Fact Checked
Overview Of Allergies
- An allergy is the immune system’s reaction to an element or substance that’s not usually dangerous for your body.
- These substances are known as allergens. They can consist of certain foods, pet fur, or pollen. They provoke a reaction from your immune system.
- Your immune system’s function is to keep you fit by combating infection and other unsafe pathogens.
- Subject to the type of allergen, this reaction might involve swelling, sneezing, and a few other symptoms.
- Your immune system generally becomes accustomed to your surroundings. When your body comes across something like pet fur, it recognizes it’s harmless, and doesn’t attack.
- Allergies are common, and there are numerous methods to treat them in order to evade annoying and worrying symptoms.
Causes And Types of Allergies
- Allergies happen when a harmless allergen passes the body and your immune system tries to fight it off. Doctors don’t precisely know why the immune system responds this way.
- Allergies have a hereditary component, which means that they can be handed down from parent to child.
- Some allergies are not caused from genetics. If your mom is sensitive to shellfish, it doesn’t inevitably mean that you will be too.
There are numerous kinds of allergens, including:
- Animal products: pet fur, cockroaches, dust mites.
- Drugs: penicillin.
- Certain foods: generally shellfish, nuts, eggs, wheat, and milk.
- Insect stings: mosquitoes, wasps, and bees.
- Plants: pollen from grass, trees, and weeds, as well as gum from plants such as poison oak and poison ivy.
Periodic allergies (or seasonal allergies), also known as hay fever, are a few of the most common allergies. These are triggered by pollen contained in plants. They cause:
- A runny nose;
- Watery eyes;
- Sore eyes; and
- A cough.