How To Guide

Gisele R.

Did you know that one of three people is suffering from various allergies? People who have allergies are sensitive to a number of factors. Some of the most common substances that cause allergic reactions are dust, pollen, food, insect stings or medicines, chemicals. Gisele R. suffers from severe allergic asthma. She studies at the Chicago College of Performing Arts, and her main activities are quite energetic; therefore, sometimes, it is hard to notice that she can barely catch her breath. Since childhood, Giselle struggles with many allergies, and she was hospitalized about 40 times. In spite of her allergy and severe asthma, she lives an active, normal life thanks to the complete treatment recommended by her allergist. This treatment includes:

• Asthma medication;

• Allergy shots;

• Balanced diet;

• Proper rest.

This type of treatment allowed Giselle to enjoy a normal childhood. Her parents encouraged her to go swimming, playing soccer and attend figure skating events.… Read More

Innumerable people suffer from allergies of one sort or the other and have to learn to avoid various substances or deal with their allergies.

Allergic reactions are common in people. In fact, if you have never had an allergic reaction to a food, an allergen in the air or a medicine, you can still have it at any time in your life. And once you do, you will know that you have to avoid that thing. However, often, it is difficult to pin down a substance you are allergic or even sensitive to and then the diagnosis can take a long time or even be extremely difficult.

You can be allergic to dust mites, pollen in the air, pet dander, insect stings or bites, even lotions and cosmetics, hair colors, perfumes, flowers, medicines, foods, in fact anything at all.

What is an allergy?

An allergy is the body’s immune system response to a particular allergen. Once you get an allergic reaction to something, it is most likely that you will be allergic to it for the rest of your life.… Read More

Lorina Strockl

Lorina Strockl, 22, an administration assistant from Romford, Essex, has to avoid all dairy products and many other foods, including shellfish, certain fish, chicken, tomato, avocado and chocolate. She is also allergic to grass and birch pollen, pet hair and some medication.

She suffers from asthma, eczema and rhinitis and she is so allergic to milk that she has suffered a severe allergic reaction called anaphylaxis several times, requiring treatment in Accident and Emergency (A&E).

She has had various allergy tests, including skin prick tests, prick tests using the actual foods (prick-prick tests) and IgE blood tests which measure levels of antibodies in the blood to specific substances. Currently she is undergoing ‘challenge testing’ for certain foods, which involves trying small amounts of the food at the London Allergy Centre and under close medical supervision.

She is taking an oral antihistamine and her dietary intake has been reviewed and changed. She has also been prescribed an auto-injector adrenaline pen, which is the immediate treatment for anaphylactic shock.

Causes of dust allergies

Just because a person is allergic to dust does not mean that the person lives in a dirty house. Dust is made up of microscopic substances such as fabric fibers, pet dander, bacteria, pieces of cockroaches, mold spores, food flecks, dots of human skin, dust mites, and many other items. All of these items can and do cause irritations to humans with dust mites the most common.

You may not believe this but you can clean your house from top to bottom every hour and you will not rid your home of the microscopic dust mites. In one small grain of dust there are normally between 100 to 500 of these creatures, however, there could be as many at 19,000. Okay, do not freak out. Dust mites cannot bite you and will not give you any type of disease they only cause people with allergies to go bonkers. These small creatures love to live with people, temperatures around 70 degrees Fahrenheit, and humidity at 75 to 80 percent. The dust mites will die if the humidity… Read More

Types of food allergies

The various types of food allergies include peanut, shellfish, eggs, milk, soy, rice, MSG, sulfite, strawberries, nuts, and more. One person may be allergic or have some type of reaction to just one ingredient found in an item, such as if a person is allergic to gluten this can be found in all kinds of different products besides wheat bread. Many types of gravy and other prepared foods also contain gluten.

Symptoms of food allergies

The symptoms of food allergies can be mild to severe with the majority of cases including an itching in the mouth, difficulty swallowing, difficulty breathing, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, hives, eczema, asthma, lightheadedness, weakness, and drop in blood pressure.

Causes of food allergies

Food allergies are caused by the body’s immune system overreacting. This may sound very strange, but the immune system will overreact to substances in foods you have eaten. When this occurs, it starts the entire allergic reaction symptoms.

In the majority of cases, food allergies are found in young children more often than adults or the allergies… Read More