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Can Allergies Cause Fatigue And Body Aches



How To Prevent Allergy Fatigue

The best way to prevent allergy fatigue is to find an effective treatment option for your allergies. The first step in managing allergies and preventing symptoms like fatigue is to find out which specific allergens trigger your reactions. After this diagnosis, there are ways to minimize allergies and avoid fatigue. You can minimize allergy fatigue in several ways:

You Suffer From Chronic Headaches And/or Migraines

You have headache pain upon awakening in the morning, several hours after a meal, or even a day after eating certain foods. This is often due to food sensitivities which act as migraine triggers, and/or trigger a hypoglycemic response.

Solution: Keep a food diary and write down everything you eat. Notice patterns of how certain foods affect you. Certain foods and additives are known migraine triggers . Sending off a food allergy profile can be helpful in determining which foods may adversely be affecting you.

Psoriatic Arthritis And Gluten

Psoriatic arthritis   is an autoimmune condition that affects the joints of those with the skin-related autoimmune condition known as psoriasis. PA causes pain, stiffness, and swelling among other things.

Similar to above, PA is associated with gluten-related disorders. One found that those with celiac disease are at a greater risk of developing psoriasis before and after their diagnosis. Another found that psoriasis and celiac disease have some genetic and inflammatory factors in common. 

In this case report, a 56-year-old man previously diagnosed with PA was experiencing debilitating pain in his feet, ankles, hands, and knees. He had trouble walking. He had psoriasis patches on his knees, behind his ears, and on his feet. Plus, he had reflux, recently gained 15 pounds, and was depressed sporadically.

Over the course of his disease, his doctor prescribed a pain killer and two immunosuppressive drugs. He was also given antibiotics on multiple occasions and he took aspirin daily. However, his symptoms continued to get worse.

His normal diet was filled with gluten and grains. He frequently ate oatmeal for breakfast and pasta for dinner. Plus, he snacked on cookies throughout the day.

Almost all of his other symptoms were gone, including migraines, reflux, and constipation. Plus, he was no longer depressed.

Food Allergies Intolerance And Reactions

If a specific food makes you feel ill, the reaction could be an allergy, an intolerance or some other kind of reaction. Many people label all negative reactions to food as allergies. After all, the end result is the same whether you have an allergy or an intolerance to a certain food: you must avoid the food that triggers your reaction.

However, the reactions inside the body are different, and lead to varying symptoms. The Mayo Clinic reports that the most common food allergy symptoms are:

  • Itching and tingling in the mouth
  • Dizziness and fainting
  • Itchy skin, associates with hives or eczema
  • Abdominal discomfort, including diarrhea and vomiting
  • Swelling in the mouth, throat or other parts of the body
  • Difficulty breathing, including wheezing and nasal congestion
  • Anaphylaxis, which is life threatening

As such, you are not likely to experience a food allergy with fever, headache and fatigue. Instead, such symptoms may be signs of intolerances, other underlying disorders, or contaminated food.

?Read More:?10 Facts You Need to Know About Food Allergies

Body Aches And Chills

Hidden Allergy Symptoms: Vertigo, Nosebleeds, Neck Pain ...

You’re just going about your day and suddenly it hits you. There are a number of different illnesses that cause these aches and chills symptoms and others. You might want to know what might be getting you down and what to do for it. This article explains some of the more common causes, things you can do at home, and when to check in with your doctor.

Gluten Intolerance Wheat Allergy And Celiac Disease

Many people have found eliminating gluten from their diet has a good effect on energy levels. The reason might be that gluten, a protein in wheat ,barley and rye can damage the gut wall and lead to inflammation throughout the body. Wheat is the most common source of gluten in the American diet, a food that many people have eaten almost every day of their lives. Besides the repeated exposure which we are genetically not prepared to tolerate , there are subtle changes in the wheat protein itself through agribusiness farming methods. 

Avoiding gluten is often accompanied by rapid weight loss, better energy, clearer thinking and less aches and pains. Unfortunately, this does not clearly happen in everyone who stops eating wheat. At times the benefits are  more subtle leading people to give up on these restrictions even if in the long run it would be beneficial to stay off gluten. However, there are blood tests that can help identify who is gluten intolerant or wheat allergic that I have found useful in the many patients who do not easily improve with gluten avoidance. 

The bottom line: diet, food allergy and gluten intolerance are major factors in fatigue and tiredness that need to be addressed to achieve the vitality and high level wellness we all strive for. 

 

Can You Tell The Difference Between A Food Allergy And A Food Sensitivity

With a food allergy, even one molecule of the offending food’s protein can trigger a response. Your body will react as soon as the food is eaten. That’s why people with food allergies need to completely avoid foods they are allergic to.

Food intolerances can depend on how much is eaten and how often. People with food intolerances may not have symptoms when they eat a small portion of the food, or don’t eat the food frequently. For example, if you have a sensitivity to dairy, having one small bowl of ice cream may not cause you any problems. However, there’s a good chance you would wake up with diarrhea and brain fog after spending a night binging on Ben & Jerry’s.

Gluten Is Connected To Many Forms Of Autoimmune Arthritis

Can gluten cause muscle and joint pain?  For genetically susceptible individuals, the intestinal damage caused by gluten in combination with an overactive immune system and chronic state of inflammation leads to celiac disease.

Celiac disease is an autoimmune condition that causes your immune system to attack your intestines, which creates even more damage and inflammation. But as I mentioned, the inflammatory effects aren’t limited to your gut. Which is why celiac disease is associated with many other autoimmune conditions. And several of them cause your immune system to attack your muscles and joints, which causes pain. 

Gluten And Rheumatoid Arthritis

With rheumatoid arthritis , your immune system attacks joint tissue commonly found in your hands, wrists, and knees. Swelling and inflammation occur, which leads to joint tissue damage. The tissue damage ultimately causes chronic pain, stiffness, and sometimes deformity.

Several studies have linked RA with celiac disease. And researchers have even suggested that it may start in the gut and be triggered by food antigens, such as gluten. 

In this case report, a 50-year old man presented with chronic diarrhea for two months. He also lost weight and his feet and legs were swollen. Antibodies for gluten proteins were found in his blood and damage to the lining of his small intestine was confirmed.

The patient was diagnosed with celiac disease and treated with a gluten-free diet. After three months, his initial symptoms improved significantly. However, he soon started to experience pain in his joints and laboratory tests confirmed he had RA.

In this study, 42 children with juvenile RA were tested for celiac disease even though they didn’t have the usual symptoms. And it turned out that almost 43% of the group had antibodies for gluten proteins in their blood, which means their immune systems were reacting to gluten. 

Sixteen of the children with gluten protein antibodies had intestinal biopsies performed and celiac disease was confirmed in all cases. So the children were treated with a gluten-free diet, which reduced their joint-related symptoms as well as improved their growth.

Soon After Eating A Meal You Notice That You Begin To Yawn And Feel Tired

It could happen minutes or hours after eating. This could be accompanied by feeling anxious, palpitations, shaking, feeling dizzy, feeling like you might pass out, or that you need a nap. This is often due to reactive hypoglycemia, which means that the blood sugars are swinging.

Solution:Eat small frequent meals, don’t skip meals, cut back on simple sugars and carbs, and eat a balanced diet with quality protein, complex carbohydrates and healthy fats . A five-hour glucose tolerance test with insulin levels can also help determine if you have reactive hypoglycemia.

You Suffer From Muscle And/or Joint Pain After Eating Meals

This could be brief, intermittent pain, or a more sustained inflammatory response.

Solution:Do a food allergy/sensitivity test and stool analysis to look for increased intestinal permeability , do an elimination diet and get tested for nutritional deficiencies, including zinc. A trial off of nightshades may also be effective in a small proportion of individuals.Food is medicine, but eating the wrong types of foods along with nutritional deficiencies can make you sick.

If you’re still unsure, it never hurts to see your health care provider and get tested for food allergies. The test may be what you need to finally receive answers for unexplained symptoms and chronic health problems.

Can You Get Body Aches With Pollen Allergies

Allergies can produce a variety of symptoms, but one thing everyone affected with allergies experiences is discomfort. People can be allergic to pollen, pet dander, dust, foods and plants. Pollen allergies most commonly cause nasal congestion, a runny nose, sore throat and itchy eyes. Less frequent symptoms include hives, itchy skin, cough, mood changes and body aches.

If you are experiencing serious medical symptoms, seek emergency treatment immediately.

How Are Food Allergies/sensitivities Diagnosed

The Link Between Seasonal Allergies and Chronic Pain

People with food allergies know exactly what food causes their allergy. They eat peanuts or a product with peanuts in it and immediately have a reaction. Their food allergy was diagnosed using either blood tests or skin tests.

In an allergy skin test, a very small drop of a liquid food extract, one for each food, is placed on the skin. The skin is then lightly pricked where the food extract was dropped. This is safe and generally not painful. Within 15 to 20 minutes, a raised bump with redness around it, similar to a mosquito bite, may appear. This shows that you are allergic to that food.

There are two accepted methods in determining a food sensitivity:

Laboratory tests

Lab tests for food sensitivities measure IgG or IgA antibodies to particular food proteins. Ideally, a lab will test both, as you can have a reaction to one but not the other. Once a food allergy is ruled out food sensitivity tests are run. For example, if you suspect you react to peanuts, ruling out a peanut allergy should be your first priority. Should the food allergy test show that you are not allergic to peanuts, your doctor may decide to investigate a peanut or legume sensitivity.

Elimination or reset diets

Your fatigue is different than the fatigue of anyone else you know. You’re a unique snowflake and your nutrition should reflect this. Food might not even be the cause of your fatigue. But the only way to find out is to experiment.

Can Allergies Affect Joint Pain

  • Can Allergies Affect Joint Pain?
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    If you suffer from allergies, you likely know the toll they can take on your sinuses. But what about the rest of your body? Can allergies affect joint pain? Believe it or not, allergies, whether seasonal or food-related, can affect joint pain. Allergy symptoms appear for a variety of reasons, but some symptoms — like joint pain — may occur because of the humidity and rapid temperature changes that accompany the spring season.

    During allergy season, many individuals experience a spike in allergy symptoms, particularly when there is a high pollen count. Some individuals will have mild symptoms like a stuffy nose and sneezing.

    Others, on the other hand, can experience pain in their neck, back and joints. Joint pain is widespread. A national survey showed one-third of adults claimed to have experienced joint pain within the previous 30 days.

    Find Out Your Allergens

    The first step in getting rid of your brain fog is finding out what’s causing your allergies. If you don’t know what you’re allergic to, you should visit a doctor who specializes in allergies. They’ll run tests to find out what’s causing your symptoms.

    Common allergy tests include:

    • Skin tests. This involves pricking your skin with a needle to expose you to a small amount of an allergen. If you’re allergic, you’ll develop a raised bump in the spot of the allergen.
    • Blood tests. If you have allergies, your blood will contain certain cells that show you’re sensitive to certain allergens.
    • Physical exam. There are many physical signs of allergies, from skin irritation to nasal and breathing problems. These can help your doctor diagnose your allergies.

    Congestion Can Cause Brain Fog

    A stuffy, swollen nose can make it difficult to think clearly, often causing a hazy or tried feeling. Many have termed this feeling “brain fog,” and it results from the congestion and pressure in your nasal and sinus air passages. Without treating allergy symptoms, and sometimes contributing sinus issues, the inflammation, irritation, and runny nose at the root of this issue will keep making you feel foggy.

    Allergies And Musculoskeletal Pain

    Many types of allergies can cause joint pain, including an allergic reaction known as serum sickness, and after an insect sting. Even seasonal allergies can be associated with joint pain symptoms for several reasons.

    Let us evaluate each one of these conditions and find out how each type of allergy triggers joint pain and muscle pain:

    Can Joint Pain Be Treated

    To help understand joint pain, your doctor will first try to determine an underlying cause. Once you discuss the potential causes with your doctor, treatment options can vary based on the reason for the joint pain.

    As with back pain, over-the-counter anti-inflammatory medication such as aspirin or ibuprofen may help with moderate to severe joint pain. If you have milder pain that is not accompanied by inflammation, it is possible that taking Tylenol for a short period of time will provide relief.

    Other drugs that may help reduce joint pain include antidepressants, antiepileptic drugs and muscle relaxants that can treat muscle spasms. Some people may find relief by taking two drugs at once, such as muscle relaxants and NSAIDs. It is important to consult with a doctor before doing this.

    Underactive Thyroid And Fatigue

    Symptoms: Extreme fatigue, sluggishness, feeling run-down, depression, cold intolerance, weight gain

    The problem may be a slow or underactive thyroid. This is known as . The is a small, butterfly-shaped gland that sits at the base of your neck. It helps set the rate of , which is the rate at which the body uses energy.

    According to the American Thyroid Foundation, about 17% of all women will have a disorder by age 60. And most won’t know it. The most common cause is an autoimmune disorder known as Hashimoto’s thyroiditis. Hashimoto’s stops the gland from making enough thyroid hormones for the body to work the way it should. The result is hypothyroidism, or a slow .

    Blood tests known as T3 and T4 will detect thyroid hormones. If these hormones are low, synthetic hormones can bring you up to speed, and you should begin to feel better fairly rapidly.

    Gluten And Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

    Systemic lupus erythematosus is an autoimmune disease that causes the immune system to attack connective tissue, including cartilage and the lining of blood vessels. Since it can affect multiple organs and systems in the body, symptoms are widespread and may be unique to each individual. However, fatigue, muscle weakness, and muscle and joint pain are common manifestations.

    Similar to rheumatoid arthritis, SLE is associated with celiac disease. Likely caused by inflammation and an overactive immune system.

    One hospital 5 cases in a period of 4 years. The onset of SLE and celiac disease occurred at the same time with one patient. Celiac disease occurred before SLE with another patient. And SLE occurred before celiac disease with the remaining 3 cases. Only three of the five patients experienced abdominal symptoms. However, all five patients responded favorably to a gluten-free diet.

    This study set out to determine the risk of patients with biopsy-confirmed cases of celiac disease developing SLE. They concluded those with celiac disease were 3 times more likely to be diagnosed with SLE than the general population. However, since celiac disease only affects 1 – 2% of the population, the chance of someone with celiac disease developing SLE was relatively low .

    Interestingly, there have also been that were falsely diagnosed with SLE and later correctly diagnosed with gluten sensitivity.

    Joint Pain: Youre Not Alone

    The relationship between Fibromyalgia and allergies ...

    In a recent national survey, nearly one out of every three adults in the US reported having joint pain within the last 30 days. In this survey, deep pain was the most common complaint, followed by shoulder and hip pain

    Joints connect your bones together, providing your body with support as you move. Joint pain can impact just about any part of your body, including the ankles, feet and hands. While joint pain can occur at any age, it becomes increasingly common as a person ages.

    Damage to your joints caused by injury or disease cannot only interfere with movement, but can also be a common cause of pain. Some of the most common conditions leading to painful joints include rheumatoid arthritis, bursitis, osteoarthritis, gout, strains, sprains and other injuries, such as in sports.

    As with back pain, joint pain can vary greatly in terms of severity in the amount of time that it lasts. For example, joint pain that resolves within a few weeks is referred to as acute. However, many people suffer from chronic joint pain, or pain that lingers for weeks or months at a time.

    Other common causes of joint pain include:

    • Osteoarthritis
    • Autoimmune diseases, including lupus and rheumatoid arthritis
    • Seasonal allergies

    Seasonal Allergies And Joint Pain

    Mar 28, 2018

    Spring is here! With warmer days ahead, trees and flowers will begin

    to bud, which also means that the dreaded allergy season is right around the corner. Soon enough there will be runny noses, scratchy throats, watery eyes and, for some of you, joint pain. You read that right, seasonal allergies and joint pain! While not often associated with one another, the two actually are related and taking the time to understand the connection can help you prevent them.

    What Are Allergies?

    In the United States, allergies are typically heightened from March to early summer. Some common substances that cause allergies are pollen, dust, nuts, mold and bee venom. These substances are referred to as allergens, and to combat these your immune system produces antibodies that will help protect you from infections. Antibodies travel to your cells and cause them to release chemicals called histamines that help get rid of those allergens. Histamines cause inflammation so when you come in contact with allergens, you experience inflammation of your sinuses, skin, joints, and respiratory airways. This is why the most common allergy symptoms include the following:

    • Nasal congestion
    • Fatigue

    Do Seasonal Allergies Really Cause Back, Neck and Joint Pain?

    Fatigue can also explain why you feel joint pain during allergy season. Your body is working very hard to fight those allergens, as a result becomes exhausted, and this may cause your joint pain to feel worse.

    What Causes Back Pain

     

    Back pain is a common complaint, especially among adults. According to the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, there are several potential causes of back pain.

    Aging is one of the most common risk factors, as people may begin to experience back pain between the ages of 30 and 40. It is also a more prevalent issue among those who are not physically fit. Another risk factor is being overweight, which stresses the back and leads to pain. There are also hereditary factors, such as ankylosing spondylitis, a form of arthritis that can impact the spine. Back pain may also be caused by diseases such as cancer and arthritis.

    Pain in the lower back is particularly common and is one of the leading reasons for people to go to the doctor or to stay home from work. Back pain can occur in acute or chronic forms. Acute pain is pain that begins suddenly and that typically lasts for six weeks or less. Chronic pain is more prolonged, such as pain lasting longer than three months. Chronic pain is less common than acute pain. It is possible for acute back pain to improve without treatment, depending on the underlying cause. You may find that taking ibuprofen, acetaminophen or aspirin can help to reduce your back pain.

    There are several potential causes of back pain, including specific problems related to certain conditions or diseases:

    • Arthritis
    • Tense muscles
    • Seasonal allergies

    How To Treat Fatigue Caused By Allergies

    If allergies are truly the source of your fatigue, treating the allergies is the best way to treat the fatigue. An ENT specialist or allergist can help you determine or confirm the root cause of your issues. After conducting an allergy test in the office or at home to diagnose your allergies, consider which allergy treatment option may work best to treat your fatigue and eliminate other symptoms.

    Identify When Symptoms Start

    So you’ve decided you probably have seasonal allergies. Great. But also, not great, because while allergies from pollen aren’t typically serious, they also aren’t fun.

    “Some people are like, ‘Oh, it’s just allergies,’ but allergies can be debilitating. Quality of life goes down, people miss school and work and there’s an economic impact,” says Dr. Drew Ayars, an allergist who sees patients at the allergy clinics at UW Medical Center – Montlake and UW Medical Center Eastside Specialty Center.

    Your first step toward getting relief is figuring out what kind of seasonal allergies you have.

    Does your foggy-headed misery set in before the first flowers bloom? Or later in spring when everyone starts mowing their lawns again?

    “You don’t have to be tested to know what you’re allergic to. You can correlate symptoms to pollen counts around that time,” he explains.

    That’s because different types of pollen emerge at different times. In late winter and early spring, the most prevalent pollens are from trees — hazelnut, birch, alder, oak, cottonwood, ash and juniper are especially common in the Seattle area, Rampur says. Mid- to late spring is full of grass pollen, and the biggest culprit in late summer to fall is weed pollen.

    Once you notice when specifically your allergies flare up, you can put a plan in place for dealing with them . 

    Other Autoimmune Arthritic Conditions

    There are several other pain-causing autoimmune conditions associated with celiac disease and gluten sensitivity, which include scleroderma, migratory arthritis, reactive arthritis, dermatomyositis, and ankylosing spondylitis among others. 

    For example, in this study, researchers found 83% of patients with celiac disease had symptoms associated with scleroderma. Symptoms were also statistically more severe in those with gluten sensitivity. Plus, patients reported an improvement in muscle pain soon after a gluten-free diet was implemented.

     

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    As fresh flowers emerge in the springtime, so do seasonal allergies. The main culprit is pollen released into the air by the green grass, mold, trees, and colorful flowers in full bloom. Nasal congestion, itchy eyes, sneezing, and a sore throat are common symptoms. But can seasonal allergies cause joint pain? Yes, they can. Let’s look at how seasonal allergies affect your joints:

    Many people complain of an increase in joint pain around this time of the year. This is because the pollen in the air lands on your skin, eyes, and nose triggering an allergic reaction in the body. The immune system works hard to fight against the foreign allergens. This causes fatigue and inflammation within the body. The inflammatory reaction spreads to the joints and manifests as joint pain.

    Steps to prevent seasonal allergies:

    If your joint pain continues even after getting allergy symptoms under control, you should visit an orthopedic doctor for an in-depth evaluation and treatment recommendation.


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