What Are Allergies?
Allergies are a type of immune system disorder that occurs regularly in any given environment; home, work, indoors, outdoors, when the patient comes in contact with certain allergens. These allergens incite a reaction within the patient’s body that quickly onset with certain physical precursors and symptoms that are regular and identifiable. An allergy is a specific type of hypersensitivity to a specific allergen, which creates a certain kind of inflammatory response or reaction, such as asthma, eczema, hay fever, hives, and food allergies. Other reactions may develop from insect stings via their venom or bite.
Moderate allergies such as hay fever are common among United States citizens, causing such symptoms as itchiness, conjunctivitis, and runny noses as well as playing a major role in the development of respiratory illnesses such as asthma. Severe allergies may develop in other kinds of sources such as medication and dietary or food born allergies, such as peanut butter or penicillin in regards to medication. Currently there are a myriad of tests that may help diagnose the patient’s specific allergy and how to treat it. The most common is a skin response test in which the dermal layer is pricked and thereby allergens are allowed to flow into the bloodstream, provoking a allergic response.
What Causes Allergies?
Allergies begin when the human immune system mistakes a commonly harmless foreign substance as a dangerous threat to the body. The body then creates antibodies that heighten the body’s immune system to be on guard for that specific allergen, which is typically an overreaction. Because the body’s initial reaction is the one that is imprinted upon your physiological makeup the body then prepares a series of chemical responses to emphatically repel that allergen whenever it returns.
The most common allergy triggers – such as allergens – include a variety of types and vectors for the allergen to interact with the human body. Those vectors are:
Airborne: Airborne allergens are perhaps the most common and include mold spores, dust and dust mites, pollen and animal dander.
Food & Drink: There are specific foods and drinks that when swallowed or imbibed cause an allergic reaction. These include dairy products such as milk and eggs, fish, wheat, peanuts, soy, shellfish, and tree nuts.
Insects: There are many insects that have a specific venom that the body may overreact when coming into contact with them. These insects are usually bee’s and wasps, though there are allergic reactions to ants and specific spiders that may produce a harmful histamine reaction.
Touch: There are some things that cause a histamine reaction when the body comes into contact with them, specifically when they come into contact with the skin. This usually includes some form of latex, or even grass.
Medications: There are many different reactions to a variety of medications that are over the counter that must be taken into account, though the most common is the histamine reacitn to penicillin.
An Allergic Reaction
Allergies are a type of reaction from the bodies immune system that have become abnormal after coming in contact with what is usually a harmless substance in the patient’s day to day environment. These substances are called allergens and can be anything from cat dander to dust to pollen to freshly cut grass. Allergies may also come in the form of medications as well as food, such as peanuts. Allergies are very common and affect two of every 10 United States citizens and is very prevalent in the world we live in.
When the patient initially is exposed, comes into dermal contact, swallows or ingests, or inhales the allergen, a reaction begins to manifest. Specifically, the body begins to mass produce the antibody IgE to bind the allergen which then, in turn, attach themselves to a mast cell, a type of blood cell. These mast cells are found in the intestines and airways, throughout the human body. It is the inclusion of these mast cells within the GI tract and airways – as well as bronchial tubes – that makes breathing so susceptible to allergens prompting allergic responses. Once the allergens have combined with the IgE and thus attached to a mast cell then a chemical reaction occurs, releasing an overwhelming histamine reaction within the body.
