Symptoms depend on the allergy, but may include:<\/p>\n
- \n
- swelling of eyes, lips, face<\/li>\n
- sneezing, runny nose<\/li>\n
- red, itchy and watery eyes<\/li>\n
- a wheeze or a persistent cough<\/li>\n
- the tightness of throat and swelling tongue<\/li>\n
- breathing problems<\/li>\n
- a headache<\/li>\n
- skin rash<\/li>\n
- stomach pains, vomiting, and diarrhea<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Do not self-diagnose. The signs and symptoms of allergies are common to many other medical conditions. It is important to see your doctor for professional diagnosis and treatment.<\/p>\n
Common allergens<\/strong><\/p>\n
Allergen is a substance in the environment that can cause an allergic reaction in susceptible people. Even there are many different allergens, all of them share one thing in common \u2013 protein. Some allergens don\u2019t contain protein, to begin with, but bind with protein once inside the body to provoke the allergic reaction.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.fksg.org\/wp\/..\/sites\/fksg\/uploads\/2017\/05\/Screen-Shot-2017-05-21-at-14.48.43.png\")
<\/p>\nCommon allergens include:<\/p>\n
- \n
- plants<\/strong> \u2013 pollen from plants and grasses<\/li>\n
- food<\/strong> \u2013 such as milk, eggs, crustaceans, fish, peanuts, tree nuts like cashews, almonds, walnuts and pecans, sesame and soy products<\/li>\n
- insects<\/strong> \u2013 such as dust mites and the venom from ants, bees, ticks, and wasps<\/li>\n
- medicines<\/strong> \u2013 including herbal preparations, prescription medications such as penicillin and over-the-counter medicines such as aspirin<\/li>\n
- molds<\/strong> \u2013 such as mold spores and mushrooms<\/li>\n
- animal dander<\/strong> \u2013 such as the fur and skin flakes from domestic pets such as dogs and cats<\/li>\n
- chemicals<\/strong> \u2013 including household and industrial chemicals and chemical products such as latex rubber.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
The immune system reaction<\/strong><\/p>\n
Allergy is the result of mistaken identity, an allergen enters the body and is wrongly identified by the immune system as a dangerous substance. The immune system, in response, makes antibodies to attack the allergen. These are specific antibodies of the IgE (immunoglobulin E) class.<\/p>\n
When an allergen is found, IgE antibodies trigger a cascade of immune system reactions, including the release of chemicals known as mast cell chemicals. These are substances that the body normally uses to destroy micro-organisms and the most common of these is histamine. In small amounts, histamine causes reddening and itching of the local area. In large amounts, the nearby blood vessels become dilated and the area swells with accumulated fluid.<\/p>\n
The immune system\u2019s tendency to overreact to a harmless substance is thought to be genetic. The term \u2018atopy\u2019 describes this genetic tendency, so doctors describe a person who has an allergy as being \u2018atopic\u2019 \u2013 such people in their blood usually have raised levels of IgE.<\/p>\n
Testing for allergies<\/strong><\/p>\n
If you think your child or another member of your family might have allergies, getting a proper diagnosis is important. To start this process, you can talk to your family doctor, who can refer you to an allergist or immunologist.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When the body \u2018trigger\u2019 or overreacts to an allergen that is typically harmless to most people occurs an allergy. Examples of allergies include eczema, hay fever, hives, asthma and food allergy. Estimates suggest that about one person in four is allergic to something and roughly half of all allergy sufferers are children. The symptoms of… Read More »Allergies<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[166,168,529,806,869],"class_list":["post-3943","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-allergen","tag-allergies","tag-immune-system","tag-signs","tag-symptoms"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fksg.org\/test1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3943","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fksg.org\/test1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fksg.org\/test1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fksg.org\/test1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fksg.org\/test1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3943"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.fksg.org\/test1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3943\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fksg.org\/test1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3943"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fksg.org\/test1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3943"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fksg.org\/test1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3943"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
- food<\/strong> \u2013 such as milk, eggs, crustaceans, fish, peanuts, tree nuts like cashews, almonds, walnuts and pecans, sesame and soy products<\/li>\n
- plants<\/strong> \u2013 pollen from plants and grasses<\/li>\n