Based on the results of present day studiespeople can be allergic to food, insects, pollen, medicine, animals, among several other things. Luckily, there are ways to get an accurate at home allergy test to properly ascertain where an allergy originated and thus how best to treat it.
What Are The Ways A Person's Allergies May Be Triggered?
- There are eight types of foods that are notorious for bringing out adverse allergic reactions in people: Milk, Eggs, Peanuts, Tree Nut, Soy, Wheat, Fish and Shellfish. Milk allergy, more specifically cow’s milk, is one of the most common in the world. The frequent causes are the naturally occurring proteins whey and casein. Symptoms of milk allergy may include hives, vomiting, or trouble breathing and sometimes affect a person’s digestive system. For eggs, it is the area called the ‘egg white’ that is the part of the egg responsible for allergic reactions. Egg allergy symptoms include but are not limited to stomach cramps, indigestion, diarrhea, repetitive cough and pale or blue coloring of the skin. Peanut is a particularly dangerous one as it could lead to death or severely debilitating reactions. People with peanut allergy should try their hardest to avoid all forms of peanuts - this includes products that contain peanuts. Tree nuts such as cashews, almonds, walnuts and hazelnuts have a similar reaction scope as peanuts and should be treated with the same deference when checking ingredients on label for traces of the nut. Soy allergy symptoms range from rapid pulse to drop in blood pressure and shock. A soy allergy typically could develop within a few minutes or hours following consumption of food that contains soy. Soy allergies are not normally as life threatening as the peanut but should be taken seriously just the same. Bread, pasta, and breakfast cereals are common foods that have wheat but wheat proteins could be found in licorice, ice cream, and jelly beans. Wheat allergy symptoms although normally mild are commonly confused with celiac disease - which causes long term damage to a person’s intestines. Fish allergy and shellfish allergy are not particularly related despite similarity in name. Barbecue sauce,bouillabaisse, caesar salad and caesar dressing in addition to the more than 20,000 species of fish are some of the main sources of the calcium building fish protein parvalbumin, enzymes - enolases and aldolases and gelatin that aggravates a person’s body into having a allergic reaction. Tropomyosins are the muscle proteins that are mostly associated with shellfish allergy. What is probably the most unique aspect of the allergens linked with seafood is that just handling or inhalation during the processing or cooking can cause symptoms consistent with an allergic reaction.
- Regarding insect allergies, there are two main ways it affects a person’s body. Through breaking of the skin with bites and stings or through contact and inhalation of insect debris. It pays to be careful around certain types of insects who have the ability to sting: honey bees, yellow jackets, hornets and wasps. Mostly because getting stung is a very uncomfortable experience even if a person has no history of allergic reaction. But if a person is allergic then they should be extremely vigilant. The venom from a sting could cause an overreaction of the immune system. Same rules apply when dealing with insects who are known to bite. Their fluid, once it breaks the skin after a bite, could also cause the immune system to overreact. Insects to watch out for and who fit the description are fire ants, blackflies, fleas, horseflies, kissing bugs and mosquitoes. The allergic reactions to either an insect’s bite or sting may vary from mild to extremely severe with the list of symptoms being itchiness around the area of the bite or sting, rashes, swelling around the area of the bite or sting, swelling of the lips, tongue, face, throat or eyelids, light-headedness, fainting, coughing, wheezing, or problems breathing. Allergens phospholipase and hyaluronidase are prominent in the venom from the sting of yellow jackets and honey bees while Aed a 3, is the protein allergen from the saliva of the mosquito that gives the human body the most trouble neutralizing. There are some insects whose presence alone causes extreme discomfort for a significant portion of the population. These insects carry bacteria as they travel through your property. They cause allergies with the following types of waste that contain potent allergen proteins: droppings, saliva, skin shedding and deposited body parts. Dust mites, cockroaches, midges, lake flies and caddisflies among others are the chief culprits behind these health issues. While generally mild, these insects could trigger off allergic reactions that border on life threatening. Respiratory issues such as asthma, complete with wheezing and coughing, are the more serious reactions while nasal congestion, skin rashes, ear infections and sinus infections are counted as the milder reactions to the allergy caused by these pests. Unfortunately, these symptoms could become chronic as these insects can cause reactions all year round.
- Pollen is one of the more common causes of allergies especially during the spring and summer seasons. As trees are normally pollinated early in the year then followed by the grass later in the spring and summer. Pollen is a powdery substance and it is generated in a structure on the end of the stamen (the male reproductive part of the flower) also known as the anther and its purpose is to fertilize other plants in the same species. In order for pollination to occur, pollen grains must be transferred from the anther to the female stigma of another plant. It is during this transfer, billions of grains of pollen are dispersed by the wind. Some of these grains have a negative effect on people’s bodies and respiratory systems. Finding their way into the eyes, noses and lungs of every one and triggering quite a few. Symptoms of pollen allergies normally manifests itself as hay fever - otherwise known as allergic rhinitis, red around the eyes and swelling around the eyes. Even though pollen in itself is harmless, a person’s immune system unfortunately might identify it as dangerous and thus overreact to its presence within the body. A person is sometimes genetically predisposed to be affected by symptoms of pollen allergy. Pollen counts were created to measure how much pollen is in the air on a given day. A pollen count covers a large area since pollen is airborne and is measured by grains of pollen in a cubic meter. Pollen counts vary with the weather and location, so pollen allergies differ dramatically from person to person.
- Medicine allergic reactions are especially dangerous because medications are used for the specific reason to help a person get well or feel better, so it is pretty unexpected to be the reason for any distress. Most people have heard of antihistamines, as treatments for mild allergy reactions mainly congestion and runny nose, however not much is spoken about histamine and how it is created. Histamines are chemicals immune systems make to protect a body. They are normally the beginning of the chain reaction that starts a body’s defense mechanism. When they leave the mast cells, histamines boost blood flow in the area of the body the allergen is affected. This causes inflammation, which lets other chemicals from the immune system step in to repair. Histamines then stop at special places called receptors. So, if a person’s nose gets irritated histamines are there to prompt the thin walls lining the nose, called membranes, to make more mucus. The results are a runny or stuffy nose which normally leads to . The mucus can also bother a person’s throat and make them cough. Histamines are known to make affected people’s eyes and nose itch along with many of the other symptoms that go along with allergic reactions. Certain drugs are more commonly known to cause allergic reactions: drugs used to treat seizures, insulin, iodine, penicillin and sulfa drugs. Symptoms affecting the heart such as rapid pulse and sensation of feeling the heartbeat (palpitations) are the allergy reactions that are unique to medicine and should be taken very seriously. These symptoms may occur right away or hours after receiving the drug. In extreme cases there is a delayed type of reaction called serum sickness that occurs a week or more after you are exposed to a medicine or vaccine.
- Apart from food allergies, probably the most annoying allergy to be afflicted with is the one that does not allow a person to spend time with their pets. There is almost something sinister about the reaction some people’s bodies have towards otherwise harmless animals. Any warm blooded pet including birds, rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters even cows or horses could cause issues. Despite popular belief, it is not the hair of the animal that causes allergy problems. It is often the urine, saliva and dander (loose scales formed on the skin and shed from the coat or feathers of animals) that affects the most people with a propensity for being allergic. Symptoms of animal allergies are primarily mild in nature with facial pressure, skin inflammation and runny nose being the most common result. However, if being around an animal triggers an asthmatic response then a person should take the steps to avoid all contact with that particular animal.
Statistically, all told, severe allergic reactions lead to around 1,500 deaths a year in the United States. However, with allergies being the sixth leading cause of chronic illness in America and numbers like 50 million being affected, it would make sense for every household to be equipped with an at home allergy test to be able to safeguard their family from all types of allergy related issues.
