Living with allergies is no simple matter. From pollen season sneezes to itchy eyes around pets, allergies can significantly restrict daily activities and diminish overall quality of life (QoL).
Understanding how allergies impact your immune system is key to safely discovering allergy triggers. In this blog series, we’ll look at strategies for managing allergies and mitigating symptoms.
1. Understand Your Allergies
Allergies result from your immune system mistaking harmless substances for dangerous ones – like pollen, pet dander or food allergens – as harmful and reacting by releasing chemicals that produce symptoms like sneezing, runny nose and watery eyes – or more extreme reactions such as life-threatening anaphylaxis.
Allergy symptoms can severely interfere with daily activities and lifestyle, especially if they’re severe and persistent. They may limit outdoor activities during peak allergy seasons, reduce your ability to exercise or enjoy other hobbies, make social gatherings challenging, or impact performance at school or work depending on how severe or frequent they are; frequent allergic reactions could even lead to chronic conditions like asthma and eczema.
Food allergies present a unique set of challenges because you must avoid the foods that trigger symptoms. A food diary is invaluable in identifying problem foods. Wear a medical alert bracelet or necklace indicating your food allergies and carry emergency medication like an EpiPen in case of an allergic reaction. Avoidance alone may not be sufficient; many may require antihistamines, decongestants and nasal corticosteroids in addition to allergen immunotherapy (where gradually exposing immune system cells to allergens can build tolerance over time). Finally, some patients may benefit from allergen immunotherapy which involves gradually exposing immune system cells to allergens over time in order to build tolerance over time – something many don’t realize they could benefit greatly from.
2. Identify Your Triggers
Allergic reactions occur when your immune system misinterprets an allergen as harmful. Although most allergens are harmless to most, such as pollen from trees and grasses floating through the air or pet dander (flakes of skin from animals with fur or feathers), your body responds as though they were germs or viruses, leading to symptoms like sneezing, runny nose and watery eyes – and in severe cases may even result in life-threatening situations like anaphylaxis!
Different allergies have different triggers. Seasonal allergies–known by their medical term as hay fever–are often brought on by tree, grass and weed pollen which often hits at certain times of year, leaving people suffering symptoms like runny nose and itchy eyes. Other potential allergen triggers can include food, medication, insect stings, mold, animal dander, dust mites or latex.
Diaries can be invaluable tools in tracking symptoms and what helps or worsens them, helping both you and healthcare professionals identify any possible triggers of an allergic reaction. For instance, keeping windows closed during high pollen counts could reduce symptoms. If dust mite allergies are the issue, washing bedding often and using “mite-proof” mattress/pillow covers are effective solutions.
3. Make a Plan
Your immune system’s role is to protect you against bacteria and viruses that could potentially cause disease; when it overreacts by attacking substances that are typically harmless (food, pollen, pet dander or insect stings), the result can be allergies. These overreactions can trigger symptoms like itchy eyes, runny nose, sneezing, watery eyes or even hives in some people.
Food allergies can make dining out at restaurants or trying new foods challenging, often increasing the risk of an allergic reaction and restricting outdoor activities during peak allergy season, limiting enjoyment of sun and fresh air.
Allergies can seriously interfere with school and work performance by leading to symptoms like sneezing, stuffy nose or itchy watery eyes that affect performance. Some severe reactions may even be life threatening; for this reason it’s crucial that you speak to your physician regarding symptoms and make a treatment plan together.
Dose with antihistamines as directed by your doctor. Keep epinephrine auto-injectors handy, knowing how to use them if a severe allergic reaction should arise. Inform friends and family members about your allergies so they can assist you in avoiding potential allergens; teach children with food allergies about the dangers they might face when visiting other homes during playdates; if unable to be there during such playdates themselves, find babysitters familiar with caring for them effectively.
4. Be Prepared
Allergies can be more than merely inconvenient – they can significantly limit your quality of life. Sneezing during pollen season, itchy eyes around pets, and runny noses might seem like minor inconveniences; but left untreated they can become much more serious health risks.
Now is an excellent time to develop and implement an allergy management plan, to ensure both you and your children live fulfilling and productive lives. If symptoms arise, schedule an appointment with an allergist immediately so they can work together on devising an appropriate treatment plan.
Keep track of your symptoms to identify possible allergens. Penn Medicine offers allergy testing services which involve scratching the skin with trace amounts of allergens to test whether your body reacts or not.
Be prepared for food-allergen emergency plans by creating an allergy avoidance plan and training all family members on what signs to look out for, reading labels properly and preparing safe foods.
Allergies don’t just affect adults; they can have an enormously detrimental impact on children as well. Be sure to inform teachers and school staff of your child’s allergies, especially food-based allergies, so an emergency plan can be created with details for administering Epinephrine as needed and what steps should be taken if there’s a severe reaction.
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