Allergies

Every time my cousin Angel eats sweet potatoes she gets big red rashes all over her body that is too itchy, she feels nauseous, and it takes almost two days before it disappears. One time she nearly fainted after eating lumpia which she didn't know has a sweet potato in it, good thing the people she's with during that time were alert and one lady immediately given her allergy meds. Not only that, she also doesn't eat spinach because every time she eats it, she gets diarrhea and rashes.

My grandmother always brings cetirizine with her. It's always on her bag wherever she goes. She can't eat chicken and seafoods because she vomits, feel nauseous and gets rashes every time she eats those. A friend keeps on sneezing endlessly every time there is a dog, a cat or even stuffed animals nearby. And someone I know almost died after eating a jack fruit.

Allergies is a common ailment. A lot of people experience it, and it varies from one person to another, including the symptoms.

According to statistics, in the United States only, seventeen percent (17%) of its population suffers from allergies and most of them are associated with chronic disease. And as the environment gets worse due to pollution, the ailments associated with allergies are getting higher.

The fact considering that a lot of people are hypersensitive to the things in their specific environment was discovered not too long ago. But centuries before such discovery, Hippocrates, an ancient Greek physician have already described an illness that is widely known today as asthma. It is estimated that the earliest fatal allergic reaction ever recorded is the one discovered at the tomb of an Egyptian king, King Menes. He was stung by a hornet and died.

It is believed that the first person to use the term 'hay fever' is Dr. John Boston who lived in England in the early 1800s, he used that term when he noticed that he had a regular summer 'cold'. In 1906, an Austrian pediatrician suggested using the word 'allergy' which came from two Greek words translated as 'altered responses'.

What are Allergens?

The substances that causes allergic reactions are called allergen.

These 'altered responses' is the cause of problems of people with allergies. From birth, people swallow, inhales and touches a lot of things that are considered foreign by our bodies. For a lot of people, these contacts are not considered harmful, they are harmless. But if an allergic individual touches, breathes in or even swallows just a minute amount of a substance which he is sensitive to, he will manifest certain allergic symptoms.

The following is a list of the most common allergens:

Inhalants. These are the things that causes allergy when inhaled, and it could be dust particles, pollen, molds and the furs of cats and dogs or even stuffed toys.

Injectants. The example of this are sting of wasps and bees.

Ingestants. These are the foods people ingest such as chocolate, nuts, shellfishes, egg, antibiotics and milk. It may also include aspirin and antibiotics.

Concactant. These are the things that comes in contact with our skin such as cosmetics, metals, poison ivy, dyes and wool.

This list does not include all the allergens. The number of allergens is long listed and may even seem limitless.

What are Antibodies?

We already discussed allergens, so what causes allergic reactions? Normally, our body produces or creates substances that we call antibodies. Antibodies fight the germs and microbes. If a person has an allergy, his body's defense mechanism overly reacts and attacks the foreign substances. The foreign substances may be one of the allergens on the list. One specific antibody that the immune system produces is the Immunoglobulin (IgE), the body overly produce this as a response to an allergen. Such a reaction is caused by the release of chemicals like histamine. Histamine is the cause of the itchiness of the eyes and swelling of the nose.

Endless Why Questions

A lot of people who suffers from allergy would often ask "why me?", "why do I have to be allergic to this?", "why does the rest of my family doesn't have it but just me?". It seems to be endless why's, but the truth is, the answer to these questions are still unknown. But one known factor is that heredity plays an important role here. Like me, my grandmother gets rashes when there's a lot of dust particles in the wind and I also have that. My dad is allergic to penicillin and so does my brother.

Generally, it is agreed that extreme anger, fright, emotional stress such as fatigue, overwork and tension may prompt allergies. One more factor to consider is the changes in the complex environment we are in.

Allergies

Allergies. This term encompasses a lot of known diseases. Bow let's have a closer look at two of these conditions and see what can be done about them. I don't own the ideas presented here, instead, this is a result of thorough research from various sources.

• Food Allergy. Like my cousin Angel, a lot of people also suffers from food allergy. Last night, I was scrolling on my social media page when I came across a new page and one of the news that I've read is about a family who ate a certain specie of crab. The father and two sons ate first after the mother cooked it. Several minutes later the mom, noticed that her boys are kind of choking and looks like they want to vomit. They were rushed to a hospital and the father was in a state of comatose for several days, unfortunately, the two children died. I read the comments of the netizens and some says that the crab they ate is the deadly specie while some associated it with allergy.

Indeed, food allergy is a controversial disease because it is hard to distinguish and pinpoint. My cousin is not allergic to sweet potato and spinach before but when she became 18 years old, the symptoms emerged. Foods can bother people in various ways but sometimes, the cause is not a food allergy. There are experts who believe that the real food allergy is rare and almost every food can be considered as an allergen to a person. And the most effective way to treat food allergy is not to eat the offending food again.

• Drug Allergy. I'm not pertaining to dangerous drugs here but the drugs that is used for medication. My dad is allergic to penicillin and amoxicillin, what makes it really worse is when he is sick and needs to intake the drug, but since he is allergic to that, he can't take his meds. Instead, he looks for alternatives such as herbal medicines and other drugs that may replace. Others may also be allergic to some drugs aside from these two. Allergic reactions to medications is a puzzle because the reactions are not the same and varies each person, for some, it is not that serious but for others it can even be fatal. So it is important to discuss with a doctor if symptoms arises or allergy is suspected.

@thepandagirl🐼