Posts tagged: Lungs

Nov 02 2009

Coping and Managing Food Allergies

food allergies


It is a fact that you have to eat food everyday in order to give your body the nourishment it needs in order for it to function on its daily tasks. Obviously, food is what fuels your body to go on living. However, there are cases where food can also cause illness that you have to avoid.

Today, there are cases where people are allergic to certain kinds of food. In order to properly manage it, you have to consider that you will need to be aware of the food that you are allergic from and also to avoid food that contains certain kinds of allergens that your body will react to.

It is very important that you should know how to effectively manage your diet especially if you are allergic to certain kinds of food as allergy attacks can be very uncomfortable and can affect the normal functions in your daily life. In severe cases, allergy attacks may need you to be hospitalized as it can cause swelling in your air passages that will not allow you get any oxygen in your lungs and suffocate to death.

First of all, allergy attacks are triggered by the allergens found in allergen-containing foods. Normally, these allergens are considered to be harmless. However, once it enters the body of a person with allergic reaction to specific allergens, the immune system overreacts and tries to destroy the foreign object that made its way to the body. During this process, the body reacts by showing signs of swelling to different parts of the body, skin rashes, redness and increase in temperature, itching, shortness of breath and wheezing,

As you can see, allergic reactions of your body can be very uncomfortable and will severely affect your daily activities. This is why you have to be aware of the foods you eat and know what kind of food you are allergic from.

Usually, the most common food allergies that the body reacts to are peanuts, shellfish, milk, fish, wheat and soy. If you are not sure what food allergens you are allergic to, you have to visit your physician or an allergist. They will give you a series of tests that will enable you to identify what kind of food you are allergic from. With this kind of information, you will be able to manage your allergy effectively and prevent any future attacks.

Here are some ways you can prevent allergy attacks. Firstly and obviously, you have to avoid foods that contain food allergens that your body reacts to. This means that you should never eat food that you are allergic to and never cook food with an ingredient that contains the food allergens.

If you are out dining in a restaurant, you should inform the waiter or waitress about your food allergy and ask him or her which food contains the food allergen you are allergic from. If you really want to eat foods that contain the allergens, you have to inform the waiter or waitress to not include the ingredient (milk, peanuts, tree nuts, egg) that you are allergic from.

If you accidentally ingested the food-containing allergen, it is very important that you should immediately take anti-histamine medications. This is why you have to take anti-histamine medication wherever you go in case you accidentally ate food that contains an ingredient that you are allergic from.

These are some of the common food allergens that you should know about in order to properly manage it and minimize the risk of future allergy attacks that can lead to severe discomfort and in severe cases, death.


Oct 26 2009

The Major Causes Of Food Allergy – Fight The Allergies With These Tips

food allergies


Allergy gets into a body when an immune system becomes suddenly abnormal to a specific material which is generally not detrimental to most of the individuals except the one who has the allergy. When this allergy is triggered by an allergen or substance, the body recognizes this as a trespasser and releases any sort of chemicals so that it fights the trespasser causing symptoms like irritation. Moreover this irritation could also be fatal leading to death.

Allergy caused by food is a reaction which is made by the immune system. In the immune system antibodies are produced because of negative effect to few foods. Even though there are a lot of people who say that they have the allergy, only few actually have this allergy causing reactions. Many individuals confuse food allergy and food intolerance. Intolerance to certain kinds of food doesn’t affect the immune system. But both food allergy and intolerance are sensitivity reaction to foods.

In today’s world the medical department hasn’t found any proper cure for allergies caused by food. The allergy management only cautions you of intake of the allergens in food and few diet modifications.

During the allergic reaction, Antibodies are released by the immune system, especially immunoglobulin E. It inevitably causes the production of histamine (chemical) in the way of guarding the body. The following chemicals are the main cause of symptoms that includes irritation in eyes, throat, skin, gastrointestinal organs and lungs. These things happen when one is exposed to allergen.

There are 8 major foods that are the main cause for the reaction (allergic). These eight allergy provoking foods are soy, wheat, fish, milk, eggs, tree nuts, shellfish and peanuts.

These cause severe damage to an individual’s body.

People afflicted with allergies react to only certain allergy causing foods. Cross reaction takes place when allergy to a kind of food causes (allergic) reaction to foods that are related to allergen food. For example, a reaction to wheat could cause a reaction to rye.

The Allergy in pollens could cause allergy to peaches, almonds, hazelnuts, green apples. Reaction to a goat’s milk could be cause an allergy to cow’s milk. So there are so many examples to show cross reaction.

If you accidentally ingested the food-containing allergen, it is very important that you should immediately take anti-histamine medications. This is why you have to take anti-histamine medication wherever you go in case you accidentally ate food that contains an ingredient that you are allergic from.

These are some of the common food allergens that you should know about in order to properly manage it and minimize the risk of future allergy attacks that can lead to severe discomfort and in severe cases, death.

Asthma or eczema patients could be at a risk of having food allergy. To add to this they might be having a severe reaction than the normal people who have only food allergy. This is because, when an allergy occurs, the concerned person is under stress which could lead to triggering their eczema or asthma aggravating the current situation. But the degree of this reaction depends upon circumstances like a person’s sensitivity threshold to allergen, exposure scale the individual has to the food and the quantity of eaten food.

Vigilance and self-discipline will help or guide a person who suffers from this allergy. There are no specific cures for the food allergy. However contacting your physician will serve you better responses. The physician will understand your problems and give you proper treatment.