Do Allergies Affect Your Lungs

Do You Suffer From Allergies And Asthma

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Will Asthma Worsen As I Get Older

As we age, our lungs become less elastic, our chest walls become more rigid, and our respiratory muscles become less efficient. All of these factors can aggravate asthma symptoms. Unfortunately, physiological changes that naturally occur as we age can make some asthma treatments less effective, and common coexisting health conditions in older people can complicate asthma diagnosis and treatment. Thats why its important to see an asthma doctor at the earliest to relieve asthma attacks and prevent long-term damage as much as possible.

Inflammation Of The Airways

When the body detects an allergen, it tries to reject it by producing antibodies and chemicals, such as histamine. Histamine causes the airways to become inflamed and constricted, and it also causes the body to produce mucus to help expel the allergen.

As a result, the airways become narrower. When a person breathes through narrowed airways, the air is forced through a smaller-than-usual space, and a whistling sound can result. This sound is wheezing.

Some causes of wheezing result in short-lived symptoms. Others can cause symptoms that are more serious or longer lasting.

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What Is Chest Tightness Asthma Like

If you have asthma, a respiratory condition that causes breathing difficulties, you might experience chest pain. This symptom is common right before or during an asthma attack. The discomfort may feel like a dull ache or a sharp, stabbing pain. Some describe it as if they have a heavy brick sitting on their chest.

Control Symptoms With Medication

Avoiding allergens entirely isnt always possible or practical. Often, people find that they must also manage their allergy symptoms and work to avoid allergens.

Managing allergies may involve:

• Nasal sprays: These are the most effective treatment for nasal allergies. They reduce swelling and nasal allergy symptoms. These sprays may include steroids, antihistamines, anticholinergics, and mast cell stabilizers.
• Antihistamines: An antihistamine blocks the histamine receptor and reduces respiratory allergy symptoms.
• : These reduce congestion.
• Epinephrine: Known commonly as an EpiPen, this treats anaphylaxis, a severe allergic reaction.
• Immunotherapy: These allergy shots work like a vaccine by injecting an allergen at increasing doses to develop tolerance to that allergen. Allergy shots are a long-term treatment that may be an option for people who cannot avoid their triggers or if medications dont work.
• Bronchodilators: If you have allergic asthma, your healthcare provider might also prescribe an inhaler for you to use when you have an asthma attack. These devices work by widening your airway to help you breathe better. Short-acting inhalers are for use as needed when you have trouble breathing. Long-acting inhalers are for use daily to prevent breathing issues.

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What Are The Symptoms Of A Mold Allergy

Mold spores get into your nose and cause rhinitis symptoms. They also can reach the lungs and trigger asthma.

Symptoms can include:

• Mucus in the throat
• Asthma symptoms if you have allergic asthma cough, wheeze, shortness of breath and/or chest tightness

Mold allergy can cause an allergic reaction right away. But in some cases, it may cause delayed symptoms. This can cause a stuffy nose or asthma symptoms that get worse over time. If your symptoms often get worse in a damp, humid, or moldy room like a basement, this may mean you have a mold allergy.

Outdoor molds often cause allergy symptoms in summer and fall. But they may be year-round in warmer, humid climates. Indoor molds may cause allergy symptoms year-round.

Rarely, some people can have a more serious illness called allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis. In this condition, there is both an allergic and an inflammatory response in the lungs to the mold or fungus. Symptoms may include severe wheezing, coughing, chest tightness, and shortness of breath, much like asthma.

Food fungi, like mushrooms, dried fruit, or foods containing yeast, vinegar, or soy sauce usually dont cause allergy symptoms in the nose, eyes, and lungs. Reactions to food fungi are often caused by the foods direct effect on blood vessels.

Questions To Ask Your Health Care Provider

Making notes before your visit and taking along a trusted family member or friend can help you through the first appointment with your doctor. The following are questions you can ask your health care provider:

• I have hypersensitivity pneumonitis from workplace dust. Is it safe for me to continue working?
• Are there things I cant do at work?
• Do I have to give up my pet birds?
• Should I stay out of hot tubs?
• Can my family members get the disease if I have it?
• What tests will I need to find out if I have hypersensitivity pneumonitis?
• How often should I get lung function tests?
• How often should I get chest X-rays and CT scans?
• Do I need to be on medications ?

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How Allergies Can Impact Your Lungs

During the unpredictable health crisis that the world is currently facing, its more important than ever to stay healthy. According to the AAFA over 50 million Americans suffer from allergies. Allergic reactions can cause symptoms in your nose, lungs, throat, sinuses, ears, lining of the stomach, or on the skin. Allergies can also trigger asthma, making it more difficult to breathe. Pulmonary Associates of Richmond shares the connection between lung health and allergies, and what you can do to protect your lungs.

Treatment For Asthma From Pollen Allergies

If you have asthma caused by pollens, your doctor will prescribe the correct medication and help you to develop a plan to manage your asthma. Make sure you follow your asthma action plan.

Asthma can be well controlled with the appropriate medication in almost all people. The main types of medication are:

• Relievers act quickly to relax the muscles around the airways. This is the medication used during an asthma attack.
• Preventers slowly make the airways less sensitive to allergy triggers and reduce inflammation inside the airways. These are taken daily.
• Combination therapies preventers containing 2 different medications.

If you have an asthma attack, follow your asthma action plan. In case of emergency, call triple zero and ask for an ambulance. Tell the operator that someone is having an asthma attack.

The signs of an emergency include when the person:

• finds it very difficult to breathe
• is unable to speak comfortably or if their lips are turning blue
• has symptoms that get worse very quickly
• is getting little or no relief from their reliever inhaler.

While waiting for the ambulance, give 4 puffs of reliever medication every 4 minutes.

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What Are Risk Factors For Hypersensitivity Pneumonitis

If you work in jobs such as the following, you may be more likely to get hypersensitivity pneumonitis:

• Paper and wallboard makers
• Inhaling certain chemicals produced in making plastic, painting, and the electronics industry

Most people who work in these jobs dont get hypersensitivity pneumonitis. If you work in one of these jobs and have a family history, however, you may get the disease.

Who Is Likely To Have Hypersensitivity Pneumonitis

People working in certain occupations are more likely to develop HP. These occupations include:

• Farmers, including those working with dairy cattle or vegetables
• Animal handlers, including veterinarians and bird or poultry handlers
• People who process and load grains or flour
• Individuals working in lumber mills or who strip wood
• Wallboard and paper manufacturers
• Certain individuals in the electronics, plastic manufacturing, and painting industries

Other activities that expose you to allergens can increase your likelihood of developing HP. These include:

• Keeping pet birds and breathing allergens from bird droppings or feathers
• Breathing allergens from humidifiers, heating systems, or air conditioners, especially if they are not cleaned properly or well-maintained
• Inhaling bacteria found in hot tub water vapor

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Do Allergies Affect Your Child’s Asthma

If your child’s asthma isn’t under control, find out if allergies are making it worse. Talk to your doctor, who may refer your child to an allergist for testing.

If it turns out that your child’s asthma is triggered by certain allergens, you’ll want to limit your child’s exposure to them. This can go a long way toward relieving asthma symptoms.

The doctor or allergist may recommend allergy medicine or allergy shots if your child can’t avoid an allergen.

What Is Hypersensitivity Pneumonitis

Hypersensitivity pneumonitis is a lung disease causing inflammation of the lung tissue. This inflammation makes breathing difficult. It can lead to irreversible lung scarring over time.

HP results from breathing in specific environmental allergens. Allergens are substances that cause an allergic reaction in the body. These allergens may be present at home, at work, or in nature. Bird feathers and droppings, and household mold are examples of common allergens.

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How Can I Prevent Long Term Damage From Asthma

Although its not possible to completely prevent asthma attacks, asthma treatment can help protect your lungs from damage. Your doctor can make personalized recommendations, which may include:

• Identifying and avoiding attack triggers
• Avoiding smoking and secondhand smoke, including vaping
• Staying as active as possible to strengthen your lungs
• Learning to identify early attack symptoms and forming a response plan
• Regular doctor visits to assess lung function

How Allergies Can Cause Shortness Of Breath

Can allergies cause shortness of breath? The answer is âyesâ: an environmental allergy can affect your airway in two distinct ways, potentially resulting in shortness of breath.

Allergic rhinitis, also known as hay fever, affects your nose and sinuses. It can lead to sneezing, congestion, an itchy nose, and itchy eyes. If youâre especially congested, you may find it difficult to breathe through the nose.

Allergic asthma primarily affects the lungs, and can develop among people who have been diagnosed with asthma. It can cause coughing, wheezing, tightness in the chest, and shortness of breath or rapid breathing. In the case of allergic asthma, these symptoms can develop simultaneously.

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What Happens If I Dont Treat My Asthma Symptoms

Some types of untreated asthma are likely to become progressively worse, resulting in long-term complications and serious damage to the respiratory system. Other types of childhood asthma will eventually improve in fact, about 50% of children will grow out of their asthma. Since its impossible to predict who might or might not continue to struggle with asthma in adulthood, and because childhood asthma attacks can be frightening for both children and parents, its best to treat asthma at the earliest symptoms.

Although some asthma patients get used to mild challenges with breathing and largely ignore their condition, its important to remember that persistent asthma is likely to become worse over time. Maintenance medications and avoidance of triggers can be helpful for most patients. Asthma typically flares up in acute episodes that result from exposure to triggers but may stay dormant for many months at a time. However, the absence of obvious symptoms does not mean that the disease is gone or that inflammation is not present.

What Complications Are Associated With Hypersensitivity Pneumonitis

In severe cases, HP causes permanent, irreversible scarring of the lung tissue from repeated, long-term exposure to allergens. This condition is known as pulmonary fibrosis. It makes breathing difficult and prevents enough oxygen from reaching body tissues.

If you have chronic hypersensitivity pneumonitis, you are more at risk for pulmonary hypertension. Pulmonary hypertension is extremely high blood pressure inside the arteries that supply blood to the lungs. This condition requires thorough management by your doctor.

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How To Protect Your Lungs From Seasonal Allergies

Check the outdoor air quality levels and pollution forecasts before you venture outside. If you do go outside, scope out the environment for obvious allergy triggers.

Do gardening and lawn maintenance in the early morning or in the evening, while pollen counts are at their lowest.

Stay away from citronella candles, bug sprays, strong-smelling candles, and other seasonal products that can irritate your lungs. Opt for mosquito repellants in lotion form rather than in sprays.

Use medications as prescribed and keep your allergy medications handy.

Consult with a medical professional. Doctors can diagnose seasonal allergies, prescribe medications, and recommend imaging tests to evaluate the health of your lungs. For more information, make an appointment today with Virtual Imaging, Inc. at .

Use Our Pollen Calendar

To work out which pollen sets off your hay fever, note the days and weeks when your symptoms are bad. Use our pollen calendar to see which pollen could be your trigger, and when its likely to be released.

Check the pollen forecast from the Met Office daily through the season if you know youre triggered.

Find useful tips from the NHS on how to treat yourself with hay fever.

See our information on hay fever treatments for more about antihistamines, nasal sprays, eye drops and other top tips to deal with symptoms of hay fever. This will help you cut your risk of an asthma attack or a flare up of your lung condition symptoms.

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What Causes Allergies

Allergies occur when the immune system responds to a harmless substance that comes into contact with or enters the bodyâlike pollen, pet dander, or foodâby producing antibodies as âprotectionâ . The immune systemâs response can lead to inflammation of oneâs sinuses, airways, digestive system, or skin.

There are different types of allergies that can contribute to shortness of breath. Allergic asthma is one type, and itâs commonly caused by triggers in the environmentâlike dander , dust mites, cockroaches, mold, and pollen. Allergens like mold and pollen often cause seasonal allergies, while pet dander or dust mites may kickstart your allergies year-round.

Typically, allergy triggers can be broken down into the following categories:

• Airborne allergens: Pollen, dust mites, animal dander, and mold
• Foods: Peanuts, tree nuts, soy, wheat, eggs, fish, shellfish, and dairy
• Insect stings: Bee or wasp stings
• Drug or medications: Penicillin or penicillin-based antibiotics

When To See Your Gp

If you have hay fever, its likely that its triggering your asthma or lung condition symptoms if you:

• have a tight feeling in your chest
• are coughing more than usual
• have asthma and are needing to use your reliever inhaler three times a week or more.

If you start treatment quickly, you can get on top of your symptoms and reduce your risk of a potentially life-threatening asthma attack or a COPD exacerbation. Ask your GP for an urgent, same day appointment, or if your GP surgery is closed call 111 for advice.

If you dont think you have hay fever, but your asthma or lung condition symptoms are getting worse, you should still see your GP urgently.

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What Causes Hypersensitivity Pneumonitis

There are more than 300 known allergens that, when inhaled as a fine dust, can cause hypersensitivity pneumonitis. Some breathing problems have names based on where the allergen comes from:

• Farmers lung. Seen in farmers and cattle workers, this condition is caused by inhaling mold that grows on hay, straw, and grain.
• Bird fanciers lung. Also called pigeon breeders disease, this condition is caused by inhaling dust specks from feathers or droppings of many types of birds.
• Humidifier lung. This condition can develop by inhaling a fungus that grows in humidifiers, air conditioners, and heating systems, especially if they are not cleaned regularly.
• Hot tub lung. This condition may develop by inhaling germs found in the water mist coming from indoor hot tubs.

Immunotherapy For Allergies To Pollen

In some cases, your clinical immunology/allergy specialist may suggest allergen immunotherapy which is also known as desensitisation. It involves a series of injections, tablets, sprays or drops given under the tongue of very small doses of the allergen over a long time. This can help to improve tolerance of the pollens that are triggering your allergy and reduce symptoms.

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Can An Allergy Attack Damage My Lungs

While most allergy sufferers experience a runny nose or itchy eyes when their symptoms act up, some patients may also experience trouble breathing.

In light of the current health pandemic, its important to keep your respiratory system as healthy as possible to prevent any adverse reactions. Keep reading to learn how your allergies can affect your lung capacity and how our specialists at Center for Allergy and Asthma of Georgia can help treat your symptoms.

Seasonal Or Environmental Allergy Treatments

The best approach depends on the allergen, which may include:

• Pollen. A reaction to pollen is called hay fever or allergic rhinitis, and allergy medications can help.
• Dust. The best way to treat wheezing that stems from an allergy to dust mites is to clean carpets, bedding, and furnishings and reduce household humidity.
• Pet hair. The saliva, skin flakes, and urine that collect when pets shed their hair can cause allergies. Regular vacuuming can help.
• Certain foods. An allergist can help determine which food is responsible, and a person usually needs to eliminate it from their diet.

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Pollen Allergies Are Seasonal

The season for pollen allergies can last for several months and occurs when the plants are flowering. This will vary depending on location and the type of plant. For instance:

• Non-native trees tend to pollinate in late winter and spring.
• In Victoria, winds from the north tend to bring pollen from non-native grasses growing inland between October and December.
• White Cypress pine is the only Australian tree that produces highly allergenic pollen and it flowers approximately between late July and the end of August.
• Species of Casuarina or Australian oak trees produce pollen throughout the year and can cause hay fever symptoms at any time.

Clinical immunology/allergy specialists who diagnose allergies have online calendars showing when common species of pollen cause allergies in the states and territories of Australia.