She Was Allergic to the Medicine That Was Supposed to Help Her.
Dr. John Erickson, DC | Laser & Chiropractic Center of the Rockies | Loveland, CO
Case 008 | Series Post #8
She Was Using Her Inhaler More Than Ever
Two times a day, sometimes more. The inhaler was supposed to manage her asthma. It wasn’t working the way it should.
She came in using it – pulled it out in my office. Her asthma was bothering her and she couldn’t get on top of it.
What we found next is the kind of thing that makes you stop and reconsider how you think about some medication.
A Patient Who Had Already Seen Changes
She was 35. Multiple allergies – food, environmental, and animal. She had been under chiropractic care for over a year following a severe accident and had been doing well on that front.
When we added allergy treatments to her care plan, she began noticing real changes. More energy. Less tension. Her chiropractic adjustments were holding better. She was feeling more like herself.
Then one day she walked in with her inhaler in hand. The asthma was flaring. She was using it constantly. Something wasn’t adding up.
She Was Sensitive to the Medication in Her Inhaler
We tested her. The results were clear.
She was allergic to her own prescribed steroid inhaler medication – the very substance she was relying on to manage her asthmatic symptoms.
This is not a common clinical conversation. Most patients are never tested for sensitivity to their own medications. The assumption is that a prescribed treatment is compatible with the patient using it. That assumption is not always correct.
We treated her for the inhaler medication specifically.
The Treatment Was Compounding the Problem
In NAET, we assess the body’s response to virtually any substance – including medications. What we identified was that her immune system appeared to be treating the active compounds in her inhaler as a threat. The medication was triggering a reactive response rather than a purely therapeutic one.
This is consistent with documented cases of corticosteroid hypersensitivity – reactions to inhaled or topical corticosteroids that paradoxically worsen the very symptoms they are prescribed to treat. The nervous system and immune system communicate bidirectionally; a substance the body identifies as threatening can provoke ongoing reactivity regardless of its pharmacological intent.
Treating for the inhaler meant addressing the body’s sensitization to that specific compound – changing the signal the nervous system was sending about whether it was safe.
Patient-Reported: Daily to Weekly to Almost Monthly
Approximately one month after her inhaler treatment, she returned for follow-up. Her report was specific.
Inhaler usage had gone from daily – sometimes multiple times per day – to weekly. Then to nearly monthly.
The medication she had been dependent on became something she rarely needed.
The Assumption That Medication Is Always Compatible Deserves Scrutiny
Drug hypersensitivity is a well-documented clinical phenomenon. It is not rare – it is underdiagnosed. Research published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation has established that neurons and immune cells share the same tissue spaces and communicate in real time – meaning the body’s response to any substance, including a pharmaceutical compound, is regulated by this bidirectional neuroimmune system.[1] If the nervous system has encoded a substance as a threat, pharmacological intent does not override that signal.
The research on psychological stress and allergic disease – published in the Journal of Investigational Allergology and Clinical Immunology – also documents how the immune system operating in a sustained reactive state can amplify and sustain reactivity to substances in the environment, including those introduced as treatments.[2] The immune system does not automatically make exceptions for prescribed medications.
Here is the question conventional allergy care rarely asks: what if the treatment is part of what is sustaining the problem?
Not Every Problem Is Lack of Medication. Sometimes It’s the Wrong Medication.
She was using her inhaler more because her asthma was worse. Her asthma may have been worse in part because of the inhaler.
That is a hard loop to see from inside the conventional treatment model.
If you have been managing asthma or allergies with medication that doesn’t seem to be working the way it should – it may be worth asking whether your body is fully compatible with what you’re taking.
— Dr. John Erickson, DC | Laser & Chiropractic Center of the Rockies | Loveland, Colorado
To learn more about NAET at Laser & Chiropractic Center of the Rockies, visit laserchirorockies.com or call 970-412-3212.
Individual results vary. This story is de-identified and shared with permission. It represents a reported patient experience and is not a guarantee of outcome. NAET is a complementary wellness approach and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease or medical condition.
[1] Veiga-Fernandes, H. & Artis, D. “Neuro-Immune Crosstalk and Allergic Inflammation.” J Clin Invest. 2019;129(4):1475-1482. PMC: PMC6436850. DOI: 10.1172/JCI124609
[2] Montoro, J. et al. “Stress and Allergy.” J Investig Allergol Clin Immunol. 2009;19 Suppl 1:40-47. PMID: 19476053.