Causes And Treatment Of Allergies

What is an allergy?

An allergy the body is irritated by substances that are actually harmless. There are different types of allergies:

1. Inhaled Allergy: an allergic reaction after inhaling certain substances, such as pollen (hay fever), dust mites, animal dander or latex from balloons and gloves. People with respiratory allergies have a stuffy nose, watery and itchy eyes, heavy eyelids, a swollen mouth and throat and sometimes hoarseness and asthma.
2.  Food allergy: an allergic reaction to food. For example, by nuts, peanuts, soybeans, strawberries, fish, milk, chocolate or egg. People with food allergies suffer from anxiety, eczema, watery eyes, hives, thick eyelids or lips, itching and allergic reactions quite a shock.
3.  Contact allergy. A reaction after skin contact such as rubber, perfume, nickel, soaps, cosmetics or food. Contact allergy gives eczema or red bumps.
4. Allergy to insect venom (wasp or bee stabbing). An allergy to insect bites can cause asthma or red spots. People who are very allergic can go into shock.
5. Allergies to certain medications, such as antibiotics. People with an allergy medicines get eczema or asthma and sometimes shock.

In some people's allergies, with every reaction worse. This can be dangerous. Your doctor can determine whether you have such an allergy.

Avoid the substances you are allergic to. Another possible treatment is immunotherapy.
If you are very allergic? Make sure you always about your allergy with you.

What causes allergies?

The probability of an allergy is to a large extent hereditary.
Both his parents are allergic? Then their children 50% chance of an allergy. That chance is 70% if both parents have the same allergy. The child may be allergic to something else than his parents.
A child getting eczema right after birth has a high risk of allergies.

Children who are born in July through October, are more likely to have allergies. This may be because there is a lot of extra dust mites and pollen in the air in those months.

Further increases smoking during pregnancy and after birth, the risk of an allergic child. A mother who smokes is more likely an allergic child, but also a smoking father is more likely an allergic child.

It seems that breastfeeding reduces the chances of allergies smaller. The risk of allergy is actually increased if the mother eats certain things much during pregnancy or breastfeeding: peanuts, eggs, nuts, fish or dairy. Especially women who have an allergy or perhaps more likely to have a child with an allergy.

How does the doctor determine allergies?

Sometimes it is quite clear that someone is allergic and why. Someone eating a cashew nut and within ten minutes about his skin filled with itchy bumps and he is ill. But if you regularly, for example eczema spots have on your arms, it's much more difficult to say whether you are allergic. And even harder than before which you are allergic.

The doctor may do various tests:

1. Clinical research. The doctor looks at you and asks you questions about your symptoms.
2. Family research and genealogy. The doctor asks about allergies in your family.
3. Blood tests. The doctor looks at the antibodies in your blood.
4. An allergy skin test.
5. A patch test. This is a test for contact allergy. You will receive a patch with a substance on your skin. After two or three days to see how your body reacts to the substance.
6. Elimination Test. In this test, disconnect one by one suspect materials away from your environment or food. When reduce the symptoms, you probably have to tackle the cause.
7. Provocation Test. You eat a little bit of a suspect substance to see if you get these symptoms.

Treatment for Allergies

To prevent an allergic reaction can get the best one which you are allergic to avoid.

When a food allergy for example, you should avoid foods that you are allergic to. If necessary, you can use a dietician compose a healthy diet.

People who are allergic to so that they can go into shock, must wear a special injection of adrenaline with him. Your doctor can tell you more about.

Are you allergic to something you can not or want to avoid? For example, to make your cat away or if you have hay fever? Then you can opt for immunotherapy. Immunotherapy is a heavy therapy that lasts long. It cures or decreases by more than half of the people's allergies.

A study at the University of Wageningen has shown that probiotics can work against hay fever. Probiotics are pills or potions with certain bacteria. Especially probiotics with Lactobacillus plantarum seem to work against hay fever. In the study helped the probiotics after four weeks.