March 7, 2025 • 33 mins
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Chris Colosso is our guest. He is my new, relatively
new allergist. He's been my wife's salergist for five years.
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
(00:20):
he very patiently answers all my many questions and you
can imagine what it's like to be my doctor. Mary
Telly Boden 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. That's just me.
Every doctor that's treated me will tell you that, and
they all know. They all hate it, but they all know. Anyway,
(00:41):
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. Chris Colosso
is our guest. So doctor Colosso you see this pollen
that's coming down, and you were talking about you and
(01:04):
I were talking about, uh, this being the season where
it really causes people to flare. What are the big
allergies and antigens that that people would know the street
name of that make this season so bad?
Speaker 2 (01:19):
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 to be thick in
(01:43):
the air 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. And the biggest you know trees
over here that we have trouble with is oh pecan
Ash and you know, and they start off at you know,
(02:06):
different times, and so ash reason to be a little
bit early, okay, is through the major of springtime and
then you know, pe con tends to be a little
bit later on this season. 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.
(02:26):
And we have patients who are you know, typically they'll
have allergy to uh to springtime trees, but they also
show a dust light allergy and so you know, and
that's why sometimes when I explain to patients, I was like,
they're like, but dost 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
(02:49):
dust mil 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 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
(03:10):
that you know, make sure that you.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
Do dust my covers.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
Now, dust my covers are not going to you know,
one hundred percent eliminate dust might but it's going to
drop the load. So it's going 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
(03:35):
specialist you know, can help you understand and sort of
target the allergy from you know, not only just medicines,
but also avoidance measures and other treatment modalities, and that's
that will just help you feel better overall.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
Chris cool he is an allergist and his clinic is
Advanced Allergy and Asthma Center. Go ahead, that was just.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
Oh, Michael, I just want to you know, we are
Advanced Asthma Analogy Center, but it's you know, it's.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
Semantics allergies before let me ask you.
Speaker 3 (04:08):
This advance asthma analergy.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
Okay, let me ask you this. So this treatment to
make your body not you know through these like one
of the forms of treatment is the shots. And that's
what I've started doing. Is what's my wife has gotten
encourage with. If our body no longer reacts to the pollen,
when when is there any downside to that? I mean,
(04:31):
did our body react to try to protect us?
Speaker 2 (04:35):
No, they because remember that arm of the immune system,
your body started reacting to the pollen, not.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
Because it was truly protecting you.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
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 place to protect you. It's
sort of started reacting just because it wasn't busy enough
(05:10):
to do that, and so that comes. You know, there's
an interesting thing known as the hygiene hypothesis of why
allergies go. 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
(05:30):
the advanced world.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
In the.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
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. You know, people who grew
up in the Third world or even in farming communities,
tend to be exposed to a higher level of endotoxin.
(06:00):
An endotoxin is just 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,
(06:20):
you know, when 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, in a dirty environment
(06:45):
if you will, or just being exposed to more dirt,
it keeps the allergy part of it under control.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
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, 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 developed an
(07:13):
immunity to that. It's a fascinating hypothesis, I'm absolutely fascinating.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
Right, And that's that's what's considered the hygiene hypothesis and
so and 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
(07:39):
those the infection.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
Or you.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
Know, and they talk about just being outside and playing
in the dirt and those kind things help decrease allergy.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
Let's talk about that, because you and I have had
that conversation. I think it's important, Doctor Chris Colosso advanced
asthma and allergy coming.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
Out today to the Colonial House apartments and receive.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
A free and we're recorded. Doctor Chris Colosso has been
my wife's allargist for five years. She's had phenomenal results.
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 churn people so fast.
(08:21):
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
let's talk about what people if someone doesn't have Medicare,
doesn't have a healthcare program, doesn't is not able to
(08:41):
come and see you, what are some basic things that
people can do to get through pollen season when they're
having difficulty.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
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 3 (09:00):
You know, very easy to do.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
And so if you do go take the dog out
for a walk. As soon as you come back, do
a science trench. 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
(09:23):
do is you know, if you know that you know
dust may be a trigger of those kind of things,
then you know, keep the humidity low because the lower
the humidity in the house, the less dust my populations,
uh you know survive or you know you're decreased the
dust my population, and then you know there's medicines and
so you know, using the medicines during you know, during
(09:46):
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
not as miserable. So in in in those you know,
and that's in that way you can try and you know,
sort of keep the symptoms controlled. But this would not
(10:08):
be the time to you know, when you know, when
you see you know, these.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
Guys blowing all the pollen all around.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
To walk through that pollen cloud, you're going to be miserable,
and so you know, trying to sort of avoid it.
Using and using the medications that are over the counter
judiciously will help you alive.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
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 2 (10:36):
I feel Zyrtec tends to work a little bit better
than some of the antihistamines, but you know, it has
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 sleepy,
and so there's other there's other anti hist meines over
the counter. Allegra does not you know, across the blood
(10:58):
brain barrier, 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 antihistamy because we
can't have any of those you know, you can't be
drowsy and those kind of things.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
But you don't start with Allegra because you think Zyrtech,
if the person can handle it, is more effective.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
Typically is a little bit it is a little bit better.
But you know, everything every and you know, I run
into this all the time where patients will tell me, no, doctor,
see Allegra works better for me or whatever. 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.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
For them without the side effects. But I feel Zyrtech
is a really good anti history to help control.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
And then after that down the list you would go Allegra.
Speaker 3 (11:51):
And then what I go, yeah, mine is Clariton.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
After that, I don't like chronic use of first generation antihistmines,
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.
(12:13):
They talked about you know, long term 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 1 (12:28):
And the first generation antihistamines are Zerotech, Allegra and Clard no.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
No, no, sorry, the first generation answer his means a benadryl,
oh okay. And then there's some chlorophane from penmen in love.
Speaker 3 (12:39):
Those a little bit hard to find, okay.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
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 with.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
That, right and and everyone, you know, And my thing
is I explained to patients that the way these anti histamines,
they tend to block or trap the history receptor in
the enactive form, so conbined histamy benadrol.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
Will do that for four to six hours, and then
it falls off the receptor, so the receptors.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
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 you know, the
most of the second generation antist means like zootech and
Clarton a Leger and those kind of things last twenty
four hours, and they are much less They cause much
less growsiness than the first generations. So that's why I
(13:31):
don't like the first generation as instruments.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
It's very interesting the over the counter of zyrtech, I think,
I mean you talked about it tends to mask problems
for people who 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 zerotech Allegra Cleraton on a relatively regular basis, which
(14:00):
by the way, he put me on zertech 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 no.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
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 track it,
but now you don't. But you know, given how well
those you know, the drugs have done. And you know,
I see many people who are those antihistamines Y're around
(14:33):
all the time.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
Do you see a problem with that?
Speaker 2 (14:38):
There's pretty good data out and right now, I sometimes
you know, if you 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 1 (14:56):
You know, well, I don't know, I told you, but
none that the is she She says that 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.
(15:16):
People don't believe she can 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 zirtech and
go to bed. I'm just 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
(15:37):
to something else. Chris Colosso 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. At least for those
of you who don't know. I'm in Houston and in
Southeast Texas where we are right about now. Most everybody
you talk to is sneezing, nodding, stuffy head, the whole,
(16:01):
the whole deal. And that's why I wanted to talk
to him today. We'll go to your conversation.
Speaker 3 (16:06):
Man's the term anal intercourse on your.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
Program, Michael, if it's relevant to this story for journalistic purposes.
Chris Colosso 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
(16:30):
don't believe doctors are gods. I think that doctors are
like 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
(16:52):
and new developments and new data that's coming out, and
he does. And I really like that, 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
(17:14):
because people were literally dying through that, and now you
have a two pronged approach. Can you explain that?
Speaker 3 (17:22):
So that's true?
Speaker 2 (17:23):
So in adults and so 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 that
bad dog. And so they would go straight to an
(17:44):
intradomal test, where you would inject the allergen into the
surface of the skin, and as a result of that,
they gave some people anaphalaxis, which is like a full
body allergic reaction, almost kill them.
Speaker 3 (17:57):
And so.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
Then about you know, maybe twenty five years ago, they said, oh,
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
(18:23):
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 breath and all
those things, you.
Speaker 3 (18:38):
Know, which is like a full body allergic reaction.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
And so that's why we now, I don't you know,
it's it's kind of hard. But with some of the
old aurgies. When I first started, you know, in training,
I mean they would do needle tests, that means the
introdom test, even on little kids, I don't typically we
(19:03):
usually do scratch testing, and whatever's positive is positive. In adults,
we do the needle test because it'll pick up some
minor 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 allergy shots, we
(19:23):
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 not and do it in a stepwise fashion, because
if someone has a big reaction on scratch testing, I
would not do the second.
Speaker 3 (19:42):
Part that day.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
Because when I first started, you know a lot of
patients would be like, now 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 have difficulties swallowing or you know those kinds
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,
(20:06):
we don't do the second part of the allergy testing
on that day. But then I used usually use both
of the testings data to decide the best way forward.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
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 2 (20:26):
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.
Speaker 1 (20:36):
You can use case.
Speaker 3 (20:37):
Let's say you're allergic. It's not help let's see, yeah
that's true.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
So let's say you're allergic to dust mites and oak
and and you know some of the moles 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,
(21:03):
make a vial so that would have those extracts in there,
and then we would dilute down that vial one hundred
thousand fold and then physically you would you know, if
we were doing alergie shots, you would come and there's
two ways, and we talked about this. There's different ways
you can build up, but let's just do this slow
(21:23):
normal way. Patients would come and 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
(21:45):
systemic symptoms. And one of the other things I'll 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 as two hundred thousand dilution. Once you finish that
one hundred thousand delution will take about four weeks, you
go to the one is to ten thousand, you finish that,
(22:07):
you go one is to one thousand, then 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,
(22:28):
tend to tolerate the full strength bial, 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
have a lot of the pollm extract in there. That
it's only in the higher doses of the thing, that
of the vials that you notice that you start seeing,
(22:51):
you know, clinical benefit. And that's why I warn you
that this is too late to help you for spring,
because spring is from bringing and you know, the initial
part of the shots is not going to help much
with that. Because again, this is a process of changing
the immune system and it you know, took fifty four
years for your immune system to get this way. It
(23:13):
would be unreasonable 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 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
(23:35):
you stuff you're allergic to, and so there's a rare
risk that you could have an allergic reaction. And that's
why you know, with all our patients, 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 sure everything's good.
Speaker 3 (23:55):
They're good, they go.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
But that's why you know, I won'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 that reaction.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
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. One
more segment with doctor Colosso. Come Out Joy Kung Alma
(24:37):
Michael Bay Good Show on Talk Plum. Doctor Chris Colosso
is my wife's allergist and now my allergist and he
has 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
(24:59):
these stories, especially with it now being full blown uh
allergy season. Uh Doc, I want to go. 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 might.
Speaker 3 (25:22):
Why is that.
Speaker 2 (25:24):
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,
(25:44):
and you know, you think about it, dust mites is
an indoor allergyen and so all might 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 they're 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 check for.
Speaker 1 (26:08):
Dust 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 2 (26:22):
Cat is a very common allergen, and most people will
will know this cat and cat allergen tends to be
a little bit worse for patients than dog allergen. And
then 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 the thing, and that's that's real thing.
Speaker 1 (27:00):
The next was roach mix and mixed feathers. Why are
those so high?
Speaker 2 (27:06):
So roach mix we you know, tend to do again
because you know roaches, if you know some people you
exposed to it in 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,
(27:27):
if it is positive, I tell patients to do stuff
to you know, mitigate roaches. Feathers sometimes is 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 3 (27:43):
And may not be the best thing for you to do.
Speaker 1 (27:46):
So in your listing off 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 by pecan
than white ash, did you list these in order of
how likely someone typically is to get them or how
(28:08):
how prevalent these trees are, Although I guess that would
those would be the same thing.
Speaker 2 (28:11):
Maybe 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 ology extracts, and so they,
(28:34):
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, oak,
ash and pecan are the ones that are you know,
very common, and so that's what the ones we pay.
Speaker 1 (28:46):
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, Saint Augustine within that, Am I am I
mixing that up?
Speaker 3 (29:03):
Or is that not?
Speaker 1 (29:04):
So?
Speaker 3 (29:04):
No, there's no.
Speaker 2 (29:05):
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 3 (29:14):
So most most you know won't, No one ever lets
it grow that long. And so that's why we don't.
Speaker 2 (29:19):
So so a lot of people will say, oh, I
feel bad when I cut the grass, it may not.
Speaker 3 (29:25):
Actually be that.
Speaker 2 (29:26):
And most of us have Saint Augustine, you know, or
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 the other tricks,
because it rains so much here, sometimes these broad leaf
grasses grow mold on them. And so even though Saint
(29:50):
Augustine doesn't pollinate, it's when you're when it's being cut,
you're pouring off a lot of mold. Oh, and that
would be what's the reacting to.
Speaker 1 (29:58):
And then we move to the weed. You have ragweed first,
and pigweed 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 3 (30:10):
Is that the number one ragweed is the number one.
Speaker 2 (30:13):
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.
Speaker 3 (30:26):
Know to attack you.
Speaker 2 (30:27):
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 in the broad sense, trees are typically
in spring, except cedar and elm, which are from fall.
Grasses are in summer, and then weeds are in full
So that was, you know, the listing of how I
(30:51):
did you know or when we tested people for allergies.
Speaker 1 (30:54):
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.
(31:16):
And it's not the peanut we're allowed we're allergic to.
It's the copper in it. Do you believe there's anything
to that.
Speaker 3 (31:25):
I don't think so.
Speaker 2 (31:27):
And the reason for that is because you can have
microscopic amounts of.
Speaker 3 (31:35):
Peanut and you'll react to the protein now.
Speaker 2 (31:40):
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 interesting, right,
they don't have much peanut allergy. And again in India,
it's because when you have more of you know, the
(32:03):
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 peanut allergies. And partially
(32:23):
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.
Speaker 3 (32:38):
That you react to perfectly on the surface.
Speaker 1 (32:41):
But I lack them roasted so much better.
Speaker 3 (32:42):
Dot I know, I know that that's part of the thing.
And even now they tend you.
Speaker 2 (32:49):
Know, incorporating some of those foods early. 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 foods.
Speaker 1 (33:07):
I promised I would keep you no longer, and you
have been wonderful. Doctor Chris Colosso c O L L
A COO Advanced asthma and allergy. 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
(33:29):
our guests, my man, Thank you very much
Chris Colosso is our guest. He is my new, relatively
new allergist. He's been my wife's salergist for five years.
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
(00:20):
he very patiently answers all my many questions and you
can imagine what it's like to be my doctor. Mary
Telly Boden 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. That's just me.
Every doctor that's treated me will tell you that, and
they all know. They all hate it, but they all know. Anyway,
(00:41):
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. Chris Colosso
is our guest. So doctor Colosso you see this pollen
that's coming down, and you were talking about you and
(01:04):
I were talking about, uh, this being the season where
it really causes people to flare. What are the big
allergies and antigens that that people would know the street
name of that make this season so bad?
Speaker 2 (01:19):
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 to be thick in
(01:43):
the air 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. And the biggest you know trees
over here that we have trouble with is oh pecan
Ash and you know, and they start off at you know,
(02:06):
different times, and so ash reason to be a little
bit early, okay, is through the major of springtime and
then you know, pe con tends to be a little
bit later on this season. 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.
(02:26):
And we have patients who are you know, typically they'll
have allergy to uh to springtime trees, but they also
show a dust light allergy and so you know, and
that's why sometimes when I explain to patients, I was like,
they're like, but dost 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
(02:49):
dust mil 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 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
(03:10):
that you know, make sure that you.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
Do dust my covers.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
Now, dust my covers are not going to you know,
one hundred percent eliminate dust might but it's going to
drop the load. So it's going 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
(03:35):
specialist you know, can help you understand and sort of
target the allergy from you know, not only just medicines,
but also avoidance measures and other treatment modalities, and that's
that will just help you feel better overall.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
Chris cool he is an allergist and his clinic is
Advanced Allergy and Asthma Center. Go ahead, that was just.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
Oh, Michael, I just want to you know, we are
Advanced Asthma Analogy Center, but it's you know, it's.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
Semantics allergies before let me ask you.
Speaker 3 (04:08):
This advance asthma analergy.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
Okay, let me ask you this. So this treatment to
make your body not you know through these like one
of the forms of treatment is the shots. And that's
what I've started doing. Is what's my wife has gotten
encourage with. If our body no longer reacts to the pollen,
when when is there any downside to that? I mean,
(04:31):
did our body react to try to protect us?
Speaker 2 (04:35):
No, they because remember that arm of the immune system,
your body started reacting to the pollen, not.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
Because it was truly protecting you.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
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 place to protect you. It's
sort of started reacting just because it wasn't busy enough
(05:10):
to do that, and so that comes. You know, there's
an interesting thing known as the hygiene hypothesis of why
allergies go. 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
(05:30):
the advanced world.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
In the.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
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. You know, people who grew
up in the Third world or even in farming communities,
tend to be exposed to a higher level of endotoxin.
(06:00):
An endotoxin is just 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,
(06:20):
you know, when 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, in a dirty environment
(06:45):
if you will, or just being exposed to more dirt,
it keeps the allergy part of it under control.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
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, 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 developed an
(07:13):
immunity to that. It's a fascinating hypothesis, I'm absolutely fascinating.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
Right, And that's that's what's considered the hygiene hypothesis and
so and 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
(07:39):
those the infection.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
Or you.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
Know, and they talk about just being outside and playing
in the dirt and those kind things help decrease allergy.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
Let's talk about that, because you and I have had
that conversation. I think it's important, Doctor Chris Colosso advanced
asthma and allergy coming.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
Out today to the Colonial House apartments and receive.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
A free and we're recorded. Doctor Chris Colosso has been
my wife's allargist for five years. She's had phenomenal results.
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 churn people so fast.
(08:21):
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
let's talk about what people if someone doesn't have Medicare,
doesn't have a healthcare program, doesn't is not able to
(08:41):
come and see you, what are some basic things that
people can do to get through pollen season when they're
having difficulty.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
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 3 (09:00):
You know, very easy to do.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
And so if you do go take the dog out
for a walk. As soon as you come back, do
a science trench. 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
(09:23):
do is you know, if you know that you know
dust may be a trigger of those kind of things,
then you know, keep the humidity low because the lower
the humidity in the house, the less dust my populations,
uh you know survive or you know you're decreased the
dust my population, and then you know there's medicines and
so you know, using the medicines during you know, during
(09:46):
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
not as miserable. So in in in those you know,
and that's in that way you can try and you know,
sort of keep the symptoms controlled. But this would not
(10:08):
be the time to you know, when you know, when
you see you know, these.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
Guys blowing all the pollen all around.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
To walk through that pollen cloud, you're going to be miserable,
and so you know, trying to sort of avoid it.
Using and using the medications that are over the counter
judiciously will help you alive.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
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 2 (10:36):
I feel Zyrtec tends to work a little bit better
than some of the antihistamines, but you know, it has
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 sleepy,
and so there's other there's other anti hist meines over
the counter. Allegra does not you know, across the blood
(10:58):
brain barrier, 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 antihistamy because we
can't have any of those you know, you can't be
drowsy and those kind of things.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
But you don't start with Allegra because you think Zyrtech,
if the person can handle it, is more effective.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
Typically is a little bit it is a little bit better.
But you know, everything every and you know, I run
into this all the time where patients will tell me, no, doctor,
see Allegra works better for me or whatever. 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.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
For them without the side effects. But I feel Zyrtech
is a really good anti history to help control.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
And then after that down the list you would go Allegra.
Speaker 3 (11:51):
And then what I go, yeah, mine is Clariton.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
After that, I don't like chronic use of first generation antihistmines,
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.
(12:13):
They talked about you know, long term 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 1 (12:28):
And the first generation antihistamines are Zerotech, Allegra and Clard no.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
No, no, sorry, the first generation answer his means a benadryl,
oh okay. And then there's some chlorophane from penmen in love.
Speaker 3 (12:39):
Those a little bit hard to find, okay.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
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 with.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
That, right and and everyone, you know, And my thing
is I explained to patients that the way these anti histamines,
they tend to block or trap the history receptor in
the enactive form, so conbined histamy benadrol.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
Will do that for four to six hours, and then
it falls off the receptor, so the receptors.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
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 you know, the
most of the second generation antist means like zootech and
Clarton a Leger and those kind of things last twenty
four hours, and they are much less They cause much
less growsiness than the first generations. So that's why I
(13:31):
don't like the first generation as instruments.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
It's very interesting the over the counter of zyrtech, I think,
I mean you talked about it tends to mask problems
for people who 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 zerotech Allegra Cleraton on a relatively regular basis, which
(14:00):
by the way, he put me on zertech 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 no.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
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 track it,
but now you don't. But you know, given how well
those you know, the drugs have done. And you know,
I see many people who are those antihistamines Y're around
(14:33):
all the time.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
Do you see a problem with that?
Speaker 2 (14:38):
There's pretty good data out and right now, I sometimes
you know, if you 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 1 (14:56):
You know, well, I don't know, I told you, but
none that the is she She says that 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.
(15:16):
People don't believe she can 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 zirtech and
go to bed. I'm just 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
(15:37):
to something else. Chris Colosso 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. At least for those
of you who don't know. I'm in Houston and in
Southeast Texas where we are right about now. Most everybody
you talk to is sneezing, nodding, stuffy head, the whole,
(16:01):
the whole deal. And that's why I wanted to talk
to him today. We'll go to your conversation.
Speaker 3 (16:06):
Man's the term anal intercourse on your.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
Program, Michael, if it's relevant to this story for journalistic purposes.
Chris Colosso 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
(16:30):
don't believe doctors are gods. I think that doctors are
like 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
(16:52):
and new developments and new data that's coming out, and
he does. And I really like that, 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
(17:14):
because people were literally dying through that, and now you
have a two pronged approach. Can you explain that?
Speaker 3 (17:22):
So that's true?
Speaker 2 (17:23):
So in adults and so 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 that
bad dog. And so they would go straight to an
(17:44):
intradomal test, where you would inject the allergen into the
surface of the skin, and as a result of that,
they gave some people anaphalaxis, which is like a full
body allergic reaction, almost kill them.
Speaker 3 (17:57):
And so.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
Then about you know, maybe twenty five years ago, they said, oh,
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
(18:23):
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 breath and all
those things, you.
Speaker 3 (18:38):
Know, which is like a full body allergic reaction.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
And so that's why we now, I don't you know,
it's it's kind of hard. But with some of the
old aurgies. When I first started, you know, in training,
I mean they would do needle tests, that means the
introdom test, even on little kids, I don't typically we
(19:03):
usually do scratch testing, and whatever's positive is positive. In adults,
we do the needle test because it'll pick up some
minor 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 allergy shots, we
(19:23):
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 not and do it in a stepwise fashion, because
if someone has a big reaction on scratch testing, I
would not do the second.
Speaker 3 (19:42):
Part that day.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
Because when I first started, you know a lot of
patients would be like, now 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 have difficulties swallowing or you know those kinds
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,
(20:06):
we don't do the second part of the allergy testing
on that day. But then I used usually use both
of the testings data to decide the best way forward.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
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 2 (20:26):
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.
Speaker 1 (20:36):
You can use case.
Speaker 3 (20:37):
Let's say you're allergic. It's not help let's see, yeah
that's true.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
So let's say you're allergic to dust mites and oak
and and you know some of the moles 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,
(21:03):
make a vial so that would have those extracts in there,
and then we would dilute down that vial one hundred
thousand fold and then physically you would you know, if
we were doing alergie shots, you would come and there's
two ways, and we talked about this. There's different ways
you can build up, but let's just do this slow
(21:23):
normal way. Patients would come and 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
(21:45):
systemic symptoms. And one of the other things I'll 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 as two hundred thousand dilution. Once you finish that
one hundred thousand delution will take about four weeks, you
go to the one is to ten thousand, you finish that,
(22:07):
you go one is to one thousand, then 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,
(22:28):
tend to tolerate the full strength bial, 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
have a lot of the pollm extract in there. That
it's only in the higher doses of the thing, that
of the vials that you notice that you start seeing,
(22:51):
you know, clinical benefit. And that's why I warn you
that this is too late to help you for spring,
because spring is from bringing and you know, the initial
part of the shots is not going to help much
with that. Because again, this is a process of changing
the immune system and it you know, took fifty four
years for your immune system to get this way. It
(23:13):
would be unreasonable 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 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
(23:35):
you stuff you're allergic to, and so there's a rare
risk that you could have an allergic reaction. And that's
why you know, with all our patients, 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 sure everything's good.
Speaker 3 (23:55):
They're good, they go.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
But that's why you know, I won'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 that reaction.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
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. One
more segment with doctor Colosso. Come Out Joy Kung Alma
(24:37):
Michael Bay Good Show on Talk Plum. Doctor Chris Colosso
is my wife's allergist and now my allergist and he
has 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
(24:59):
these stories, especially with it now being full blown uh
allergy season. Uh Doc, I want to go. 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 might.
Speaker 3 (25:22):
Why is that.
Speaker 2 (25:24):
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,
(25:44):
and you know, you think about it, dust mites is
an indoor allergyen and so all might 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 they're 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 check for.
Speaker 1 (26:08):
Dust 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 2 (26:22):
Cat is a very common allergen, and most people will
will know this cat and cat allergen tends to be
a little bit worse for patients than dog allergen. And
then 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 the thing, and that's that's real thing.
Speaker 1 (27:00):
The next was roach mix and mixed feathers. Why are
those so high?
Speaker 2 (27:06):
So roach mix we you know, tend to do again
because you know roaches, if you know some people you
exposed to it in 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,
(27:27):
if it is positive, I tell patients to do stuff
to you know, mitigate roaches. Feathers sometimes is 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 3 (27:43):
And may not be the best thing for you to do.
Speaker 1 (27:46):
So in your listing off 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 by pecan
than white ash, did you list these in order of
how likely someone typically is to get them or how
(28:08):
how prevalent these trees are, Although I guess that would
those would be the same thing.
Speaker 2 (28:11):
Maybe 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 ology extracts, and so they,
(28:34):
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, oak,
ash and pecan are the ones that are you know,
very common, and so that's what the ones we pay.
Speaker 1 (28:46):
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, Saint Augustine within that, Am I am I
mixing that up?
Speaker 3 (29:03):
Or is that not?
Speaker 1 (29:04):
So?
Speaker 3 (29:04):
No, there's no.
Speaker 2 (29:05):
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 3 (29:14):
So most most you know won't, No one ever lets
it grow that long. And so that's why we don't.
Speaker 2 (29:19):
So so a lot of people will say, oh, I
feel bad when I cut the grass, it may not.
Speaker 3 (29:25):
Actually be that.
Speaker 2 (29:26):
And most of us have Saint Augustine, you know, or
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 the other tricks,
because it rains so much here, sometimes these broad leaf
grasses grow mold on them. And so even though Saint
(29:50):
Augustine doesn't pollinate, it's when you're when it's being cut,
you're pouring off a lot of mold. Oh, and that
would be what's the reacting to.
Speaker 1 (29:58):
And then we move to the weed. You have ragweed first,
and pigweed 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 3 (30:10):
Is that the number one ragweed is the number one.
Speaker 2 (30:13):
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.
Speaker 3 (30:26):
Know to attack you.
Speaker 2 (30:27):
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 in the broad sense, trees are typically
in spring, except cedar and elm, which are from fall.
Grasses are in summer, and then weeds are in full
So that was, you know, the listing of how I
(30:51):
did you know or when we tested people for allergies.
Speaker 1 (30:54):
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.
(31:16):
And it's not the peanut we're allowed we're allergic to.
It's the copper in it. Do you believe there's anything
to that.
Speaker 3 (31:25):
I don't think so.
Speaker 2 (31:27):
And the reason for that is because you can have
microscopic amounts of.
Speaker 3 (31:35):
Peanut and you'll react to the protein now.
Speaker 2 (31:40):
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 interesting, right,
they don't have much peanut allergy. And again in India,
it's because when you have more of you know, the
(32:03):
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 peanut allergies. And partially
(32:23):
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.
Speaker 3 (32:38):
That you react to perfectly on the surface.
Speaker 1 (32:41):
But I lack them roasted so much better.
Speaker 3 (32:42):
Dot I know, I know that that's part of the thing.
And even now they tend you.
Speaker 2 (32:49):
Know, incorporating some of those foods early. 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 foods.
Speaker 1 (33:07):
I promised I would keep you no longer, and you
have been wonderful. Doctor Chris Colosso c O L L
A COO Advanced asthma and allergy. 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
(33:29):
our guests, my man, Thank you very much
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