When it gets close to allergy season most allergy sufferers lose their sleep fretting over how to cope with it!! The freedom to live the way they want to is a remote dream for many allergy sufferers. Allergies can be suffocating. They can make it difficult to go for a walk in the park, and even make it difficult to go outside. Some allergy sufferers can’t visit their friends who have pets, and many others can’t eat their favourite foods. Even the pleasures and benefits of exercise are difficult because some allergy sufferers’ noses run more than they do. A runny or stuffy nose leads to mouth breathing, then a dry mouth, then less efficient breathing, and then less efficient overall functioning. A chain reaction effect is set up, and the allergy sufferer paralysed.
Allergy is an interaction between the immune system and a substance foreign to the body. There are two important effects of allergy on the body. One is the classic “allergic reaction” that can cause sudden tissue swelling, itching, sneezing, increased mucous production, and in the lungs, wheezing and shortness of breath. In food allergic reactions, the intestinal tract can also be acutely inflamed and cause nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea. In a “whole body” allergic reaction, including anaphylaxis, low blood pressure and shock can occur. The other part of the “allergic response” is persistent inflammation that is important in nasal allergy, asthma and eczema. In allergy of the airway, inflammation can occur and cause some symptoms without the sneezing, itching and wheezing. Diagnosis and effective treatment of allergic disorders requires consideration of both of these effects.