Why Do Kids Get Allergies
The tendency to develop allergies is often hereditary, which means it can be passed down through genes from parents to their kids. But just because a parent has allergies doesn’t mean that their kids definitely will get them. And someone usually doesn’t inherit a particular allergy, just the likelihood of having allergies. Some kids have allergies even if no family member is allergic. Kids who are allergic to one thing often are allergic to others.
Some kids also have cross-reactions. For example, kids who are allergic to birch pollen might have symptoms when they eat an apple because that apple contains a protein similar to one in the pollen. And for reasons that aren’t clear, people with a latex allergy are more likely to be allergic to foods like kiwi, chestnuts, avocados, and bananas.
Treating Food Allergy Or Intolerance
The easiest way to treat a food allergy or intolerance is to eliminate the offending food/s from the diet. Sometimes, the body can tolerate the food if it is avoided for a time, then reintroduced in small doses, particularly for food intolerances. Before you eliminate or reintroduce foods, seek advice from a specialist doctor and dietitian.
Allergies And Sleep Apnea
When you have to wrestle with your allergies each night at bedtime, you may fitfully toss and turn and then wake up exhausted. It feels like you slept for maybe an hour or two. As you drag on with your day, bleary-eyed and dead tired, its easy to assume youre so exhausted because your stuffy nose, eye itchiness, and coughing kept you awake.
While that could be true, you could also be dealing with sleep apnea without even knowing it. Obstructive sleep apnea is a form of sleep apnea associated with allergies. The nasal symptoms of your allergies make you snore when you might regularly dont. The sound of your snoring, while very distracting to a partner, can even bother you, causing you to wake up again and again throughout the night.
The upper airway is obstructed with this sleep apnea, either somewhat or all the way. Since your airway cannot open, the lungs dont get as much air unless your chest muscles and diaphragm strain.
You can have obstructive sleep apnea and not even know it because youre barely aware of whats causing you to keep waking all night. Here are the other symptoms:
- Constant exhaustion that makes it hard to get out of bed
- A choking or gasping feeling that wakes you up, even several times a night
- Mood changes, depression, feeling forgetful, and difficulty with concentrating on tasks
- Morning headaches
- Sore throat and/or dry mouth in the morning
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Gluten Sensitivity And Coeliac Disease
Issues digesting gluten are triggered by exposure to many grains, such as wheat, barley, and couscous. Coeliac disease is a severe form of intolerance which requires the affected person to cut out all foods containing gluten, which includes very common foods such as bread, cereal, and pasta. It is different to non-celiac gluten sensitivity, a milder health problem that may affect 5% of people.
Celiac disease sufferers experience autoimmune inflammation in the small intestine that is triggered by gluten, wherein the immune system attacks the body itself, which if left untreated can lead to conditions that affect other systems of the body, such as infertility, osteoporosis , and chronic fatigue.
Interestingly, 30% of the Caucasian and Western European population carries a gene that predisposes towards celiac disease, but only a small percentage of those with the genes develop celiac disease. The Atlas DNA Test searches for genetic predispositions towards lactose, alcohol, and gluten intolerance.
When To See A Specialist
Did you know that you are not able to sneeze when you are asleep? This means that one of the most important ways of ridding your body from allergens, sneezing, is unavailable while you sleep. This can lead to a worsening of symptoms that will wake you up.
Keeping your sleeping environment, your body, and your sleep clothes clear from allergens certainly cannot hurt you and often is enough to give you a comfortable nights sleep. But, for some, it isnt enough and the only available option is allergy medication.
If your allergies are making it difficult to sleep at night, contact Carolina Asthma and Allergy Center today. Since 1952, Carolina Asthma and Allergy Center has served the Charlotte metropolitan area. Today, the center has 12 offices in and around Charlotte. All the 14 allergists at the center are board certified by the American Board of Allergy and Immunology. To make an appointment at an office near you call .
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Dust Mite Allergy Management And Treatment
Make changes to your home and to your routine:
- Remove wall-to-wall carpets, curtains, and drapes particularly in the bedroom.
- Keep pets out of the bedroom, and preferably out of the house.
- Minimize household humidity.
- Use mite-proof cases on mattresses and pillows wash bed linens frequently in hot water.
- Wear a mask when cleaning
- Keep the relative humidity in your home less than 50%
Causes Of Dust Mite Allergies
An allergy is the immune systems response to an unknown substance thats not usually harmful to your body. These substances are called allergens. They may include certain foods, pollens, and dust mites. People who are allergic to dust mites have bad reactions to the remnants of the bugs. These remnants include tiny mounds of feces and decaying bodies.
You might have a relatively clean household, but it doesnt take much to create an environment fit for dust mites. In fact, the average bedroom is often the ideal place for them. Bedding, carpeting, and furniture cushions all trap and hold moisture, allowing these tiny bugs to flourish. You could experience increased allergy symptoms over time as you continue to breathe in the dust mites waste particles.
Its important to note that dust can be a sneeze-inducing annoyance for anyone, but only certain people have the immune responses that actually constitute a dust mite allergy.
Dust mite allergy symptoms can range from mild to severe. They may include the following:
- runny or itchy nose
- itchy, watery, or red eyes
- scratchy throat
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Mites Separated From Work Environment
Samples of mill floor dust , stores of traditional Chinese medicine, and traditional Chinese herbs of wolfberry fruit, ophiopogon root liquorice, boat-fruited sterculia seed, safflower and other work environment and foodstuffs were collected and separated for mites. The results showed that the number of breeding mites per gram was 91-1862, 21-186, 0-483, 10-348, 51-712, and 311-1193, in mill floor dust, traditional Chinese medicine stores, traditional Chinese herbs such as candied fruit, dry fruit, brown sugar, and expired cake. Twenty-two species of mites were separated and identified belonging to nine families, i.e. Acaridae, Lardoglyphidae, Glycyphagidae, Chortoglyphidae, Carpoglyphidae, Histiostomidae, Pyroglyphidae, Tarsonemus, Cheyletus. The results of this study showed that the mites separated from work environment were identical to those from stored food.
Allergies And Dizziness: The Cause And The Treatment
If youre feeling dizzy, you might be wondering whats causing it. Dehydration, medications, and a variety of conditions can cause you to feel dizzy and nauseated.
While dizziness might seem like a mild condition, it can actually be very disruptive to daily life. It can even be so severe that it leaves you stuck in bed for hours or days.
Dizziness can sometimes be caused by allergies.
An allergy is the immune systems response to a foreign substance thats not typically harmful to your body. These foreign substances are called allergens. They may include certain foods, pollen, or pet dander.
Allergy-related nasal and sinus congestion can lead to dizziness or a more severe type of dizziness called vertigo.
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Allergy Can Be Inherited
Children who have one family member with allergic diseases have a 20 to 40 per cent higher risk of developing allergy. If there are two or more family members with allergic diseases, the risk increases to 50 to 80 per cent.
Most of the time, children with food allergy do not have parents with food allergy. However, if a family has one child with food allergy, their brothers and sisters are at a slightly higher risk of having food allergy themselves, although that risk is still relatively low.
Ibs And Allergic Dermatitis
IBS has also been highly associated with AD. In a Taiwanese cohort study involving 24,208 AD-diagnosed children and controls, children with AD had a 1.45-fold greater risk of developing IBS than non-AD children . Nybacka et al. also showed that IBS patients recruited in a Swedish hospital had a higher prevalence of AD as compared to healthy controls. In another study involving 125 adult patients in Chicago, 51% of patients with IBS reported having allergic dermatitis compared to only 18% of non-IBS patients. In fact, the presence of AD is an independent predictor of IBS diagnosis . Bansal et al. also reported an increased prevalence of IBS in patients with AD, suggesting that AD may precede the development of IBS or be a marker for IBS.
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Five Criteria To Establish A Pathomechanism: Role Of Aeroallergen In Ibs
In 2016, a group of international experts on FGIDs proposed criteria to be considered for potential, pathophysiological mechanisms for FGIDs . To establish a causal relationship between a particular mechanism and FGID symptoms, several criteria needed to be met, including the presence, temporal association, a correlation between the level of impairment and symptom severity, induction in healthy subjects, and treatment response or congruent natural history. Based on the strength of evidence for these 5 criteria, a plausibility score can be calculated for each mechanism. As an example of a potential, pathophysiological mechanism, Table 3 presents the role of acid in gastroesophageal reflux disease.
Table 3.
Five criteria to establish a pathomechanism: role of aeroallergen in IBS
There have been many studies showing an increased sensitization to aeroallergens in IBS patients. However, it is unknown how long it takes for an aeroallergen to produce a reaction and illicit anticipated symptoms . Unlike other allergic diseases, the link between allergy and IBS still requires extensive research on temporal association , correlation , and induction . Even though the development of allergies to aeroallergens may not be the only pathophysiological mechanism which explains IBS symptoms, it is plausible that aeroallergens may act like a catalyst that impairs gut barrier function and facilitates the pathogenic mechanisms of other pathogens or gut microorganisms.
Preventing Food Allergy In Children
Allergy prevention in children is an active area of research. Findings to date indicate that:
- prenatal there is no conclusive evidence that avoiding allergens in pregnancy will help prevent allergies in your child
- postnatal exclusive breastfeeding during the first four to six months appears to protect against the development of allergies in early childhood.
- introducing solid foods around six months is recommended, preferably while continuing to breastfeed
- breastfeeding avoidance of a food by a woman while breastfeeding is not recommended
- soymilk formula studies have shown that using soymilk formula does not prevent the development of allergies in children
- partially hydrolysed cows milk-based formula is not recommended to prevent the development of food allergy.
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Help For Allergic Reactions
If youre still suffering from breathing difficulties or allergic reactions, there are steps you can take to make yourself more comfortable. A personal air purifier can be placed by your bed or desk, creating a friendly microclimate free of dust mite allergens. Some people find a program of gradual desensitization to be useful in cutting down allergy symptoms. Other people use antihistamines or steroids to manage their reactions. You can consult with your doctor for more information on these various alternatives.
Keep in mind: Dust mites are an unpleasant, but an all too common part of human civilization. Although it is hard to wipe them out entirely, there are many resources available to fight them. With a little planning and strategy, you can avoid much of the discomfort caused by mite infestations, as well as the potentially dangerous health complications that sometimes come along with them.
Filed Under: Allergy & Asthma InfoTagged With: allergens, allergies, dehumidifiers, dust mites, tips
About Author
Plagued by a chronic case of curiosity, Jeff Flowers is just a dude that annoys everyone around him with his loquacious goofiness. From beer to home living, Jeff is just trying to hack his way through life and write a few notes about it along the way. You can follow his ramblings here, or listen to him complain about Austin traffic on Twitter at @Bukowsky.
Food Allergies: Biggest Myths And Misconceptions Debunked
While it remains unknown exactly why food allergies are on the rise, several theories have tried to explain it:
1. The hygiene hypothesis.
Simply put, were way too clean, and we keep our children away from normal germs that help strengthen their immune system.
2. Delaying the introduction of high allergen foods.
The delay might not prepare the developing immune system for new foods.
3. Changes in the food supply.
The way food is grown might impact the potential for an allergic response.
Regardless of the cause, kids and parents needs to know what to do when a food allergy turns up. And importantly, know the differences between food sensitivities, food intolerance, and a true food allergy.
Test your knowledge with our food allergy quiz, and learn to recognize potential food-related issues impacting your familys health.
Think you figured out all of the answers? Scroll down to see if you are correct!
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Dust Mites And Allergies
Dust mites are a common cause of allergy flare-ups, and these microscopic beings can lurk in everything from carpets to bedding. As the weather outside gets cooler, youre probably spending more time at home, which means youre exposed to dust mites even more.
In order to get rid of these tiny allergens, its best to start by cleaning your bedding regularly. Run sheets, pillowcases, and mattress cover on the hot cycle in your washing machine at least once per week to keep dust mites at bay.
Vacuum your carpets and rugs regularly and consider removing wall-to-wall carpeting if your dust mite allergies are extreme. Instead of regular dusting, use a technique called damp dusting and wipe down surfaces with a slightly wet cloth to fully remove dust mites from surfaces.
How To Get Tested
If you think you might have a food allergy that could lead to nausea and vomiting, you should be tested by an allergist. Getting tested by a board-certified allergist is the first step to helping you deal with your allergy and avoid your triggers. An allergist will take a detailed medical history and review your symptoms to determine whether your symptoms are triggered by an allergy to food, medications, insect stings or something else.
Allergy tests are both convenient and accurate. When combined with a detailed medical history, allergy testing can identify the specific things that trigger your allergic reactions. Testing also helps your allergist determine whether you have a food intolerance or a food allergy, which both can cause stomach upset.
Many people may think they have a food allergy when what they really are experiencing is food intolerance. Food intolerance can often mimic a food allergy, causing nausea and vomiting, but is not life-threatening. The best way to determine whether you are experiencing a food allergy is to see an allergist for testing. An allergist will help you develop an action plan to deal with whatever allergies or intolerances you may have.
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How Do You Fix Digestive Problems
Our digestion expert Ali has written many blogs on how to deal with digestive upset and although shell admit there isnt always a quick fix, below I have picked out a few of her top tips to help you deal with any issues as soon as possible.
- Sit down to eat and chew! This activates the digestive enzymes and sends messages down the system so that we are better able to digest food
- Sit up straight whilst eating to give your digestive system the space and time to work properly
- Dont drink more than half a glass of anything within 20 minutes of a meal to avoid diluting digestive juices. Drinking with meals also encourages us to wash down food rather than chewing it properly
- Keep caffeine and refined sugar intake to a minimum
- Drink plenty of water before and after eating, though not during it
- Eat at set meal times as anticipating food allows our digestive system to prepare for its arrival by producing digestive enzymes
- Eat lightly when stressed
- Exercise can improve a sluggish bowel walks, swims and cycles are ideal!
Dust Mite Allergy Prevention
Bedding is the ideal breeding ground for dust mites. Its usually the perfect temperature and humidity for them, and the people curled up at night provide an unlimited food supply.
Fortunately, its not a losing battle for those with dust mite allergies. You can take the following steps to help make sure your bed stays free of dust mites:
- Use allergen-proof bed covers on the mattress, box spring, and pillows. Zippered covers are best. Their tightly woven fabric prevents dust mites from getting into beds.
- Wash all bedding in hot water at least once a week. This includes sheets, pillowcases, blankets, and bed covers. Dry in a hot dryer or in natural sunlight during summer months.
There are more ways to manage dust mites. Unlike with outside allergens such as pollen, you can keep dust mites under control with a few key steps:
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