By: Steven A
Submitted: 2009-02-27 08:17:44 | Word Count: 791
Lots of people get affected by allergies everyday. For many people out there, allergies cause a major change in ones life, not to mention, it causes many illnesses in people and can be very life threatening to some others. Learning about allergies can help to live a normal life.
Allergies tend to be caused by having too much immunity; your body produces antibodies that serve the purpose of fight against infections. So what happens is someone who has an allergy is their body creates an allergy antibody and that releases a histamine that makes the symptoms of the allergy. The histamine can be released anywhere in the body. It can be released in the skin and this makes hives or itching, the nose has the symptoms of a runny or stuffy nose with sneezing, the lungs creates asthma, or throughout the entire body would even cause death if an immediate treatment wasn’t administered.
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There are so many different kinds of allergies out there. Some of the more common allergies are food related, molds, mildew, pet allergies, dust mites, and pollen in the air. Food allergies are caused by eating something some include peanuts and shellfish. Mold and mildew allergies can be caused airborne or by physical contact. Pet allergies tend to be created by dander or skin scales. Dust mites are breathed in. They are every where, in your mattresses, carpets, and furniture. Pollen is caused by flowers and trees germinating.
Hay fever is another major allergy. The blowing wind sweeps up pollen from trees and grass and creates this airborne allergy. People who have hay fever can be affected at different times of the year. This is because there are plants that release pollen at different time of the year, so varying on what plants your hay fever is triggered by it could affect you in the fall, summer, or in the spring. Some of the plants that most give people problems are tumbleweed, sorrel, pigweed, goldenrod and ragweed. To help cope with hay fever, lots of local news programs show what the pollen count is in the area, make a judgment of if it’s high enough to bother some for you and take an antihistamine.
Food allergies don’t affect very many people, but they tend to be the worst allergies out of them all. Symptoms of a food allergy are things like tingling on the lips and mouth, hives, with itching, and throat swelling. If the throat swelling gets really bad it can cause constriction of the air passages, this chokes the allergy victim and can cause seizures ensuing circulatory collapse, heart failure and or death. A reaction to a food protein can happen instantaneously or around four hours later after some digestion.
The best way to prevent an allergy is to avoid the cause all together, but sometimes that’s just not the case. Sometimes they cant be avoided and in that case here are some things that can help. To help against mold allergies keep the house dry, use a dehumidifier. Clean the bathroom often with bleach and have the air ducts cleaned too.
To help with hay fever drive with your windows up in the car, keep the windows in the house closed and stay inside during the morning because that’s when pollen levels are highest. Wash your clothes and shower after being outside. And cleaning air purifier filters should help out a lot.
If you have pet allergies you should try to avoid them all together if possible. Washing your hands after contact will prevent itching or cross contaminating danders in your eyes, nose and mouth. Keep up on vacuuming. Try to make sure pets stay off of dander catching surfaces like furniture and carpets. Keep them out of the bedroom too. Another major part is not grooming and bathing your pet enough. If this is to much to handle with allergies take them to a groomers. Also keep and long haired animals trimmed shorter.
Some treatments for allergy relief include acupuncture, used to treat allergic rhinitis. It involves placing needles into the skin at exact points which help restore balance to vital flows. Allergy shots reduce your sensitivity to certain things. It is recommended for allergy sufferers who suffer more than three months out of the year and have really severe allergies. It works best for stringing insects, pet, dust, and pollen allergies. Vitamin C in large amounts can help with stabilizing the mucous membrane in the nasal passages. Various herbal treatments have used to treat allergies as well. Alternative Health Supplements offers a few different types of herbal relief. There are also some other ways to treat allergies, prescription medications and nasal sprays, and asthma inhalers are effective too.
Author Resource:-
Steven Johnson is interested in maintaining a vital and healthy lifestyle. For more information on various health products and other life-enhancing nutrients please visit his website http://www.alternative-health-supplements.com/allergy-relief.htm
