat and cat allogen tends to
be a little bit worse for patients than dog allergen.
And partly that's because cat allergen is very very sticky,
and so it tends to sort of spread all over
the house very quickly, and so patients can even if
(26:43):
you you know, someone who's very allergic to cat, if
you sit in the side in a car and someone
who had a cat and you have a cat allergy,
you will notice that evening that you have more symptoms well,
and so so that's a thing, and that's that's a
real thing.
Speaker 3 (27:00):
Was roach mix and mixed feathers? Why are those so high?
Speaker 4 (27:05):
So roach makes we you know, tend to do again
because you know, roaches, if you know some people, if
you exposed to it an apartment, I mean most of
you know our patient, My patients pray for roaches, so
that's not a problem. But if it is positive, then
it's it's an It's an allergen that can drive sort
of allergy and asthma a lot. And so you know,
(27:25):
if it is positive, I tell patients to do stuff
to you know, mitigate roaches. Feather sometimes not a very
strong allergen, but if you have a lot of down
comforters and pillows and those kinds of things, and you're
getting worse at night when you sleep.
Speaker 5 (27:41):
And may not be the best thing for you to do.
Speaker 2 (27:43):
So in your listing, if those were the indoor allergens
you test for, and you said to me that what
you test for is about ninety five percent of what
people are going to have. You could test for a
million things, but this is what it makes the most sense.
In your listing of trees, live oak followed back pecan
than white ash, did you list these in order of
how likely someone typically is to get them or how
(28:04):
how prevalent these trees are, Although I guess that would
those would be the same thing maybe.
Speaker 4 (28:09):
I think it's more those are the most common ones
in Houston, and I didn't. I didn't at the time.
I didn't think about, you know, just based on prevalence.
But I just listed the most common trees when I
first set out, you know, the practice. You know, I've
got with a botanist from Greer, who's you know, one
of the major companies that supply alogy extracts, and so they,
(28:29):
you know, tell you which are the most prevalent trees
in the area and those kind of things on what
you should be testing for. And but you know, oh,
cash and pakan are the ones that are you know,
very common, and so that's what ones we pay.
Speaker 2 (28:41):
Interestingly, I don't even like pine, and that was one
of the only trees I was not allergic to. You
then went from there to grasses, Bermuda, Johnson vernal mix
and bahia.
Speaker 3 (28:55):
Saint Augustine within that, Am I am I mixing that up?
Speaker 4 (28:58):
Or is that not?
Speaker 5 (28:59):
So? No, there's no.
Speaker 4 (29:00):
So Saint Augustine is a you know as a broad
leaf grass, and Saint Augustine would have to grow a
foot before it pollinatees.
Speaker 5 (29:07):
Okay, so most most you know won't. No one ever
lets it grow that long, and so that's why we don't.
Speaker 4 (29:13):
So so a lot of people will say, oh I
feel bad when I cut the grass, it may not
actually be that. And most of us have Saint Augustine,
you know, around you know, that's the most common grass,
but it's actually sometimes if you're if you don't have
a good harm and you have a lot of you know,
bermuda or some other wild grasses in there, that is
what is causing the symptoms. And then sometimes one of
(29:35):
the other tricks, because it rains so much here, sometimes
these broad leaf grasses grow mold on them. And so
even though Saint Augustine doesn't pollinate, it's when you're when
it's being cut, you're pouring off.
Speaker 5 (29:48):
A lot of mold. Oh well, and that would be
what's the reacting to.
Speaker 3 (29:51):
And then we move to the weeds.
Speaker 2 (29:52):
You have ragweed first, and pig weed then marsh elder
I've always heard of, you know, ragweed is one of
the things that a lot of people will tell you
they're allergic to.
Speaker 5 (30:02):
Is that the number one ragweed is the number one.
Speaker 4 (30:05):
And also just historically, you know, whenever they show pictures
on the news, the ragweed pollen looks like the spike ball,
so it's very sort of photogenic and look something like
something you know to attack you. And so that's why
ragweed is the most known fall pollen. And the way
I listed those things was spring, summer, and fall. So
(30:28):
in the broad sense, trees are typically in spring, except
cedar and elm, which are from fall. Grasses are on summer,
and then weeds on fall. So that was, you know,
the listing of how I did you know or going
to be tested people for allergies.
Speaker 2 (30:45):
I want to skip past modes and come back to
it in a moment and go to foods. That's one
of the things that a lot of people feel that
they have an allergy to. And I noted, you've got milk, eggs,
soy peanut. I read recently that we didn't have peanut
allergies one hundred years ago, and the reason is because
one of the vaccines we take as children affects us.
(31:06):
And it's not the peanut we're allowed we're allergic to.
It's the copper in it.
Speaker 3 (31:11):
Do you believe there's anything to that.
Speaker 5 (31:15):
I don't think so.
Speaker 4 (31:17):
And the reason for that is because you can have
microscopic amounts of peanut and you react to the protein.
Now there's more chance that it is the hygiene because
if you look so so if you look at the
again in India and let's say in China, so it's
(31:43):
it's interesting, right, they don't have much peanut allergy.
Speaker 5 (31:46):
And again in India, it's because when you.
Speaker 4 (31:49):
Have more of you know, the dirt and those kind
of things, you are suppressing this arm of the immune system,
so it's not trying to react to those foods. In China,
per capita, they probably eat the most peanuts that anyone
does in the world, but they have very low no
(32:09):
peanut allergies, and partially it's because they eat boiled peanuts.
When you boil a peanut, you denature that antigen that
people tend to get allergic to, whereas roasting a peanut
brings the antigen that you react to perfectly on the surface.
Speaker 3 (32:29):
But I like them roasted so much better.
Speaker 5 (32:31):
Dot I know, I know, but that's part of the thing.
And even now they tend you know, incorporating some of
those foods early.
Speaker 4 (32:41):
You know, now the new guidelines are that you know,
if the child is not allergic to the food, you
incorporate some of that stuff much earlier, right, and that
may help you not you know, react to those food.
Speaker 2 (32:55):
I promised I would keep you no longer. And you
have been wonderful. Doctor Chris Colosso c O.
Speaker 3 (33:01):
L L A c O Advanced Asthma and allergy.
Speaker 2 (33:05):
He's he's been a magic uh maker for my wife
and now he's my doctor. And obviously you can see
why he has. He's passionate about this and I hate allergies.
Thank you for being our guests, my man, thank you
very much
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