Allergy – What is it?

We hear so many people saying they have allergies. The most common ones general public is aware of are peanuts, bee and wasp stings, shellfish and hay fever. I am not writing here an academic paper or even one which uses the scientific language. I am writing just in a plain language everyone can understand and from the point of view of one who has been suffering from allergies. 

Anything that is introduced into our body via food, drink, applications on the skin, injection or breath, is essentially foreign to our body. Mostly our body does not respond to these introductions and we can safely ingest, inject and inhale daily. If there are any harmful bacteria or viruses are introduced into the body (this is called infection) then the body’s defence system goes into action. This invader is recognised as harmful and the white blood cells recognise them as such and start the process of destroying them. This is called inflammation where the signs are redness, swelling, pain, the part is hot to touch and it can also restrict movement. 

Sometimes other things than bacteria or viruses get identified mistakenly by the body as harmful and it starts off the process of inflammation. This is called an allergic reaction. The reaction can be very mild as seen in early hay fever symptoms, which include sneezing, itchy eyes and runny nose. This can increase in intensity over time to actually red, swollen and itchy eyes, runny and itchy nose, it can feel blocked dues to swelling of the mucous membranes inside the nose, leading to difficulty in breathing, sore and itchy throat, headache and also fever. Thus any thing that causes this allergic reaction due to inhaling some irritant substance can lead to asthma. Again it can be mild and controlled with the inhalers and antihistamine drugs. Sometimes it can be bad enough to need hospitalisation and having stronger drugs intravenously.

If something that you apply on your skin like soap or creams and cosmetics can also cause itching and rashes on the skin and the perfume within the substance can give respiratory reactions as described above.

The food allergies provoke a slightly different response from itching of the mouth to bloating when the allergy is mild. As it progresses you can get stomach cramps, diarrhoea, vomiting, swelling in the abdomen, up into your gullet and throat. This can feel as if the throat is being squeezed shut and so there is difficulty in breathing as all the swollen tissue presses on to the wind pipe.

Occasionally the allergy starts with mild symptoms and progresses to stronger reactions. Sometimes it hits out of the blue with strong reaction to something you may have been using or consuming for a lot time. It must be remembered that every time you come into contact with a substance that produces an allergic reaction it becomes stronger and remains for longer and also it takes a very minute amount of the substance to produce major reaction.  The worst reaction to an allergic substance is called anaphylactic shock. Basically the body goes into shock and the blood pressure drops and you become pale cold, clammy and finally unconscious. If the person does not get adrenalin / epinephrine injection immediately they can die. Now you must have heard this called epipen that people with severe nut allergy generally carry with themselves.

Often people mistakenly call an allergy when they do not like something especially where food is concerned. Some people due to lack of understanding do not give the appropriate attention and sympathy to people who actually have an allergy. For example, I used am allergic to perfumes, so find it hard to breath when people around me have used any form of spray be it perfume or deodorants. In spite of requesting colleagues and students to avoid these when they come to my office they would ignore this and I was left gasping for breath. Once I had been on a holiday group trip to America and since most foods there have soy (which I am severely allergic to) there was limited things that I could have in my meals. My fellow travellers were so compassionate that they ate their own food as well as what little was made or bought for me.

There are no real facts about why we become allergic to certain things. One can see that the tendency to allergy can run in families. In my family we have varied allergies in some of us. My maternal grandmother was allergic but I am not entirely sure what the triggers were. My mother had some allergies to leaf of the taro plant, and sometimes to sourness of tamarind which caused urticarial (raised red bumps which itched a lot). One of my sisters was allergic to the white of an egg, and hay fever. I am allergic to 1) foods : soya and its products like soy sauces tofu, mirin, teriyaki sauce, mushrooms, pumpkin and melon family, kiwi fruit, bananas in UK (I presume they were imported unripe and ripened with chemicals and these were my problem), cauliflower (still mild reaction), cooked capsicum / bell peppers, oregano, mint leaves, pearl millet / bajra, rapeseed and canola oil, palm oil, ghee; 2) hay fever – was tested allergic to dust, grass and about 7 other pollens but cannot remember them all; 3) cosmetics – perfumes, certain shampoos and soaps (some soaps actually include soy oil), deodorants, perfumed moisturisers and creams, lipsticks, mascara, hair sprays and other hair products; 4) drugs like codeine, penicillin, all cough syrups, hydrocortisone cream and all non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs except ibuprofen. 

Another family member comes out in urticarial when pressure is applied to the skin as in carrying shopping bags. Another family member is allergic to chocolate, peas, chickpeas, walnuts, red lentils. My husband gets urticarial but we have not yet managed to eliminate a reason except that when he gets too hot under the duvet. His mother is severely allergic to milk and its products, cauliflower, broccoli and leafy vegetables. I know many people who are allergic to gluten, sugar, tomatoes, cilantro/coriander, oregano and so on….. the list keeps growing.

So you see there is no indication as to what one can become allergic to. And once you have started having allergic symptoms it is best to see an allergist who can do tests to check if they can identify the allergens (substances you are allergic to). Most of the time one learns through trial and error. If you suspect some food then eliminate it from your diet and see if the symptoms go away. But with any symptoms that you feel could be an allergic reaction it is always worth keeping note of what happens and speaking to your doctor. I often get people saying oh I am a bit allergic to such and such but I eat it and just have some antihistamine. This is a dangerous path to take as you never know which time will act like that straw that broke the camel’s back and give you anaphylactic shock. Many people say they do not have the will power to stop eating or using things they are allergic too. To them I say the alternative is suffering and then possibly sudden death. There is not much of an option is it? I have also heard parents say that their kids refuse to stick to a life time of avoidance of allergens and again it’s the same argument. If they eat they will get more and more ill and again possibly die. Is that an option they wish to consider just because they wish to fit in? My niece turned allergic to chocolate at the age of 3 and with explanations and having a few episodes of swelling and itching of the mouth the lesson was learnt and so I say if a 3 year old can understand that this makes me ill how can you not get an older child or adult to understand?

I hope that this short personal take on what is an allergy and what happens when you are allergic gives you an understanding of this serious health problem. Please do not ignore if you suspect you are allergic and remember despite the fact we have medicines to help and subdue the allergic reaction (which may fail to save your life sometimes) avoidance of those substances is the best and only sure way of remaining free of allergic reactions.