Basic Facts about Allergies
Allergic reactions are inadequate, often sudden and overblown responses of your immune system caused by certain allergens – pollen allergies may be the best example of that. Ragweed pollen is among the strongest allergens. Not being harmful in any way, it causes the adverse reaction of the immune system cells, which develops into an allergic reaction. There are many allergens – substances that are able to cause such a reaction – and the way they affect someone’s immune system depends on each person’s individual characteristics.
There are two main reasons one can experience allergic reactions: the first one is your hereditary predisposition, which means someone in your family also had allergies; the second reason is environmental situation that can make your body and immune system more vulnerable. However, rather than just one of these factors, it’s usually the combination of the two that characterizes your condition.
It’s now a well-known fact: many people have hereditary predisposition to all sorts of allergies. So, if you have adverse reaction to the slightest amount of pollen or dust, for example, you have only your parents to blame. According to the statistics, if one of your parents was allergic, the probability of you acquiring the same allergy is 50%. The probability becomes bigger – 70% – if both parents had allergies.
People that are atopic (have hereditary hypersensitivity to certain allergens) are very likely to develop eczema, atopic asthma and atopic rhinitis in their childhood. The typical signs of atopic conditions appear at a very small age, when children can display itching or red rash characteristic for eczema. Following these early signs, children may experience a runny nose, congestion of atopic rhinitis and constant sneezing, which lasts up to 2 years. By the time such children are 6 years old, they acquire atopic asthma, which, in most cases, they will never grow out of. People suffering from an allergic disease (which is how atopic disease is often referred to) are very likely to acquire several different kinds of allergies as they become older.
Your immune system has a crucial role in developing allergies. In fact, the allergic response of your body is due to the hypersensitive reaction of your immune system to substances considered hostile for your health and safety. So, we can speak about an allergy only if your immune system is directly involved.
It’s common for people to confuse symptoms of allergies with normal body reactions to the environmental conditions. For instance, you can have a runny nose from excessive smoke or sudden change of temperature, while allergic reaction would involve more serious conditions, such as hay fever, which can be caused by ragweed pollen. Irritation of skin can be also taken as a sign of an allergic reaction, but it’s not the case if your immune system is not involved. Some people think they have a milk allergy, while it may be a simple case of food intolerance. Although one may have an allergy to certain proteins that milk contains, more often it’s the case of intolerance to lactose (white crystalline disaccharide in milk). All these examples show how difficult it can be to diagnose the illness and work out an individual treatment plan. It’s therefore crucial to learn all the allergy information available to you.
It’s very important to understand and be able to recognize different kinds of reactions – as it can be the mere case of skin irritability or intolerance to certain products or substances. There are some cases when you need the same medication to treat allergic reactions and irritation, but more often it leads to serious consequences.
Antigens are substances that stimulate the production of antibodies – this reaction is normal when your body tries to protect you from “dangerous” environmental factors. However, when antigens stimulate adverse reaction, they are called allergens.
The two notions – atopy and allergy – are not the same. Atopy is used to describe hereditary predisposition to adverse reaction when exposed to certain allergens. Allergy means that you will be OK after the first time of being exposed to the allergen but will probably develop an allergic reaction if affected by the same factor again. However, even if you have a hereditary predisposition, it doesn’t mean you will acquire an allergy with 100% certainty. There are many examples of people not being affected by the potential allergens even if regularly exposed to them. At the same time, you may not be predisposed but may experience multiple symptoms of allergies.
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