Guide For Allergy Symptoms

An allergy is a symptom of a malfunction of the immune system in the body causing a person to respond to a certain substance in a hypersensitive way (causing the allergic reactions).Allergy relief can be offered by different types of medication, avoiding the typical substances or surroundings (or even pets) causing the allergy. Allergy symptoms are wide ranging but the most common sympro9ms are:

• A runny nose and sneezing (due to an inflammatory response after exposure to the allergen, the cause of your allergy).
• Itchy skin or itchy eyes ( the body's immune system cannot cope with exposure to the allergen and tries to defend itself against the substance, causing itchy eyes.
• Severely allergic people suffering from for example bee sting or wasp allergies, can have serious allergic reactions to stings by these creatures, possibly resulting in a life threatening anaphylactic shock or death when treatment is not applied in time.

Differences between allergy, intolerance and sensitivity

Allergy

Proper allergies are caused by the body's response to a certain, usually harmless, substance.The immune system tries to fight off the body's oversensitive reaction to the substance and tries to fight it, causing symptoms that are typical for allergies in the process. Allergy symptoms can usually be treated with allergy medicine. A doctor can prescribe the best allergy treatment for people with serious allergies and most of those people benefit from allergy medications.

Intolerance

Intolerance is an extreme sensitivity to a type of food, substance or drug, but the response to the substance has nothing to do with the body's immune system. Symptoms can be like those of an allergic reaction but allergy testing will more often than not show that the patient is merely suffering from intolerance. Intolerance reactions of the body can usually be delayed and this is not the cause with typical allergic reactions.

Sensitivity

More and more people suffer from adverse reactions of the body to the chemicals surrounding us (think of chemicals and pollution in the air, smoke, cleaning products and beauty products, soap and many more products). People can grow sensitive to these substances and the sensitivity can cause (often fairly mild) allergic symptoms such as itchy skin, headaches or a rash on the skin.

Symptoms of allergies

As allergies can cause more symptoms than just a runny nose or an itchy throat and watery eyes, there are many signs to look out for when you suspect that you might be suffering from an allergy. More often than not allergy patients will also experience a feeling of a raised body temperature doing allergy attacks. Other symptoms are:

Sneezing

Sneezing is caused by irritation of the tissue in the nose, prompted by the defence mechanism of the body during an allergy attack. The body's immune system is alarmed because a substance that it has developed intolerance for is on or close to the body.By sneezing the body is trying to get rid of the allergen.

Wheezing

Wheezing, an allergic reaction likened to asthma attacks, can make breathing difficult for a short period of time. Allergy testing and an investigation into the symptoms of your possible allergy can help to define whether you are dealing with asthma or an allergy.

Sinus pain

A headache with a lot of pain and a sense of pressure behind the forehead and the eyes.

A runny nose

Caused by excessive sneezing and irritated nose.

Itchy or red eyes

Airborne allergens such as dust and pollen come in contact with the eyes, causing an allergic reaction of red, watery and itchy eyes. Allergy relief is available in the form of eye drops containing antihistamines.

Continue to: Causes of Allergies