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Category Archives: Allergies
Flowers For the Allergic
It is true. Some people have allergies to flowers and can not be around them at all for any length of time without sneezing and feeling ill. Their affect can be so profound that some very allergic people will choose not to attend events and parties where they know there will be flowers of any kind to avoid the risk of becoming ill. There is no cure for flower allergies other than antihistamines and avoidance. But, your florist can help you come up with some ideas for these tough-to-shop-for customers and you will still be able to make their day brighter with flowers without making them ill.
While it may seem impossible, there are several flower gifts that will make life easier for those who receive them but suffer from allergies. While there are no hypoallergenic flowers, there are many that make great choices for those with mild allergies. Because pollen is a big culprit for triggering allergies, you will want to avoid flowers laden with pollen. This means you will want to avoid very fragrant flowers whose sent usually comes from the pollen within them.
Some great flower choices for people with allergies include:
- Roses – Hybrid versions of tea roses in a closed-bud stage can be both dramatic and allergy-free. They will not shed any pollen. Spray roses are always allergy-free and area great alternative to long-stemmed roses, which are not good for those with allergies.
- Daisies – If you choose daisies, be sure they are pollen free. There are many varieties of dahlias and chrysanthemums that make great “daisy” choices that have no pollen and will not trigger allergies. You will need to make sure of this however, because more common daisies generally have pollen.
- Potted flowers. Hydrangeas and begonias are two great choices for allergy-free floral decoration.
- Lilies. Almost all types of lilies come in pollen-free versions these days. And, to make them allergy free, you can remove the flowers’ anthers so pollen can not be produced.
- Orchids. Very few orchids cause allergic reactions, especially potted varieties.
- Baby’s Breath – This filler flower is a lovely touch. Be sure to choose only the double-flowered varieties of these plants. The single-flowered varieties will cause a reaction.
While no flowers are completely hypo-allergenic, the floral industry has been making strides toward flowers with fewer allergy triggers than ever before. You will want to check with your florist for more information if you have someone in your life with flower allergies. And, if their allergies are so intense they can receive no flowers, consider a lovely putted plant or blooming cactus as a healthier alternative.
Allergies – Common Allergies
The ailment of allergy is a sickness of the resistance system of the body. The chief natural causes that contribute to this malady are called the allergens. They belong to the first degree of hypersensitivity and are regulated by the excess of specific white blood cells and anti bodies. The allergies can be off any kind that may range from the skin allergies to sinus allergies.
The main threat factors can be classified into two main groups that are the host and the environmental groups. The category classified as the host group involves the inclusion of chief threat factors such as inherent, gender and maturity level. The hereditary causes attribute to more than 60% of this ailment and this category is more severe than the kind that would be present in individuals who belong to the non hereditary genre. Further it is prevalent in members of both sexes, more so amongst the adolescents. In contrast the environmental factors include the individuals who categorized in accordance with their location and surroundings. For example these categories of allergies are going to be more existent in industrialized countries in contrast to the agricultural countries. Hence the latest increment in the allergy disorders can not be solely attributed to inherent factors.
The category of allergy is diagnosed on the basis of skin tests or blood tests. The skin test involves the testing of the presence of allergies based on a pierce that is made on the skin. When the classification of the allergy kind has been made then there are several ways of finding its chief contributory factor. It is favored over a blood test.
With the advancement in medical science there are several cures for all kinds of allergies, the most common being the reduction of contact with particular allergens. Oral medication is also advised in certain cases but evasion is an ideal option.
Types of Allergy Tests
It used to be if you wanted to find out what you were allergic to you had to undergo a long series of tests that could take weeks or months. If you were allergic to something unusual or rare it could take years or, more commonly, you never would find out. If your allergies were seasonal, they probably disappeared before the testing clinic found an answer and you would give up on the clinic testing and go back to life as before. Much of that procedure today has been speeded up and is more straightforward but if you are being checked for allergies there will probably still be several types of tests performed.
There are three basic ways that a clinic or hospital can use to test you for allergies. The most commonly used is a skin test. This involves putting a small amount of the allergen on your skin. Allergen, by the way, is the medical term for the substance suspected of causing your allergy. Most often, the allergen is applied to your forearm but it could also be done on your back or upper arm. Then the skin in that area is irritated by pricking it with a needle or scratching the skin. This allows the substance to get under your skin. If you are allergic to it there will usually be an allergic reaction in less than 10 to 15 minutes. Usually the reaction just involves redness, itching and swelling of the skin but testers have to be careful with skin tests because in some cases the reaction may be severe and involve respiratory complications. A variation of the skin test is the intradermal allergy test. This test uses a small needle to inject the allergen just beneath the skin. Skin tests are usually used to identify things in the air that you inhale that might be causing your allergy or allergies to insect or animal bites.
A second type of allergy testing is called elimination testing. This is most often used to identify food and diet allergies. In a very controlled environment, various foods are either added or removed from your diet and your reaction is monitored. Often the food is disguised in some fashion to prevent psychological factors from interfering with the test. Sometimes if you think you are allergic to something you abnormally influence the result. Obviously, this method is very time consuming and can only be used if the reactions are relatively mild.
The third and perhaps the best method of allergy testing is the blood test. As the name implies, this involves taking a small sample of your blood and sending it off for laboratory testing. The lab procedure is complicated but basically, they will expose your blood to various allergens. If you are allergic, your blood will create what are called IgE antibodies to fight off the allergen. Depending on what kind of IgE antibodies are created and how many are created the lab can both identify your allergy and tell you how severe it is. RAST and UniCAP are the two main specific types of modern blood testing for allergies. UniCAP is almost a fully automated procedure that can check for several 100 allergens and will even assign a number from 1 to 6 to identify the severity of the allergic reaction. The major disadvantage of blood testing is it requires specialized equipment. Usually your clinic or hospital will have to mail the blood sample off and will not get results back for several weeks.
The Allergies – Candida Connection
There seems to be a connection between some food allergies and Candida Albacans.
Candida is common yeast that builds in the abdomen. Candida Albacans is the most common type, which itself comes in two forms – yeast and fungal. In its yeast form it is benign. As it multiples if starts to stick to the walls of the intestines. Given time, it will develop into its fungal form which the one that does the damage.
At this point it has sharp tentacles that will tend to pierce the intestine wall. This causes what is known as “leaky gut syndrome” and brings on infections. It also produces spores, which travel in the blood throughout the body. This is when outward symptoms of Candida pop up.
So how is this related to allergies?
When someone eats a food to which they are allergic, they often suffer from gas, stomach pains, diarrhea, constipation, bloating, or multiple skin complaints. These allergy symptoms will keep the good bacteria in our digestive systems from working as effectively. Part of this good bacteria’s job is to keep the Candida Albacans in check. Instead, it tends to grow out of control and convert to the more destructive fungal form more quickly.
Unfortunately, the symptoms of Candida are very similar to the symptoms of the food allergies that may have started the whole attack. Therefore it often isn’t recognized immediately. On top of that, the immune system is already hard at work trying to rid the body of what it recognizes as poisonous allergens; giving it less time and resources to attack the Candida. Left unchecked, the Candida starts to spread.
If your food allergies are to foods you eat very infrequently, it is unlikely to lead to Candida unless you have an acute reaction to the food. Strangely, people often aren’t aware of their own food allergies. Sometimes they are difficult to detect. Therefore, you might be regularly ingesting something that gives you some level of allergic reaction. These are the more dangerous allergies with regard to Candida development. As they regularly add stress to your digestive and immune systems, Candida is given an opportunity to grow.
If you’ve been diagnosed with Candida and aren’t aware of any food allergies, here are some ways to identify out the culprit food.
1. Create a food diary where you record everything you eat. Also keep track of any physical discomfort, such as bloating, gas or any other stomach discomforts. Record the date and time of each. Analyze the results. Pay particular attention to the most common allergic foods, such as dairy and yeast products. Are there foods that, whenever eaten, are followed by discomfort? You’ve probably found your food allergy.
2. If you’ve got a more severe problem you probably want to find out more quickly, as the above method could take weeks or even months to discover. Instead you can visit a nutritionist or an allergy specialist. They can conduct allergy tests that will tell you your sensitivities in an afternoon.
3. Another often-successful tactic is to go on an “anti-Candida diet”. This eliminates any foods that may cause allergies from your diet. Although restrictive, it’s quite effective. And you’re fighting the allergy as well as the Candida Albacans.
Understanding this connection between food allergies and Candida Albacans is important. If you continue to eat the foods that encourage fungal Candida Albacans growth, you will continue to suffer the symptoms. Changing your diet allows you to regain control of your health.
Allergies – How Did They Come About?
An allergy or also known as hypersensitivity is an abnormal reaction to certain substances that usually occur naturally. If an allergic person is exposed to these substances called allergens, the body’s immune system gets ready to fight them. Allergens are microscopic protein substances that are common and provoke allergic people to produce antidotes (antibodies). The most common allergy provoking substances are pollen from weeds, grass, flowers and tree, mold and mold fungus, house dust mites and pet dander.
Where did allergies come from? How did they originate? The earliest report of allergic disease is that of King Menses of Egypt who was killed by the sting of a wasp at some time between 3640 and 3300 BC. From ancient history, Britannicus, the son of the Roman Emperor Claudius was allergic to horses and developed a rash in his eyes and swelled that he could no longer see.
The concept of allergy was originally introduced in 1906 by the Viennese pediatrician Clemens von Pirquet. After he noted that some of his patients were hypersensitive to normally innocuous entities such as dust, pollen, or certain foods. Pirquet called this phenomenon “allergy” from the Ancient Greek words allos meaning “other” and ergon meaning “work”. According to history, all forms of hypersensitivity were classified as allergies and it was caused by poor and improper immune system.
Scientists believe allergies originated millions of years ago as a way for the human body to free itself of parasites and invading worms. The body fights these elements and other invaders by producing an antibody called immunoglobulin E (IgE) in the intestines and lungs. IgE triggers immune cells to release a number of chemicals, one of which is histamine. Histamine produces hives, watery eyes, sneezing, and itching. The more a person is exposed to allergens, the more the body produces IgE and usually, allergies often get worse with age.
What causes an allergy? Allergies can be caused by just about any substance that you inhale or swallow, or that touches your skin. Today, allergies are extremely common and it continuously arises. They cause annoying symptoms such as runny nose, sneezing, swollen and itchy eyes. They can also trigger other conditions such as asthma, sinusitis, ear infections and skin rashes. The most common symptom of allergies is allergic rhinitis, most popularly known as hay fever. These symptoms are similar with those of the common cold. The difference is, common cold runs for 7 to 10 days while allergic rhinitis can drag for weeks and even moths.
Help I Am Allergic To Chlorine
If you are allergic to chlorine then you suffer from Allergies Type 4 is also called cell-mediated or delayed allergies. See my article on allergies type 4 for a detailed description of the allergy type 4. The most common symptom is an itchy rash under the armpits and in the groin area.
Scientists consider chlorine one of the most toxic elements found in nature and yet the number of people allergic to chlorine is extremely small. Eye irritation, dry skin, coughing, sneezing, stuffy or itchy nose may be symptoms of an intolerance to chlorine instead of a true allergy.
Some pools use bromine instead of chlorine. Bromine is used in most hot tubs because it can withstand heat better than chlorine. More people can develop an allergic reaction to bromine than chlorine but it is still considered very rare.
In chlorine treated pools the chlorine reacts with other chemicals, such as those fond in dirt, which creates chloramines compounds. Always shower prior to swimming in a chlorinated swimming pool to stop this chemical reaction from happening in the pores of you skin.
The small white patches that can develop on your skin after swimming is not an allergic reaction to chlorine. The white patches are actually caused by a type of yeast infections and needs to be treated with a topical medication. Always shower after swimming and use an anti chlorine shampoo and an anti chlorine soap.
Many people develop stuffy nose after swimming in a public pool. This is commonly called swimmer’s sinusitis is caused by getting water into the sinuses. The best treatment for swimmer’s sinusitis is to drink plenty of water to keep the mucus thin and allow the sinusitis to drain properly. Some people find that using a nasal spray after swimming will also relive some of the symptoms. If the problem continues then see a healthcare professional because a persistent sinus infection could lead to a more serious problem.
Another treatment for the swimmer’s sinusitis is to use Eucalyptus or olbas oil in boiling water and inhale the steam that is being generated. This treatment is also very good for any type of stuffy nose due to a cold, flu or allergy problems. Both readily diffuse into the air and can provide benefits to nasal and bronchial areas.
If you are Allergic To Chlorine then find a good health care professional prior to starting any type of home treatment.
Always consult your doctor before using this information.
This Article is nutritional in nature and is not to be construed as medical advice.