Allergies – Some Severe Complications

Apart from allergies there can be some severe complications and they are:

Acute sinusitis – sinuses are the air filled hollow cavities around the nose and nasal passages, when inflamed, fluid may accumulate and interfere with the normal drainage of mucus in the sinuses and this is called as an acute sinusitis.

The symptoms are difficulty in breathing, pain, headache, fever, cough and swelling of the eyes and face. Although bacteria and allergies may be the reason, common cold virus is the most frequent reason for this condition.

The therapies can be from antibiotics to corticosteroids for acute inflammation.

Most of the symptoms are vanished shortly, if the symptoms last less than four weeks, it is considered acute.

Chronic sinusitis – In most of the cases sinusitis are acute, they disappear in less than four weeks. If this condition lasts more than four weeks or recurs, then it is a developed case of chronic sinusitis.

Dermatographia – it is a condition where the skin is over sensitive to light, scratching resulting in red lines there, it is not serious but may be uncomfortable. The symptoms are redness, itching and swelling. If they last long antihistamines and self-care measures can help to manage this skin problems.

Hives and angioedema – it is also known as urticaria in which batches of raised, red or white itchy wheals of various sizes appear and disappear on the skin.

Asthma – the relationship between allergies and asthma are very much interlinked.

Nasal polyps – small nasal polyps may usually cause few problems, but larger one can affect your breathing and your sense of smell is diminished. It is more common in persons above 40 years and also in adults and in children with asthma, chronic sinus infections, hay fever and cystic fibrosis.

Medications are the common treatment for small nasal polyps, but surgery is the choice to remove larger polyps.

Anaphylaxis – it is a dangerous and life-threatening allergic reaction and the common triggers are foods, insect venoms, latex and certain drugs. The allergic symptoms are watery eyes and a runny nose. Anaphylaxis floods many chemicals in the body which makes your blood pressure drop suddenly, difficulty in breathing, unconsciousness and death. This effect may be in seconds or in few minutes. It can be venom from bee sting or an ingested groundnut or a drug, like penicillin.

Fortunately, anaphylaxis is the least common allergic reaction and at the same time the doctors and the emergency centres could help you very quickly.

Allergies

Allergies are not normal reactions of the immune system to substances which are harmless to most of the people. If you are allergic to some substances, your immune system mistakenly believes that this is harmful to your body, it produces IgE antibodies to that substance, called allergen which in turn cause certain cells in your body to release substances into your blood, and the important one is histamine.

Histamine is responsible for the allergic symptoms, it acts then on your eyes, nose, throat, lungs, skin or gastrointestinal tract and causes the allergic reactions. Every time if you come in contact with that same allergen, you will have an allergic reaction.

The common allergies are:

Food allergy – it is increasing. In food intolerance for example lactose intolerance, your immune system does not play a role.

Drugs allergy, prescribed, over-the-counter and also plant medicines in allopathy and in all the other traditional medicine – a drug allergy is a wrong immune system reaction to a drug

Dust allergy – any dust, particularly dust from roadside affects your health very much

Dust mite allergy – dust mites are micro organisms which are found plenty in our bed or home, eating your dead skin cells and living in bedding, furnishings and carpets. Their faeces and decaying bodies mixed and dried with dust become airborne. It is not harmful if you are not allergic, if not, they can cause bothersome allergic reactions.

Mould allergy – when you come in contact with mould spores, your body recognizes them as foreign invaders and develops antibodies to fight them. Histamine is released in your body which cause the symptoms itchy, watery eyes, runny nose, sneezing and other allergic symptoms.

Groundnut allergy – groundnut allergy is common and often appears in the first years of life, but unlike milk, egg allergy, most of the children do not outgrow groundnut allergy as they get older.

Penicillin allergy – penicillin allergy occurs when your immune system recognizes it as a harmful substance.

Shellfish allergy – it is one of the most common food allergies and it can affect children also. Shellfish includes shrimp, lobster, clams, octopus and squid

Soya bean allergy – your immune system identifies certain Soya proteins as harmful and after that the procedure is the same as earlier.

Wheat allergy – Wheat is one of the most common allergy causing foods and children are often attacked than the adults. Here the villain is gluten.

Hay fever – your immune system mistakenly identifies a harmless airborne substance as something harmful. These are seasonal or round the year allergies, tree pollen in the spring, grass pollen common in late spring and summer, weed pollen common in the fall and spores from fungi and moulds in the warm-weather months. The year-round hay fever is triggered by dust, dander, dried skin flaks from pet animals and spores from indoor and outdoor fungi or moulds.

Nickel contact allergy – nickel is an essential element, but the problem is the contact allergy. Nickel may be in several products such as fashion jewelleries, coins, eyeglass frames, belts etc.

Latex allergy – it is an allergic reaction to certain proteins found in natural rubber latex, a product manufactured from the milky fluid from the rubber tree from Southeast Asia and Africa.

Chronic hives – hives, also known as urticaria, are batches of raised, red or white wheals of various sizes, which appear and disappear. Mostly they disappear within few weeks and for some people it is a long term problems.

Pet allergy – it is also one of the most common allergies from dogs, cats, birds, hamsters etc. Remember, it is not the fur or feather causes the allergic reaction, but the small and invisible flakes of animal skin is the villain here.

Remember, any other substance can also bring allergic reactions to you, if you observe and remember everything, it is easy to find out this new allergen, unfortunately if you have allergy to a substance, you may have also allergic reactions to many other substances.

The best things to avoid allergies are to avoid the allergy producing substances, if it is not possible like in the cases of air pollution or pollen, medication may be necessary, contact an allergy specialist to get the maximum help.