June 5, 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 saler just 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 polling 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 we see this pol
one that's coming down and you were talking about you
(01:03):
and 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 (01:18):
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
(01:42):
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 this old pecan
ash and anger and they start off at you know,
(02:05):
different times, and so ash reason to be a little
bit early, okays through the major of springtime and then
you know, pick 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. And
(02:25):
we have patients who are you know, typically they'll have
allergy to uh to springtime trees, but they also show
a dust my allergy and so you know, and that's
why sometimes when I explain to patients, I was like,
they're like, but dastally, I don't feel anything with the
dust miles, And it's like, no, you probably do, but
it's just that you have this baseline because the dust
(02:48):
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 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,
(03:08):
you you know, make sure that you do dust might covers.
Now dust might covers. I'm 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 this super high level of you know,
(03:29):
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, not only just medicines,
but also avoidance measures and other treatment modalities, and that's
that will just help you feel better overalls.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
He is an allergist and his clinic is Advanced Allergy
and Asthma Center. Go ahead.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
That was just oh, Michael, I just want to you know,
we are advance an Asthma Analogy center. But it's you know, it's.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
Semantics allergies before let me ask you.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
This asthma analergy.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
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
coursuls with. If our body no longer reacts to the pollen,
when when is there any downside to that? I mean,
(04:29):
did our body react to try to protect us.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
No big because remember that arm of the immune system
that 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 or you don't have you know,
worms and those kinds of things, it had nothing to
(04:53):
do and so it was not it wasn't reacting in
the first place to protect it's sort of its 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 hygiene hypothesis of why allergies go. And
(05:14):
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.
In the in the Third world, they tend to have
(05:36):
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. And endotoxin is just dirt or you know,
(06:00):
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 your wife first came,
she had never had trouble with allergy, right, And that's
(06:22):
what we see over here too, Like I never had
allergy for twenty years, And it's only being 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, if you will, or just being exposed
(06:43):
to more dirt, it keeps the allergy part of it
under control.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
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 developed
(07:09):
an immunity to that. It's a fascinating hypothesis, I'm absolutely fascinating.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
Right, And that's that's what's considered the hygiene hypothesis and
so it 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
(07:36):
lot of those the infection or you know, and they
talk about just being outside and playing in the dirt
and those kind things help decreat allergy.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
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 up. Remember me, Okay, remember Scott
A welcome out. Doctor Chris Colosso has been my wife's
allargist for five years. She's had phenomenal results. I have
(08:09):
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've got to churn 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
(08:31):
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 get through pollen season when they're having.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
Difficulty, So you know, the best thing to do is
to try and avoid it. So it's so finus instance,
Now that's something simple and you know, very easy to do.
So if you do go take the dog out for
a walk. As soon as you come back, do a
(09:04):
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
do is you know, if you know that you know
dust may be a trigger or those kind of things,
(09:26):
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
pollen season and now since that most of these things
(09:47):
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 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
be the time to you know, when you know, when
(10:08):
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 and using the medications that are
over the counter judiciously will help you alive.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
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 (10:33):
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 antihyst meines over the counter.
Allegra does not you know, across the blood beIN barrier,
(10:56):
and so you know, in pilots or someone with a
commercial drug driver license, you know, i'd say, hey, you
need to use Allegra as your antihistormy because we can't
have any of those. You know, you can't be drowsy
and those kind of things.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
But you don't start with Allegra because you think Zyrtech,
if the person can handle it, is more effective.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
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
(11:37):
best for them without the side effects. But I feel
Zyrtech is a really good anti history to help control.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
And then after that down the list you would go Allegra.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
And then what I go, yeah, mine is Clariton. 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
(12:08):
ago with you know, with New England General Medicine. 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 (12:25):
And the first generation antihistamines are Zerotech, Allegra and Claridon No.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
No, no, sorry, The first generation answer his means are benadryl,
oh okay. And then there's some chlorophane from Phenomenon loved
Those a little bit hard.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
To find, okay. So just to wrap that up in
cause 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 (12:47):
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 histamine receptor and
they enactive form, so con'tbined histamin Benadrol will do that
for four to six hours, and then it falls off
the receptor, so the receptors open again, and you have
(13:07):
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 anto
his means, like Zootech and Clark and Leger and those
kind of things last twenty four hours, and they are
much less They cause much less grousiness than the first generations.
(13:27):
So that's why I don't like the first generation as instruments.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
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
(13:57):
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.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
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
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
(14:29):
Y're around all the time.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
Did you see a problem with that?
Speaker 2 (14:35):
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 (14:53):
You know, well, I don't know, I told you, but
none that is she said. 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.
(15:13):
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 gonna 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
(15:34):
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 eyes, the
(15:59):
whole deal. And that's why I wanted to talk to
him today. We'll be to your conversation.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
Man's the term anal intercourse on your.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
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
(16:26):
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
(16:48):
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
(17:10):
because people were literally dying through that, and now you
have a two pronged approach. Can you explain that?
Speaker 2 (17:18):
So that's true? 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 that bad dog. And so they would go
(17:39):
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 anaphylaxis, which is
like a full body allergic reaction, almost kill them. And
so then about you know, maybe twenty five years ago,
they said, uh, you can't you know, kill the patient
(17:59):
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 and you know, as in your case, Michael,
there were several of the things that had strong positive reactions.
So you could imagine that if I went, you know,
(18:21):
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 know, which is like
a full body allergic reaction, and so that's why we now,
I don't you know, it's it's kind of hard bit
(18:46):
with some of the old aurgies. 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
(19:06):
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 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
(19:28):
do both so as to 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,
(19:49):
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 one has a
big reaction with just scratch testing, we don't do the
second part of the alergy testing on that day. But
then I used usually use both of the testings data
to decide the best way forward.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
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 (20:22):
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 you're allergic. 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
(20:44):
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 vile well, so that would have
those extracts in there, and then we would dilute down
(21:06):
that vial one hundred thousand fold and then physically you
would you know, if we were doing allergy 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 normal way. Patients would come and they
get this most shot first. And each time you get
(21:28):
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. 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
(21:50):
try and keep you know, so each time. So you
start off at one as 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 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
(22:11):
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, tend to tolerate the full
strength vial, which is you know, and you'll see where
the vial is yellow because that's the color of pollen
(22:34):
and so it's fairly thick and have a lot of
pollm extract in there. That it's only in the higher
doses 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
(22:55):
or springing, 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 would be unreasonable to
you know, think that it would change in you know,
a few weeks. And so you know, olgenemo therapy is
(23:18):
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 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
(23:41):
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. They're good, they go. But
that's why you know, I don't let patients do shots
at home because you know, God forbid something would happen.
(24:02):
You have to be somewhere where someone can take, you know,
help you take care of that reaction.
Speaker 1 (24:08):
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 Story tung Alma
(24:33):
Michael Berry Good Show on Dooklum. 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 these stories,
(24:56):
especially with it now being full blown U 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
(25:17):
is dust might.
Speaker 2 (25:18):
Why is that 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
(25:39):
it's very humid, and you know, you think about it,
dust mites is an indoor allergen, 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 olergans all over the
(25:59):
country that would drive allergies, and so that's why most
allergists will check for dust.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
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 (26:18):
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 allergy. 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
(26:39):
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 a
real thing.
Speaker 1 (26:56):
The next was roach mix and mixed feathers.
Speaker 2 (26:59):
Why those so high so roach makes 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,
(27:22):
and so you know, if it is positive, I tell
patients to do stuff to you know, mitigate roaches. Feathers
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,
and may not be the best thing for you to do.
Speaker 1 (27:42):
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 by 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.
Speaker 2 (28:07):
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 supplyology extracts, and so they,
(28:30):
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,
cash and pakan are the ones that are you know,
very common, and so that's what the ones we pay.
Speaker 1 (28:42):
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 2 (28:59):
Or is that so? No, there's no. So Saint Augustine
is a you know as a broad leaf grass, and
Saint Augustine would have to grow a foot before it pollinatees.
So most most you know won't. No one ever lets
it grow that long. And so that's why we don't.
So so a lot of people will say, oh, I
feel bad when I cut the grass, it may not
(29:21):
actually be that. 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 lawn 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
(29:45):
even though Saint Augustine doesn't pollinate, it's when you're when
it's being cut, you're touring off a lot of mold,
and that would be what's the reacting to.
Speaker 1 (29:54):
And then we move to the weeds. 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, is
that the number one.
Speaker 2 (30:08):
Ragweed is the number one. 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.
(30:28):
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
did you know or when we tested people for allergies.
Speaker 1 (30:50):
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 know, did 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. And it's not the peanut we're allowed
(31:14):
we're allergic to. It's the copper in it. Do you
believe there's anything to that.
Speaker 2 (31:21):
I don't think so. And the reason for that is
because you can have microscopic amounts of of peanut and
you'll 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
(31:47):
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 dirt and those
kinds of things, you are suppressing this arm of the
immune system, so it's not trying to react to those foods.
(32:08):
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 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
(32:32):
a peanut brings the antigen that you react to perfectly
on the surface.
Speaker 1 (32:37):
But I lack them roasted so much better.
Speaker 2 (32:38):
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. 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,
(32:58):
and that may help you not, you know, react to
those foods.
Speaker 1 (33:02):
I promised I would keep you uh no longer, and
you have been wonderful. Doctor Chris Colosso c O l
A COO Advanced asthma and allergy. 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
(33:25):
our guests, my man
Speaker 2 (33:26):
Thank you very much,
Chris Colosso is our guest. He is my new, relatively
new allergist. He's been my wife's saler just 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 polling 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 we see this pol
one that's coming down and you were talking about you
(01:03):
and 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 (01:18):
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
(01:42):
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 this old pecan
ash and anger and they start off at you know,
(02:05):
different times, and so ash reason to be a little
bit early, okays through the major of springtime and then
you know, pick 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. And
(02:25):
we have patients who are you know, typically they'll have
allergy to uh to springtime trees, but they also show
a dust my allergy and so you know, and that's
why sometimes when I explain to patients, I was like,
they're like, but dastally, I don't feel anything with the
dust miles, And it's like, no, you probably do, but
it's just that you have this baseline because the dust
(02:48):
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 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,
(03:08):
you you know, make sure that you do dust might covers.
Now dust might covers. I'm 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 this super high level of you know,
(03:29):
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, not only just medicines,
but also avoidance measures and other treatment modalities, and that's
that will just help you feel better overalls.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
He is an allergist and his clinic is Advanced Allergy
and Asthma Center. Go ahead.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
That was just oh, Michael, I just want to you know,
we are advance an Asthma Analogy center. But it's you know, it's.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
Semantics allergies before let me ask you.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
This asthma analergy.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
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
coursuls with. If our body no longer reacts to the pollen,
when when is there any downside to that? I mean,
(04:29):
did our body react to try to protect us.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
No big because remember that arm of the immune system
that 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 or you don't have you know,
worms and those kinds of things, it had nothing to
(04:53):
do and so it was not it wasn't reacting in
the first place to protect it's sort of its 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 hygiene hypothesis of why allergies go. And
(05:14):
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.
In the in the Third world, they tend to have
(05:36):
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. And endotoxin is just dirt or you know,
(06:00):
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 your wife first came,
she had never had trouble with allergy, right, And that's
(06:22):
what we see over here too, Like I never had
allergy for twenty years, And it's only being 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, if you will, or just being exposed
(06:43):
to more dirt, it keeps the allergy part of it
under control.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
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 developed
(07:09):
an immunity to that. It's a fascinating hypothesis, I'm absolutely fascinating.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
Right, And that's that's what's considered the hygiene hypothesis and
so it 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
(07:36):
lot of those the infection or you know, and they
talk about just being outside and playing in the dirt
and those kind things help decreat allergy.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
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 up. Remember me, Okay, remember Scott
A welcome out. Doctor Chris Colosso has been my wife's
allargist for five years. She's had phenomenal results. I have
(08:09):
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've got to churn 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
(08:31):
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 get through pollen season when they're having.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
Difficulty, So you know, the best thing to do is
to try and avoid it. So it's so finus instance,
Now that's something simple and you know, very easy to do.
So if you do go take the dog out for
a walk. As soon as you come back, do a
(09:04):
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
do is you know, if you know that you know
dust may be a trigger or those kind of things,
(09:26):
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
pollen season and now since that most of these things
(09:47):
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 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
be the time to you know, when you know, when
(10:08):
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 and using the medications that are
over the counter judiciously will help you alive.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
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 (10:33):
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 antihyst meines over the counter.
Allegra does not you know, across the blood beIN barrier,
(10:56):
and so you know, in pilots or someone with a
commercial drug driver license, you know, i'd say, hey, you
need to use Allegra as your antihistormy because we can't
have any of those. You know, you can't be drowsy
and those kind of things.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
But you don't start with Allegra because you think Zyrtech,
if the person can handle it, is more effective.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
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
(11:37):
best for them without the side effects. But I feel
Zyrtech is a really good anti history to help control.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
And then after that down the list you would go Allegra.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
And then what I go, yeah, mine is Clariton. 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
(12:08):
ago with you know, with New England General Medicine. 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 (12:25):
And the first generation antihistamines are Zerotech, Allegra and Claridon No.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
No, no, sorry, The first generation answer his means are benadryl,
oh okay. And then there's some chlorophane from Phenomenon loved
Those a little bit hard.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
To find, okay. So just to wrap that up in
cause 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 (12:47):
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 histamine receptor and
they enactive form, so con'tbined histamin Benadrol will do that
for four to six hours, and then it falls off
the receptor, so the receptors open again, and you have
(13:07):
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 anto
his means, like Zootech and Clark and Leger and those
kind of things last twenty four hours, and they are
much less They cause much less grousiness than the first generations.
(13:27):
So that's why I don't like the first generation as instruments.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
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
(13:57):
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.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
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
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
(14:29):
Y're around all the time.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
Did you see a problem with that?
Speaker 2 (14:35):
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 (14:53):
You know, well, I don't know, I told you, but
none that is she said. 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.
(15:13):
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 gonna 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
(15:34):
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 eyes, the
(15:59):
whole deal. And that's why I wanted to talk to
him today. We'll be to your conversation.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
Man's the term anal intercourse on your.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
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
(16:26):
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
(16:48):
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
(17:10):
because people were literally dying through that, and now you
have a two pronged approach. Can you explain that?
Speaker 2 (17:18):
So that's true? 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 that bad dog. And so they would go
(17:39):
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 anaphylaxis, which is
like a full body allergic reaction, almost kill them. And
so then about you know, maybe twenty five years ago,
they said, uh, you can't you know, kill the patient
(17:59):
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 and you know, as in your case, Michael,
there were several of the things that had strong positive reactions.
So you could imagine that if I went, you know,
(18:21):
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 know, which is like
a full body allergic reaction, and so that's why we now,
I don't you know, it's it's kind of hard bit
(18:46):
with some of the old aurgies. 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
(19:06):
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 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
(19:28):
do both so as to 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,
(19:49):
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 one has a
big reaction with just scratch testing, we don't do the
second part of the alergy testing on that day. But
then I used usually use both of the testings data
to decide the best way forward.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
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 (20:22):
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 you're allergic. 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
(20:44):
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 vile well, so that would have
those extracts in there, and then we would dilute down
(21:06):
that vial one hundred thousand fold and then physically you
would you know, if we were doing allergy 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 normal way. Patients would come and they
get this most shot first. And each time you get
(21:28):
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. 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
(21:50):
try and keep you know, so each time. So you
start off at one as 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 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
(22:11):
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, tend to tolerate the full
strength vial, which is you know, and you'll see where
the vial is yellow because that's the color of pollen
(22:34):
and so it's fairly thick and have a lot of
pollm extract in there. That it's only in the higher
doses 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
(22:55):
or springing, 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 would be unreasonable to
you know, think that it would change in you know,
a few weeks. And so you know, olgenemo therapy is
(23:18):
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 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
(23:41):
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. They're good, they go. But
that's why you know, I don't let patients do shots
at home because you know, God forbid something would happen.
(24:02):
You have to be somewhere where someone can take, you know,
help you take care of that reaction.
Speaker 1 (24:08):
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 Story tung Alma
(24:33):
Michael Berry Good Show on Dooklum. 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 these stories,
(24:56):
especially with it now being full blown U 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
(25:17):
is dust might.
Speaker 2 (25:18):
Why is that 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
(25:39):
it's very humid, and you know, you think about it,
dust mites is an indoor allergen, 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 olergans all over the
(25:59):
country that would drive allergies, and so that's why most
allergists will check for dust.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
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 (26:18):
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 allergy. 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
(26:39):
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 a
real thing.
Speaker 1 (26:56):
The next was roach mix and mixed feathers.
Speaker 2 (26:59):
Why those so high so roach makes 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,
(27:22):
and so you know, if it is positive, I tell
patients to do stuff to you know, mitigate roaches. Feathers
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,
and may not be the best thing for you to do.
Speaker 1 (27:42):
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 by 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.
Speaker 2 (28:07):
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 supplyology extracts, and so they,
(28:30):
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,
cash and pakan are the ones that are you know,
very common, and so that's what the ones we pay.
Speaker 1 (28:42):
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 2 (28:59):
Or is that so? No, there's no. So Saint Augustine
is a you know as a broad leaf grass, and
Saint Augustine would have to grow a foot before it pollinatees.
So most most you know won't. No one ever lets
it grow that long. And so that's why we don't.
So so a lot of people will say, oh, I
feel bad when I cut the grass, it may not
(29:21):
actually be that. 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 lawn 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
(29:45):
even though Saint Augustine doesn't pollinate, it's when you're when
it's being cut, you're touring off a lot of mold,
and that would be what's the reacting to.
Speaker 1 (29:54):
And then we move to the weeds. 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, is
that the number one.
Speaker 2 (30:08):
Ragweed is the number one. 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.
(30:28):
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
did you know or when we tested people for allergies.
Speaker 1 (30:50):
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 know, did 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. And it's not the peanut we're allowed
(31:14):
we're allergic to. It's the copper in it. Do you
believe there's anything to that.
Speaker 2 (31:21):
I don't think so. And the reason for that is
because you can have microscopic amounts of of peanut and
you'll 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
(31:47):
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 dirt and those
kinds of things, you are suppressing this arm of the
immune system, so it's not trying to react to those foods.
(32:08):
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 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
(32:32):
a peanut brings the antigen that you react to perfectly
on the surface.
Speaker 1 (32:37):
But I lack them roasted so much better.
Speaker 2 (32:38):
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. 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,
(32:58):
and that may help you not, you know, react to
those foods.
Speaker 1 (33:02):
I promised I would keep you uh no longer, and
you have been wonderful. Doctor Chris Colosso c O l
A COO Advanced asthma and allergy. 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
(33:25):
our guests, my man
Speaker 2 (33:26):
Thank you very much,
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