Understand what’s causing your allergies, from immune system responses and genetics to common risk factors like medications, foods, insect bites, and dust, plus learn about treatment options.
Discover the causes of allergies, associated risk factors, and treatment methods according to Vitalo360.
Causes of Allergies
An allergy is an immune system response to a foreign substance. The body perceives a harmless substance as a threat, leading to allergy symptoms like itching, redness, inflammation, sneezing, and others. Here are some common causes of allergies:
1. Immune System-Related Causes
The immune system protects the body from harmful substances by identifying foreign antigens on cells, viruses, bacteria, and more. It then works to eliminate or neutralize these harmful substances.
However, allergies related to the immune system occur when the immune system overreacts to a substance. This overreaction results in allergy symptoms, ranging from mild, like a runny nose and sneezing, to severe, like anaphylactic shock, a severe immune response that leads to dangerous allergic reactions, such as throat, tongue, or airway swelling, difficulty breathing, and severe headache.
2. Genetic Causes
Genetic factors are also known causes of allergies, where parents can pass down allergy genes to their children. However, it’s important to know that genetics doesn’t guarantee someone will develop allergies. For example, if you have a family history of allergies, you’re more likely to develop them, which may cause the body to recognize new substances as harmful, leading to antibody production to fight them.
Despite this, it’s important to remember that genes alone cannot determine what a person will be allergic to. Factors like the environment and the body’s response when exposed to different substances or irritants, play a big role in determining one’s chances of developing allergies.
Allergy Risk Factors
After learning about the causes of allergies, here’s an overview of their risk factors:
1. Avoiding Certain Medications
Medications are risk factors for allergies. Penicillin and other medications containing sulfa drugs are among the most common medications that cause allergies.
2. Exposure to Certain Foods
Sensitivity to certain foods like shellfish, nuts, or legumes can increase the risk of developing allergies. It’s important to be aware of these triggers in our diet.
3. Exposure to Certain Industrial and Metallic Materials
Exposure to certain materials, such as nickel, or materials like latex found in gloves, can lead to allergic reactions.
4. Insect Bites
Insect bites like bee stings or wasp stings are some of the most common causes of allergies around the world.
5. Exposure to dust
Exposure to dust, like mites, pollen, or mold, increases the chance of developing allergy symptoms.
6. Some Types of Food
According to biologists, many people are sensitive to certain foods because of the proteins found in foods such as fish, shrimp, peanuts and nuts. Regarding children, sensitivity may be due to the proteins found in eggs, soy, wheat, and cow’s milk.
Serious Risk Factors for Developing Allergies
Here is a breakdown of the risk factors for allergies:
- Family history of allergies or certain diseases, such as asthma and allergies.
- childhood environment.
- Living and traveling in polluted environments.
- Exposure to certain diseases, such as immune diseases and related infections.
Allergy Treatment
Allergy treatment depends on various factors, such as the type of allergy, the severity of the condition. This should be determined with your doctor’s advice. Treatment is divided into two categories: medication and non-medication.
1. Non-Medication Treatment
Includes:
- Avoiding exposure to allergy triggers, such as dust, pollen, and staying away from smokers.
- Taking probiotic foods that may help reduce allergy symptoms.
- Using air purifiers and air conditioners that don’t trigger allergies, as this can help reduce the chance of getting them.
2. Medication Treatment
Where medications are prescribed by a specialist based on the type of allergy and the severity of symptoms, such as:
- Corticosteroid nasal sprays: Which work to relieve inflammation, redness, nasal congestion, and itching associated with allergies, and these sprays are the best treatment for nasal allergies.
- Antihistamines: Works to open the nasal passages, but caution should be exercised because prolonged use may cause a rebound congestion effect.
- Corticosteroid allergy medications: Which work to reduce allergic inflammation and relieve severe allergy symptoms.
- Creams against allergies, whether they are steroid or non-steroid: To relieve the local skin allergy symptoms of redness, itching, and others.
It is worth noting that allergy treatment does not depend solely on the methods and treatments mentioned, and that the specialist doctor is the best able to determine the appropriate treatment plan for the condition.
