Food allergies can cause serious and life-threatening reactions. People with such allergies are at an increased risk for other medical issues, including asthma and eczema.
Avoiding foods that cause reactions is key in managing food allergies, and doctors can provide medication like adrenalin auto-injectors (Adrenaclick or EpiPen) for severe reactions.
What is a food allergy?
Food allergies occur when your immune system responds negatively to specific foods or substances found within them, and can result in symptoms like hives, trouble breathing and stomach cramps. Food intolerances do not involve your immune system in any way and exhibit different sets of symptoms (bloating and abdominal cramps for instance).
Your immune system often mistakes food for harmful, and sends cells to create immunoglobulin E or IgE antibodies which recognize it as an impending risk to health. When you eat that same food again, these antibodies produce histamine which causes symptoms; some foods are more likely to trigger such reactions than others – these include milk, eggs, wheat, peanuts, shellfish and tree nuts as examples of common food allergens.
Over time, many people can outgrow food allergies to milk or eggs; it is less likely for peanuts, tree nuts and other seeds to outgrow their allergies completely.
Food allergies are potentially life-threatening. If you suffer from food allergies, be sure to carry an emergency kit containing Epinephrine or Epi-pens at all times and consult a specialist as soon as possible for proper diagnosis and treatment.
Symptoms
Food allergies are an immune system response that affects multiple parts of the body quickly, often manifesting themselves through eating the offending food or coming into contact with it (for instance skin rashes). While a food intolerance affects only digestive function, a true food allergy can trigger more serious and life-threatening reactions than just digestion alone.
Symptoms may include tingling or itching in the mouth, swelling of lips, tongue, throat and roof of mouth; tightening of airways leading to difficulty breathing; wheezing; lump in throat; shock with sudden decrease of blood pressure. They typically occur minutes or hours after eating an offending food but may take several hours more for symptoms to surface.
An anaphylactic reaction, also known as anaphylaxis, is among the most serious of all allergic symptoms and requires immediate medical treatment with two doses of anti-allergy drug epinephrine (Adrenaclick or EpiPen). Failure to administer it immediately and correctly could be fatal; for this reason it is imperative for those with food allergies to always carry with them two doses of Epinephrine (Epipen). Food allergies can affect anyone at any age; more frequently found among young children but they can affect adults too – although peanut and tree nuts allergies as well as fish allergies tend to remain.
Diagnosis
In order to properly diagnose a food allergy, your healthcare provider will review your symptoms and how they present themselves, in addition to looking at any underlying health conditions such as asthma or eczema. In some instances, they may ask you to keep a food diary with details of all foods consumed as well as reactions after consumption and any allergy symptoms experienced after indulging. With this information at hand, your care professional can use this diary as a means of narrowing down potential causes.
Allergy tests, such as skin or blood tests, can help a healthcare provider diagnose food allergies more accurately. Unfortunately, these tests may not always be precise: for instance, positive skin tests indicate your immune system responding to allergens tested; they don’t necessarily mean that food allergies exist; while blood tests display levels of immunoglobulin E antibodies present against foods tested.
If results of skin and blood tests remain unclear, your care provider may conduct a medically supervised oral food challenge. During this procedure, you slowly consume suspected allergenic foods while being closely observed by a doctor for signs of reaction. Certain individuals – particularly young children – may have severe reactions requiring emergency injection of injectable epinephrine for immediate medical intervention.
Treatment
Food allergies have no known cure, and the only effective way to avoid an adverse reaction is avoiding eating an allergen. Antihistamines and corticosteroids may help relieve symptoms; in cases of severe reactions epinephrine may be needed; your doctor can provide one, or you can purchase one over-the-counter; make sure to learn how to use it and carry it at all times.
Your healthcare team will review your symptoms and perform a physical exam before asking you for your food diary and family history. They may order a skin test, which involves pricking the test area with small amounts of the suspected food; if you have an allergy, the skin test area will swell and redden; other tests they may request include blood testing or allergy skin challenge challenges.
Children typically outgrow allergies to milk, eggs and soy by adulthood; however, peanuts, nuts and shellfish allergies tend to remain lifelong. If you have asthma, food allergies increase your risk for severe reactions; having an allergy diagnosis allows both you and your doctor to create a plan to effectively manage symptoms.
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