Allergy Is Not a Problem to Be Sneezed At

Allergies, listed as the 6th leading cause of chronic disease in the US affecting more than 50 million people, is not a problem to be sneezed at. Although allergies are a wide-spread problem, the reasons why some people have a reaction to certain substances while others do not, are still not entirely certain.

While allergies can be bothersome and sometimes even life-threatening, not only with the reactions one can get, but finding the cause can be tiresome as well.

Common allergies and their symptoms can be broadly categorized into outdoor and indoor allergy triggers. Both outdoor and indoor trigger allergies can make your life really miserable so be aware of the things that could trigger your allergic reactions.

One of the most common outdoor trigger allergies is hay fever, caused by allergy to pollen. Pollen, which may come from trees, weeds, grasses and shrubs, are technically a harmless powdery substance. But when inhaled by people who are allergic to the different types of pollen, they may develop allergic rhinitis and asthma.

Symptoms may include:

• Sneezing,


• Runny nose,


• Blocked nose,


• Nasal congestion and


• Nasal inflammation.

Pollen, being small and light, tends to cling to the moisture in the air in humid climate and stays suspended longer and cause more sufferings. Windy days make condition worse.

Indoor trigger allergies tend to occur in windowless, polluted apartments with poor ventilation. Allergens like dust, mold and mites are usual culprits, although pet hair can be another major cause of allergic reactions. This brings on similar symptoms to outdoor trigger allergies.

Causes & Risk Factors

There are 2 main factors of allergies and can be categorized into host and environmental factors. Host factors include sex, age, race and hereditary; with hereditary being the most crucial factor. Environmental factors can be exposure to infectious diseases during childhood, dietary and environmental pollution.

Allergies are commonly believed to be caused by immune problems when foreign bodies or allergens enter the body and are detected and perceived to be a threat. The perceived intruder (allergens) triggers the body's defense system to combat this threat.

On first exposure to the allergens, white blood cells produces antibodies called IgE antibodies and attach themselves to Mast cells found in the respiratory system, gastrointestinal tract and skin. This first exposure produces no outward symptoms. On subsequent exposures, the allergens will combine with the IgE antibodies and produces chemicals like histamines. It is these chemicals that cause inflammation and the typical allergic symptoms like sneezing, runny nose, itching, watery eyes, skin rashes and even swelling of certain parts of the body.

Other common types of allergies are asthma, food, skin and drug allergy. These types of allergies produce different symptoms to different parts of the body. To know what you're allergic to, a diagnosis has to be made.

Diagnosis

There are a few tests that help determine if a person's symptoms are caused by allergies but the most reliable is the skin prick test, conducted under the watchful eye of an allergy specialist. Allergens known to cause allergies, such as pollen, peanut extract, mite proteins and grass, are injected into the skin through a series of needles and the reaction to the individual allergens are monitored to verify the reaction. Once a cause is determined, the person can take steps to avoid exposure to that item.

Allergy skin testing is preferred over blood allergy tests because it is more sensitive and specific, simpler to use, and less expensive.

Treatment

The best treatment obviously is to avoid the allergens that will trigger the allergic reactions or to reduce exposure. For instance, people who are allergic to pet hairs should do well to avoid having pets. However, there are some allergens which are difficult if not impossible to avoid, such as pollen, dust and dust mites.

Failing the avoidance treatment, medication is the next option.

Basically there are 2 approaches to the medication treatment:

1. Pharmacotherapy - This uses medication to suppress or reduce the severity of the allergic reactions. This treatment alleviates the symptoms but do not cure the core problem.




2. Immunotherapy - This involves injections of allergen extracts in increasing dosage to "desensitize" the person to allergens. This may cure the allergy but it could take as long as a few years.