Posts tagged "allergic"

Skin Allergies: The Reasons Behind The Itchies You Have

When you have skin allergies, the hardest part of having red, itchy skin, hives, or swollen spots on your skin is trying to concentrate on making your day as normal as possible while avoiding scratching the itchy parts.

Sometimes you have to concentrate so much on that that you sort of forget what’s the reason behind the itching, which would really be the thing you should focus your attention on, so that it won’t happen again.

Allergies are most often the cause of skin rashes and such, and some of them are quite common. Read on to find out what they are and what you can do to avoid them.

Diagnosing Skin Allergies

An allergist can test if you’re allergic to substances or if your skin reacts to different possible allergens by conducting a skin test. In a multiple-test method, the allergist will prick your skin to introduce various media in microscopic amounts, to see which pricks elicit a reaction from your skin.

The material type that your skin reacts to can be retested using different methods to confirm if the material in question is indeed your allergen. The allergist can also check to see how severe the reaction to your allergen is, and can range from mild to life threatening, using increasing concentrations of the allergen to measure reaction times.

Manifestations of Skin Allergies

Different forms of skin allergies can be found in people. Occurring most often in small children, eczema, specifically known as Atopic Dermatitis, appears in the form of a red rash, and blistering of the skin is quite common. The skin can break from being scratched aggressively, and will usually cause scarring.

Treatment usually consists of applying a topical solution on the site of the rashes to ease the
itching, and your doctor will be able to prescribe treatment that is calibrated in strength to match your rashes.

Another common manifestation of Skin Allergies is the raised, red-colored bumps on the skin known as hives. While it is quite aesthetically disturbing to some, hives are not so itchy that you’ll break the skin by scratching really hard. Hives are common enough that people of all ages are affected by it at one point or another.

Contact Dermatitis is another manifestation of Skin Allergies. This is a common reaction to a substance which will cause a similar reaction to a rash when you come into contact with it.

The symptoms have more in common with Atopic Dermatitis, but the usual areas that the rash
manifests itself are only where you’ve touched or come into contact with the substance. A good example of this is when you’ve touched poison ivy, and there are even common cases of people getting rashes because of their jewelry.

How To Treat Skin Allergies

Once a rash breaks out on your skin, as much as possible, try not to scratch it, since scratching
could break the skin and introduce dirt and bacteria to below the skin level and you’ll have more trouble if it gets infected.

A common solution to allergic rashes would be to apply an allergy cream to soothe the inflammation and to remove the itchiness. But the most important thing is that in the first occurrence, you’d be better off consulting your doctor on what to do just to make sure.

More reading on Dermatitis

The Most Common Food Allergies

Food Allergies are among the most common types of allergies. It’s estimated that over 12 million Americans have some degree of intolerance to certain foods. Most symptoms are mild, but around 30,000 visits to the emergency room are reported each year because of the reactions. As many as 200 deaths each year are attributed to food allergies.

Studies report up to 8 percent of children have an allergy to some type of food. The numbers are slightly smaller for adults, only around 4 percent.

Many children will outgrow their food allergy, but some will carry these allergies into adulthood and suffer from them their entire lives.

Eating prepackaged foods, out in restaurants or even friends homes can cause problems. It’s often hard to tell what’s added to the foods we eat.

In the U.S. the following foods are referred to as “the big eight” as over 90% of Food Allergies consist of these foods.

Food Allergies – The Big Eight

* Milk *

Being allergic to cow’s milk isn’t the same as being lactose intolerant.

* Eggs *

You can be allergic to either the whites of the yolk. This type of food allergy is more prevalent in children, but does affect some adults.

* Peanut *

Most people, adults and children with food allergies, are allergic to peanuts too.

* Tree nut *

More children have nut allergies than adults. The symptoms of nut and peanut allergies are the same, but being allergic to one doesn’t necessarily mean you’re allergic to the other.

* Seafood *

This is more common in, but not limited, to children. The fish allergens can be passed through the air by people eating or cooking fish near you.

* Shellfish *

Similar to seafood allergies. But having one doesn’t mean being allergic to the other.

* Soy *

People allergic to soy need to be especially careful when eating Asian foods or using Asian sauces.

* Wheat *

This is most commonly a food allergy, but can also be a respiratory contact allergy.

Do you often suffer from strange symptoms after eating certain types of foods? Do you get itchy, break out in hives, swell up or actually vomit? You could be suffering from one of the above common food allergies.

Peanut Allergy – Learning To Cope With Your Allergy

Peanut Allergy is right in the middle of the list of common food allergies. This is something quite troubling because some everyday dishes have peanuts among their ingredients, along with other household products containing peanut powders or extracts.

Being allergic to peanuts often manifests early in life, but while most allergies are outgrown as children grow up and get used to the food proteins in other allergen types, peanut allergy is often carried until adulthood. You can also find reactions to peanuts from mild up to having an anaphylactic reaction, which can possibly be life-threatening.

Peanut Allergy Symptoms

Within minutes, symptoms of peanut allergy will begin to appear, whether it’s stomach pain along with vomiting or diarrhea, or skin rashes and hives breaking out on the skin, you can really feel like you’ve become exposed to a hazardous material when you have a peanut allergy.

It’s bad enough when you have to deal with those things when you get exposed to peanuts, but it can possibly be lethal when you factor in anaphylaxis, and your air tract will close up, you’ll have difficulty breathing and possibly have to deal with shock and dizziness.

Peanut Allergy Triggers

In an allergic reaction to peanuts, the body will recognize peanuts as a threat, and signal the body to produce histamines which will trigger the allergic response in the body.

Three methods of exposure are possible when it comes to peanut infection. The first would be direct contact with the material in question, like eating food containing peanuts for example. Even just touching could possibly trigger an allergic reaction.

The second would be a cross-contact with peanuts wherein a product without peanut content will accidentally mix in peanut powder or proteins in it.

The third would be contact through airborne peanut materials, like inhaling peanuts in a powder form. Another common route would be from aerosols with peanuts in it.

What to Do When You Have A Peanut Allergy

Your family doctor will be able to see if your symptoms are allergy-related or through some other cause. As much as possible, you’ll want to see your doctor while the symptoms are still manifest on your skin or body.

A skin prick test from your local allergist will confirm if you really do have an allergy to peanuts, and the test will isolate the area of your skin where you come into contact with the peanut allergen. Blood tests can also be done during this time to see how your immune system reacts with peanut proteins.

Unfortunately, there is no one-size solution to solve peanut allergies, apart from avoiding the material entirely. If you have mild reactions to your peanut allergy, there still might be some possibility that your reaction can become severe at one time so you’ll need to prepare for that eventuality.

Living with peanut allergies can be done however, and you can discuss options with your doctor for your particular case, and get whatever treatment and screening tests are appropriate for your allergies. You’d also be better off knowing exactly what to do when a reaction occurs.