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More than 67 Million Americans Suffer from Allergy Symptoms, including Hay Fever.
But, What are allergies?
An allergy is a heightened sensitivity to a foreign substance (called an allergen) that causes the body's defense system (the immune system) to overreact when defending itself.
Normally, the immune system would only react if a harmful substance, such as bacteria, attacks the body. For people with allergies, their immune system is working too hard, and it reacts even when relatively harmless substances, such as pollen, are present. The severity of an allergic reaction can vary from mild discomfort to life threatening situations.
Allergens can stimulate an immune response when you breathe in or touch the allergen, or by ingestion of food or beverage, or from injections of medication.
Common allergic reactions include eczema, hives, hay fever, asthma, food allergies, pet dander allergies, and reactions to the venom of stinging insects, such as wasps and bees. Treatments for allergies include avoidance, use of anti-histamines, steroids or other medications, and immunotherapy to desensitize the allergic response.
Weather plays an important part for many allergy and hay fever sufferers. This is why we include the weather forecast on our Allergy 4-Day forecast page. We’re not weather forecast experts; we get these allergy counts and data straight from real experts, the folks at NOAA.
Our weather forecasts include daily allergy reports that note the pollen count for your location. Find out more about our Allergy Alerts that can be mailed directly to your inbox. This allergy info can help allergy sufferers manage their symptoms. Sign up today.
General Symptoms
When you have an allergic reaction you may feel a combination of the following symptoms: sneezing, wheezing, nasal congestion, coughing, itchy watery eyes, runny nose, itchy throat, stomach ache, and itchy skin, hives, fatigue, and irritability.
How Can You Learn What Type Of Allergens Affect You?
The most common method doctors use to identify specific allergies is a skin test. By scratching the skin, or making an injection just underneath it, the doctor can observe your body's reaction to various allergens.
This skin test cannot classify all allergies, but does cover major categories, such as common respiratory allergies, as well as allergic reactions to penicillin, food, and insect stings. Being aware of your allergy info could prevent a future allergic reaction that could be life threatening.
The children of people with allergies have a greater likelihood of having allergies themselves. As a result, doctors often learn about a patient's allergies based on family and personal medical records.
Finally, doctors find clues in the recent activities patients engage in by asking a battery of questions to gauge allergy info. For example, to determine whether your reaction is a result of food, airborne or chemical allergens, the doctor might ask, "did you eat anything unusual recently?", "were you working or exercising vigorously outdoors?" or "did you come into contact with anything which might have irritated your skin and eyes?" Your doctor will likely ask if you suffer from asthma, since allergies increase the risk of an asthma attack.
Any medical or health information included on Pollen.com is provided by SDI Health LLC, a non-medical professional organization. Information from external sources included on Pollen.com, including HealthDay News, are the responsibility of the third-party provider and not of SDI Health LLC.
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