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In the August 2010 issue of Fine Woodworking I came across a letter on a treatment for wood allergies. It's called Low Dose Allergen(LDA)therapy. Think it's been around for years for other allergies,but did not realize it could be used for wood also.The contact is a Dr.W.A.Shrader at the Santa Fe Centre For Allergy and Environmental Medicine. The item says that these folk may also be able to point you to someone in your local area who specializes in this treatment. The web address is drshrader.com.Hope this may be of some interest to someone.
Tom

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A person who has never made a mistake has never made anything!!!

Most allergy and asthma centers would be able to help with that. I take shots monthly to help alleviate allergic reactions to some things that I'm allergic to.

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Waddy

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Sound Clips of most of my guitars

I was under the impression--and I'd love to be wrong about this--that our reaction to woods like Cocobolo is a sensitivity that is unshakable once started...that it only gets worse.

Can it indeed be remedied?

Steve

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

I do not have wood specific allergy information buy am versed in bee sting allergy as I used to keep 600 hives and get stung all the time. I was careful and limited my stings to 5 to 10 per day but I have seen my brother who used to keep with me get stung 50 or more times in a night of bee moving. They can be mean at night. It hardly bothered him at all. 10% of the public will get more sensitive each time they are stung the other 90% less sensitive. I suspect most allergens work the same way.

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http://goatrockukulele.com

I have all kinds of allergies and getting more. One type of treatment with low dose used to be called clinical ecology. Low doses of allergins are administered under the tongue. I did this as well as my usual shots. It is not a panacea. Desensitizing by shots or under the tongue does not work for all things that you are allergic to. For example, most food allergies do not respond to desensitizing, but the clinical ecology approach can reduce some bizarre symptoms that we usually do not think of as allergic. Most allergists do not administer the under the tongue method. (Does anyone out there know if you can get desensitizing shots for poison ivy?) If you have wood allergies, do your best to avoid the offending wood or at least cover up and use a respirator.

If you do not have allergies, do not be complacent. Inhaling wood dust can gradually destroy your lungs, such as emphasema, silicosis, etc. I have seen references to specific medical maladies named for mahogony, redwood, and maple.

There used to be treatments for poison oak and ivy. I remember one called imunoak. Yes wood dust is to be avoided like the plague but it won't give you silicosis as silicosis is caused by inhaling silica dust. A lot of insect and rot resistant woods have all kinds of natural insect inhibiting chemicals in them which we have no idea what the effects on humans are.

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http://goatrockukulele.com

I have no problem with wood dust, thank whoever!
but WASPS can kill me !
But hornets and other bees are not a problem !
I keep Benadryl and a Epi-pen near me all the time in bee season.
I would think these items would help in a reaction to woods & dust also.
If you find you have a serious reaction to anything -just get that stuff out of your life!
If ya can !
mike

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Mike Collins

You can get desensitizing shots for bees, wasps, hornets, and yellow jackets. I get shots for all but bees. It might make the difference whether you die or just get really itchy.

Seems that any tree, growing in a tropical forest would need an arsenal of chemicals to protect it from the astounding variety of insects found in that environment. Makes sense that some of those compounds would be toxic to humans as well as tropical bugs, doesn't it?

Pat

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formerly known around here as burbank
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com