The Devon Allergy
& Digestive Health Clinic
The Devon Allergy Clinic offers a comprehensive approach to understanding your condition, emphasising a holistic overview rather than just focusing on isolated symptoms. With expertise in investigating both allergies and intolerances, the clinic aims to identify potential problem areas.
Specialising in digestive disorders, chronic fatigue, and skin conditions, we excel in examining the relationship between food, contact, and aeroallergens. What sets this clinic apart is its ability to seamlessly integrate orthodox and complementary medicine, providing clients with the best possible care and solutions for their health concerns.
About the Allergy Clinic
Marlene Hochstrasser is the Clinical Director of the Devon Allergy Clinic, established in 2006. She qualified as a Registered General Nurse & Midwife & has a University Diploma in Allergy from Greenwich University with working links with the Eczema Society. Her experience was further broadened whilst working as an Intensive Care Nurse at Guy’s Hospital, London.
Marlene still maintains her clinical nursing expertise working as an intravenous parental nutrition nurse with patients in a home situation.
A Clinic Consultation with Marlene starts with taking a full history of the Client & their family. Allergy identification and treatment is a major factor in removing sources of immune system stress leading to the potential to achieve optimum health and quality of life for the individual.
The Devon Allergy Clinic is uniquely positioned to integrate orthodox and complementary medicine for the client's benefit.
What is an allergy?
Long ago, when humans were evolving, many parasites lived in our blood. To protect ourselves, our immune system created white mast cells. These cells would release chemicals that irritated and killed the parasites, including histamine. That's why we take antihistamines and steroids to reduce inflammation caused by these chemicals.
In today's modern Western world, we don't encounter as many parasites, but these mast cells still look for them and sometimes mistake harmless things for parasites. They target high protein molecules in our blood, causing reactions to certain foods, animal dander, dust mites, molds, and pollen. This process is called an IgE mediated response. The NHS offers two tests to identify these sensitivities: an IgE blood test and a skin patch test, but they can sometimes give incorrect results.
Mast cells are found where parasites or the outside world enter our body, such as in the nose and airways. Breathing through the nose can lead to symptoms like rhinitis, sinusitis, and hay fever, as well as headaches, migraines, catarrh, and glue ear. The lower airways may be affected too, leading to asthma and wheezing. Interestingly, there's a link between upper airway symptoms and late-onset adult asthma.
Skin problems like eczema, rashes, itching, and swelling can be connected to issues in the digestive tract. Allergy-related conditions are often misunderstood, and patients may end up seeing specialists for each symptom separately, rather than being referred to immunology, which deals with allergies.
Hypersensitivity is often confused with intolerance or sensitivity, but it presents similar symptoms to IgE mediated allergic responses. However, the immune system's response is on a lower level, and we still don't fully understand why this happens.
