Okely dokely!
I was just going to go over the basics of the allergy thing, in case folks were interested.
Allergy is an immune response. Basically, when someone is allergic to something, it means that the body recognizes that something as foreign and reacts to it. The thing to which we react is called an
antigen or an
allergen. The idea of
sensitization is that if your body has never seen a particular allergen, it doesn't have the mechanism to react to it . . . let's look a little deeper.
So, you put your blackwood flute to your lips. Lips and chins are relatively thin areas, moreso than say the back or the soles of your feet. Your skin is oily and porous, and perhaps moist, and various organic substances in the blackwood come into contact with
macrophages, which are a kind of white blood cell which is part of the first line of defense against INVASION! When
macrophages circulate in the blood, they're called
monocytes. So, anyhoo, the macrophage says, "Who, what's this?" and eats the partcle or substance or whatever . . . it eats the allergen. The thing which is eaten (just like it would swallow up bacteria) is processed and presented to the T cells (lymphocytes, CD4 to be exact). Those T cells then can influence other white blood cells, called
B cells or
plasmacytes to make antibodies against the substance recognized as foreign. The B cells then proliferate, make bunches of the antibodies (specifically
IgE), and these antibodies become incorporated into the host (body) defense system. Often they become part of the outside of
mast cells(in tissues) and
eosinophils(in the blood), cells which are then programmed specifically against that particular allergen.
So you clean your flute and put it away.
You take it out again the next day, and put it to your lips. Again, you're exposed to the allergens in the timber. But what's different . . . hmm, your body's
sensitized to these allergens. So you can get a more rapid response. What's the response? Well, those mast cells and eosinophils can release
histamine and other
inflammatory mediators which can cause local swelling, redness, itching . . . hives . . . general badness.
Sometimes allergic reactions merit treatment.
Antihistamines such as
Benadryl(diphenhydramine),
Allegra(fexofenadine),
Chlor-trimeton(chlorpheniramine maleate),
Claritin(loratadine) . . . there are many others . . . block the receptors that react to histamine. Steroids (prednisone, dexamethasone, methylprednisolone) have a more broad effect and disrupt quite a bit of the immune response by stopping cells from making various proteins (too complicated for a whistle message board, I think). Other agents, like
Zantac(ranitidine) are also antihistamines, but they block the receptor more common in the stomach . . . but they also have some place in the treatment of severe allergy.
What about those stupid TV commercials saying that you should use
Antihistamine X(I think it's
Zyrtec) because it's the only one "approved" for indoor and outdoor allergens? Poppycock! An antihistamine is an antihistamine, use the one that works for you with the least side effects.
So those are the basics. These antibodies the body makes are interesting little things, and only recognize a part of the allergen. So, if you're allergic to blackwood, it's likely that any rosewood would be problematic, since their allergens are probably similar. It also sounds like there may be at least a little cross-reactivity with cocus, but who knows.
I hope this helps.
Stuart
