Allergies 101: Types, Symptoms, Triggers, and Solutions
An allergy is the body’s immune system’s reaction to an allergen—a foreign substance that is usually not damaging to the body. It can consist of specific foods, pollen, or animal dander.
Your immune system’s role is to protect you from hazardous germs and maintain your health.
It accomplishes this by attacking anything it believes threatens your safety.
Depending on the allergen, this reaction might include a variety of symptoms, such as inflammation and sneezing.
Usually, the immune system adapts to its surroundings.
For instance, when it encounters a pet dander, the body should recognize it as innocuous.
However, when someone has dander allergies, the immune system assaults the allergen because it thinks it is an outside threat to the body.
Types of Allergies
Skin Allergy
Skin allergies can be caused by latex, pet dander, poison, ivy, plant pollen, light, water, food, bug dung, and venom.
Animal Allergy
The proteins animals create in their fur, skin, urine, and spit are typically the source of animal allergies.
Insect Allergy
Venom from insects or cockroaches can cause allergies to insects.
Allergens can be found in the proteins found in cockroach excrement, spit, or body parts.
Proteins found in the venom of insects, including fire ants, wasps, hornets, honeybees, and yellow jackets can also do this.
Dust Allergy
Many allergens found in household dust can result in dust allergy. Among these allergies are:
- Dust mites are a very frequent indoor allergen.
- Cockroaches
- Pet dandruff, feathers, and hair Mold Pollen
Seasonal Allergy
- Spring Allergy: Tree pollen is a common source of springtime allergies. Pollen from a wide variety of trees can aggravate allergy symptoms.
- Summer Allergy: Grass pollen is a common cause of summertime allergies. Most grasses do not aggravate allergies, yet several common grass pollens include Timothy, Bahia, Bermuda, Fescue, Johnson, and Kentucky blue.
- Fall Allergy: Ragweed pollen is typically the source of fall allergies. However, other plant pollens, such as Lamb’s quarters, cocklebur, burning bush, Pigweed and Mugwort, Thistle from Russia, and tumbleweed and sagebrush, may also trigger them.
Food Allergy
A food allergy affects 4%–6% of children and 4% of adults. While reactions can occur from any food, nine categories of foods account for many food allergies:
- Eggs
- Dairy and milk
- Almonds
- Tree nuts, including pine nuts, cashews, walnuts, and almonds
- Fish
- Shellfish include shrimp, crab, and lobster.
- Wheat
- Soy (including tahini) seeds
Children with wheat (gluten) allergies are also prevalent, but by the time they are twelve, most of them—roughly 65% of them—have outgrown it.
Drug Allergy
Typically, drug allergies are brought on by:
- Penicillin and associated antibiotics (the most prevalent medication allergy)
- Antibiotics sulfonamides (commonly known as sulfa medicines)
- NSAIDS and anticonvulsants like ibuprofen and aspirin
- Medications used in chemotherapy
Symptoms
Various elements contribute to the symptoms of allergies, including the kind of allergy and its intensity.
If you take any medicine before an expected allergic reaction, some symptoms may still occur but may be less severe.
For Food Allergies
Food allergies may result in edema, rashes, nausea, lethargy, and other symptoms.
A person may not become aware of their food allergy right away.
See a doctor immediately if you experience a severe response to a meal and are unsure why.
They can identify the precise reason behind your reaction or recommend a professional.
For Seasonal Allergies
Hay fever symptoms can be like a cold. They consist of puffy eyes, runny nose, and congestion.
Most of the time, over-the-counter medications can be used at home to address these symptoms.
If your symptoms become unbearable, consult your physician.
For Severe Allergies
Anaphylaxis can result from severe allergies. It is a potentially fatal emergency that may include dizziness, breathing problems, and unconsciousness.
If these symptoms occur after encountering a potential allergen, consider emergency medical attention.
Causes
Researchers have remained puzzled by why the immune system triggers an allergic reaction whenever a normally innocuous foreign material enters the body.
There is a hereditary component to allergies. It implies that parents can impart them to their offspring.
Allergy susceptibility is, however, only hereditary in general. Specific allergies do not carry over.
For example, just because your mother has a shellfish allergy does not mean you will.
The causes of common allergies consist of:
- Items made from animals: Cockroaches, dust mite excrement, and pet dander are a few of these.
- Medicines: Sulfa medications and penicillin are frequent causes.
- Foods: Allergies to wheat, nuts, milk, shellfish, and eggs are prevalent.
- Stings from insects: Mosquitoes, wasps, and bees.
- Mold: Mold spores in the air can start a reaction.
- Vegetation: Plant allergies are frequently found in grass, weeds, and trees. They can also be found in the resin of plants like poison ivy and poison oak.
- Other allergies: Metals like nickel and latex, frequently present in condoms and latex gloves, are also common.
Diagnosis
You should see an allergist if over-the-counter drugs do not relieve your allergy symptoms or if you suspect a food allergy. To identify allergies, an allergist will probably:
- Inquire about your health and whether any family members suffer from allergies or asthma.
- Inquire about your symptoms.
- Perform a physical examination.
- Conduct allergy testing
Allergy Testing
Skin Tests
A skin test is the most common method of testing for allergies. It provides the best and most accurate results.
Certain medications may interfere with the testing. Ask your doctor if you can terminate any medicines before the test.
The most common test used by allergists is a skin prick test. Usually, a doctor or nurse will apply a small drop of an allergen to the inside of your arm or on your back.
Subsequently, they will puncture your skin or create a tiny cut through the drop, allowing the allergen to penetrate beneath the skin. The skin prick will not result in bleeding. It should not hurt, but you will feel it.
The physician will likely test for multiple allergies at once. It indicates that you are susceptible to that allergy if an affected area becomes red, itchy, or swells like a mosquito bite. Usually, finding out takes fifteen minutes or so.
Some physicians inject the allergen beneath your skin’s outermost layers using a tiny needle. We refer to this as an intradermal skin test.
Your doctor might use this test if your results are negative, but allergies have not been ruled out. Moreover, they might do it if they believe you have an allergy to drugs or insect venom.
Following the test, the physician or nurse will cleanse your skin and apply a lotion to relieve any irritation. Reaction-related edema typically goes away after a few hours or thirty minutes.
Blood Tests
A blood test may be conducted instead of a skin test, and any medications that could influence the findings of an allergy test or have experienced an adverse reaction to a skin test may be taken.
Children may also be subjected to a blood test.
During the test, the doctor sends a blood sample to a lab, where allergens are added. The quantity of antibodies the blood produces in response to the allergen is then measured.
In addition to being less precise than a skin test, this is typically more costly.
Food Allergy Tests
Your doctor may urge you to stop eating a particular meal or food to determine whether you might be allergic to them. This is called an elimination diet.
You will refrain from eating those items for two to four weeks and observe whether you experience any allergic symptoms.
If not, you will reintroduce the meals and monitor if your symptoms return. If they do, you most likely have an allergy to those foods.
Your doctor may also tell you to participate in an oral food challenge. Only an allergist in a medical office should perform this.
Little amounts of the food you could be allergic to will be given to you by your doctor, who will also monitor for any symptoms.
They will progressively increase your dosage if you do not have any. The test will be stopped if symptoms appear.
The most typical symptoms include flushing or hives. In that case, you will be given medication to help you feel better. Your doctor will rule out a food allergy if you experience no symptoms.
How to get rid of Allergies?
Immunotherapy
The medication known as immunotherapy is used to stop allergic responses.
The two types are sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT) and allergy injections. Your doctor will administer a tiny dose of an allergen you are allergic to during immunotherapy.
They gradually up your dosage till you experience reduced sensitivity. When you encounter that allergen again, your symptoms are lessened.
Subcutaneous Immunotherapy
Subcutaneous immunotherapy is sometimes known as allergy shots. The most popular and effective allergy treatment physicians recommend is allergy injections.
They can alter your immune system, stop the onset of asthma, and stop you from acquiring new allergies. Shots are safe.
However, there is a slim chance you might respond to them, so if that happens, your doctor will observe you in their office.
Immunizations are effective against allergies to dander from animals, Mold, plants, home dust, and insects.
Shots, however, do not seem to be as effective for allergies to feathers, food, or medications. If you have eczema or hives, they might not be helpful.
Allergy shots are typically administered once a week for around seven months, after which they are given every two weeks.
You will eventually require one every four weeks. The whole thing might take three to five years.
Sublingual Immunotherapy
Injections are not used in SLIT. Instead, your physician will place a tablet containing tiny quantities of an allergy under your tongue.
After the tablets dissolve for one to two minutes, you consume them. You may need to take these daily or perhaps every three days.
You may need treatment for three to five years to get a long-lasting result.
There are tablets for grass, ragweed, and dust mites. Children with allergies-related eczema may benefit from SLIT.
Although research on SLIT as a potential treatment for food allergies is still in its early stages, it is being done.
In the United States, one medication is available to treat peanut allergies: peanut allergen extract (Palforzia).
Allergy Medicines
Allergy symptoms can be reduced by taking a variety of drugs.
Steroids
In medicine, steroids—also referred to as corticosteroids—are used to lessen allergic reaction swelling and redness.
There are several ways to obtain steroids:
- As liquids or pills for severe asthma or allergies
- Asthma inhalers that act locally
- Nasal sprays with localized action for seasonal or perennial allergies
- Creams for allergies on the skin
- For allergic conjunctivitis, eye drops
Your doctor can also recommend other drugs to assist in treating your allergy symptoms in addition to steroids.
Antihistamines
For many years, antihistamines have been used to alleviate allergy symptoms. They prevent redness, swelling, and itching caused by histamine.
Antihistamines can be taken as:
- Tablets, available in strengths that are OTC or prescribed
- Over-the-counter liquids
- Nasal sprays prescribed on prescription: olopatadine, azelastine
- Eye drops, over-the-counter and prescription alternatives such as olopatadine and ketotifen
Combination Allergy Drugs
Certain allergy medications, including a decongestant and an antihistamine, are the best allergy medicine.
They treat several allergy symptoms simultaneously. In addition to obstructing histamine’s effects, several medications prevent mast cells from releasing other substances that trigger allergies.
Combination allergy medication examples include:
- loratadine and pseudoephedrine, diphenhydramine and pseudoephedrine, fexofenadine and pseudoephedrine, cetirizine and pseudoephedrine, and pseudoephedrine/triprolidine (for nasal allergies) are OTC pills and liquids.
- Acrivastine and pseudoephedrine (Semprex-D) are prescription pills and liquids.
- Nose sprays: for seasonal nasal allergies, azelastine/fluticasone (Dymista) blends a steroid and a decongestant.
- Naphazoline/pheniramine eye drops for edema and redness
Prevention
It is impossible to avoid allergies. However, there are methods to prevent the symptoms from manifesting. Steer clear of the allergens that cause allergy symptoms.
The best defense against food allergy symptoms is avoidance. By doing an elimination diet, you can identify the source of your allergies and learn how to prevent them.
When dining out, read product labels carefully and ask questions to help you avoid food allergies.
Understanding the locations of allergens and how to avoid them is the key to preventing seasonal contact and other allergies.
For example, installing appropriate air filters, having your air ducts professionally cleaned, and routinely dusting your home can all help lessen dust allergy symptoms.
Accurate allergy testing can help you identify your specific triggers, making it more straightforward to avoid them.
Complications
Allergies raise the possibility of these additional health issues:
- Anaphylaxis: Your likelihood of experiencing this kind of severe reaction increases with the severity of your allergies.
- Asthma: Breathing becomes difficult due to another immune system reaction. An allergic reaction may bring on an asthma attack.
- Sinusitis: When your sinuses attempt to clear out allergens, it may lead to sinusitis, an inflammation of the tissues inside your sinuses.
- Lung or ear infections: These infections cause swelling and inflammation of the tissues in those regions.
A Quick Review
To sum up, knowing about allergies allows us to live in a world where our immune systems respond to seemingly innocuous things.
We have examined how allergies affect our daily lives, from identifying symptoms to implementing good management techniques.
By remaining informed, pushing for more excellent research, and standing by one another, we can strive towards a future where allergies are better understood and treated, guaranteeing healthier and happier lives for everyone afflicted.
Accepting knowledge and empathy, we proceed in our quest to lessen the impact of allergies and encourage improved health for everybody.
