Allergy Symptoms And Most Common Allergens
69Allergy Symptoms
One of the reasons of so frequent missed diagnoses is the fact that the allergy symptoms are common for a wide range of other diseases and ailments, some of them not requiring a special medical attention. To give you only one example: how many times have you seen your doctor for a common cold or flu? I don't believe many of you go to the physician at the first cough or running nose. You just take some over the counter medication and you get well in about one week. I know it, because I'm also like this: I'm not so eager to visit my doc when I think my problem is not too serious.
Unfortunately, such symptoms can be sign of allergic reactions, especially of they occur repeatedly and very often. If you catch a cold every week or every monht, then you should start suspecting an allergy. Untreated, allergy will only get worse in time, and the symptoms will be more and more severe, and they may even put your life in danger. Only think at this: swelling is one of the most encountered allergic reactions. If swelling occurs in your throat, you'd suffocate, because the airways would become too narrow to let enough air pass through to your lungs, so you'd miss oxygen in your blood cells.
Amongst the most common allergy symptoms there are:
- Skin irritations, rashes, hives, redness
- Swelling of various parts of the body
- Running nose
- Teary, red, running eyes, with a sensation of sand in them
- Sneezing
- Breathing difficulties
- Dry cough which lasts more than two weeks
- Unexplained tiredness, combined with some of the above symptoms
Common Allergens
Allergens are the substances which trigger an allergic reaction when they get in contact with the patient's body.Everything can be a potential allergen, but some substances are more prone to give alelrgies than others. These are just a few examples:
- Dust:dust contains some tiny organisms called dust mites, which are usually the cause of the allergies to dust
- Pollens: birchtrees and other plants spread pollen in the air during spring and fall, causing airborne allergies
- Foods: strawberries, apples, crayfish, peanuts, tomatoes, eggs, cow's milk
- Pet dander: animal saliva contains a protein which may cause allergy
- Mold: if you live in a house with basement, the mold in there can cause you allergic reactions, despite the fact that you cannot feel the smell
- Latex: household and surgical gloves, balloons, condoms
Allergy Cannot Be Cured
You need to be aware that allergy is incurable, so once you got diagnosed you need to change your lifestyle in order to avoid exposure to the substances which cause you allergic reactions. Personally, I don't think itis too hard to refrain from eating some foods, but I canunderstand other people have cravings. Especially children may be difficult to control, because they are not so health-aware like many adults, so they'd be tempted to taste the forbidden aliments from time to time. This is why education plays a mojor role, and all parents and teachers should dedicate time to explain children how serious allergy can be, and how an anaphylactic shock can kill somebody in no time. This is important, because I've read about children who scare their allergic colleagues by threatening to touch them with the allergenic foods, without realizing they might become killers.
PrintShare it! — Rate it: up down flag this hub
Comments
aprilkerr you are an idiot, everyone has an allergy of some sort. It's been a year since you posted. I'm 100% positive you have experienced some kind of allergy. Just remember - You are D-U-M-B.
Allergy today
- Allergy Testing
I've spoken in an older rambling about my allergic rhinitis, how difficult it was for the doctors to come up with a correct diagnosis and how much I had to suffer before getting the appropriate treatment for my ailment. Allergy testing is something that I should have started with, if my family doctor was a bit more science-aware. He's not bad, but I believe he has a limited experience, because he doesn't read the latest medical journals, he never attends the specialists conferences, so he doesn't know about the latest state of the art treatments for diseases that cannot be cured, like this allergy. Testing for allergy is so simple. that when I discovered it, I was so sorry that he didn't think to make me do it earlier. Types of Allergy Testing 1. Intradermal testing: the patient is injected a very small quantity from the suspected allergen substance under the skin. Multiple tests can be done at once, provided that the doctor or the nurse writes nearby each mark what allergen was used (like peanuts, dust, pollen, mold...). After some 30 minutes of waiting, the marks are examined: the bigger they get, the more allergic you are to the respective trigger. 2. Prick tests: this kind of allergy testing is very similar to the intradermal testing, but instead of injecting the substance, the skin is scratched and a drop of each allergen is poured on the scratch, also writing on the skin the names of the testing substances. 3. RAST and ELIZA tests: sometimes, especially if a very strong allergic reaction is suspected, intradermal testing and prick tests can be very dangerous, and even lethal. In such situations, it is advisable that the patient is taken a blood sample, and the tests are performed on that, without endangering life. The results of this type of allergy testing come after a few weeks. If I only knew allergy testing was so easy! Not cheap, but affordable, and it improved my life.
- Dog Allergy
As a person who had raised pets all my life, I've often been asked what I think about dog allergy. Well, maybe 40 years ago I would have considered this allergy a bad joke, and not only in dogs or other pets, but in humans as well. I never believed allergies were real, and I suspected all people who claimed to be allergic of hypocrisy. Is Dog Allergy For Real? Lately, especially since I've been diagnosed myself with various degrees of allergy (from mild to severe) to pollen, dust, and several foods, I started to pay more attention to allergen substances that surround us in all seasons, and particularly in spring, and I've noticed that allergy is not the exclusive privilege of mankind, but dogs can suffer from allergic reactions also. For instance, Timmy, my dear Scottish Terrier, used to get teary eyes and running nose each time we went to play in the park during spring. In the same time, he seemed to be scratching more often than usual, so I accused a skin disease. The dermatological tests our vet recommended did not show any ailment, however, he manifested the same symptoms after every walk. Then a friend of mine told me about the possibility of dog allergy, which I vehemently denied in the beginning. How could a dog be allergic? How Can Dog Allergy Be Diagnosed Intrigued by my friend's words, I asked my allergy specialist and he told me that yes, it is also possible for a dog to develop an allergy. He recommended me to bring in Timmy to get him tested for the most known allergens. The allergy tests for dogs can be done in the same way they are done on people: either by taking a blood sample and make it react with various substances, or by intradermal skin testing. As my dog was very young, I feared letting him get injected all those things under his skin, so I decided for letting the doctor take some blood and get it analyzed. To make a long story short, it came out that my little dog was allergic to birch pollen. As avoidance of the allergen is many times the best treatment, I never brought Timmy into the park during the spring days and his dog allergy symptoms almost disappeared.
- Is Allergy Contagious?
As an old allergic, such remarks make me laugh each time I hear them: "is allergy contagious?" or "is there a vaccine to prevent catching an allergy?" or "which is the incubation period for allergy?". I can understand people who are in good health are not interested in such morbid details, but once they learn they've got a disease, they should try to educate themselves, to get some information about the lifestyle of other people who got the same ailment. Allergy is one of the most neglected, thus most dangerous diseases which have no cure and not vaccine yet. To answer now the first question, no, allergy is not contagious, but it is believed to be genetically inherited, so if you have antecedents in your family you should get yourself tested for the most common allergens, because you are at high risk.
aprilkerr says:
13 months ago
I would hate to have allergies, I'm so glad that they don't affect me.