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.
Find Out Your Allergens
The first step in getting rid of your brain fog is finding out whats causing your allergies. If you dont know what youre allergic to, you should visit a doctor who specializes in allergies. Theyll run tests to find out whats 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 youre allergic, youll develop a raised bump in the spot of the allergen.
- Blood tests. If you have allergies, your blood will contain certain cells that show youre 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.
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, dont 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.
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Allergy Dos And Don’ts: Skip Exercise
If you have allergy symptoms, should you exercise as usual? Peters says go ahead but do what you feel comfortable doing. “Try some exercise and see if it helps or makes you feel more tired,” says Dr. Novey. “People are individual and this can go both ways.” If you are allergic to pollen, Peters suggests skipping outdoor morning exercise, when pollen counts are at their highest. Put off your workout until later or simply do it indoors.
Allergy Dos And Don’ts: Stay Inside
If grasses, trees, flowers, or weeds get your allergy symptoms going, should you avoid going outside? Peters says you shouldn’t have to if you’re being treated. If over-the-counter allergy treatment isn’t handling your allergy symptoms, ask your doctor about prescription eye drops or nasal sprays, says Donald Novey, MD, an integrative family physician practicing in Poulsbo, Wash. Taking some simple precautions can help, too. While outside, wear glasses and a hat, says Peters. When you come inside, change your clothes.
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Can Seasonal Allergies Cause Stomach Upset
My wife often starts a few young seedlings of spinach, lettuce, and tomatoes in a sunny window before they go outside for the spring.
Recently, when we had a few baby plants in the house, I started having headaches and stomach upset and couldn’t find a cause until I spotted a few little sprouts of pollen that had shot up from the baby spinach.
Once the offending plant was moved outside, my symptoms went away.
As a functional medicine doctor, I am used to seeing new patients who have been misdiagnosed for years due to symptoms that don’t quite fit the mold of a standard diagnosis.
There are, no doubt, many people unnecessarily suffering because of a misunderstanding of how we think of certain conditions.
What Is An Allergy
An allergy is a state of over-reactivity or hypersensitivity of the immune system to a particular substance called an allergen. Most allergens are proteins from plants, insects, animals, or foods.
“With allergies, the immune response can actually be harmful to the body.”
Exposure to the allergen, usually on multiple occasions spanning months to years, sensitizes the immune system, and a subsequent exposure to the same or related allergen causes an over-reaction. Normally the immune system protects the dog against infection and disease, but with allergies, the immune response can actually be harmful to the body. Allergies may be thought of as an unnecessary normal immune response to a benign foreign substance.
The immune reactions involved in allergies are quite complex. Most reactions involve allergen protein molecules combining with antibodies in the blood, then attaching to a type of cell called a mast cell. Mast cells are found in many tissues throughout the body. When the antigen and antibody react with mast cells, the mast cells release potent chemicals, such as histamines, that cause local inflammation such as redness, swelling, and itching. This inflammation causes the various signs associated with an allergic reaction.
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Is It An Allergy Or An Intolerance
Because digestive/gastrointestinal symptoms are tied to what you eat, its important to figure out if your upset stomach is caused by an allergy or a digestive problem. For example, lactose intolerance and celiac disease can be confused with a food allergy because they all have such similar symptoms.4,5
A food allergy may also be accompanied by other non-digestive symptoms, such as:
- Itchy skin, rash, or hives
- An itching or tingling sensation in the mouth or throat
- Mild wheezing or coughing
- Swelling of the face
- Nasal congestion or a runny nose
You may feel that youre allergic to food because you had a bad reaction after eating, but you may not actually have an allergy. In fact, people self-report having food allergies six times more than they actually have them.6
A food allergy can also cause anaphlaxisa rare, but serious, life-threeatening allergic reaction.If you or someone around you is experiencing symptoms of anaphlaxis, includinng loss of consciousness, a drop in blood pressure and severe shortness of breath, call your local emergency numbere immediately.
Can Sinusitis Cause Nausea
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You may be familiar with the more common symptoms of sinusitis and sinus infections, like headaches, congestion, pressure, and throat pain, but did you know that sinus infections can also cause nausea? Sinus infections often cause post-nasal drip commonly referred to as drainage which can lead to nausea and vomiting.
Its true, sinusitis and sinus infections are nothing to sneeze at. Fortunately, people who suffer from sinus-related-nausea can relieve their symptoms through several means.
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Can Pollen Allergies Make You Nauseous
All allergies work according to the same principles: Your immune system misidentifies a substance and believes it to be dangerous, even though it’s harmless. As a result, the antibody immunoglobulin E is released. It triggers your mast cells and basophils, which then send out an army of chemicals — including histamine — to fight off the invading allergen. You suffer the consequences of the battle in the form of allergic symptoms. When you have a food allergy, your body responds to certain proteins when you have a pollen allergy, your body responds to the little cells that plants release in order to fertilize other plants.
While the symptoms of food allergies can include nausea, it’s not a common reaction to a pollen allergy. Otherwise known as hay fever or seasonal allergic rhinitis, pollen allergies are typically characterized by cold-like symptoms including a runny nose, sneezing, congestion and itchy or watery eyes.
Histamine & Liver Congestion
Often, excess histamine and underlying infection combine to make allergy symptoms particularly severe.
Ideally, your liver would remove any excess histamine caused by seasonal allergies but when it is congested from the strain of an underlying infection, it gets’behind’ at clearing away this excess histamine.
This is why you may have had mild allergies before but now the symptoms are unbearable.
There is a certain threshold, a certain amount of toxin or infection that your body can comfortably handle but once it passes that point your body falls behind and your symptoms drastically change.
This could mean that your symptoms get more severe, you have them more often, you have different triggers or they are a different set of symptoms entirely.
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A Symptom Of Anaphylactic Shock
Dizziness is one possible symptom that may accompany a severe allergic reaction, known as anaphylactic shock. Food allergies, medication allergies and allergic reactions to insect stings are commonly linked to anaphylactic shock, which may be life-threatening. You may experience:
- swelling in your throat or tongue
- trouble breathing
- feeling nauseous or faint
- dizziness
This can be a life-threatening condition and you need to be seen by a doctor right away. If you think you are having a severe allergic reaction, go to your nearest emergency department or call 9-1-1.
Your Allergies Are Getting The Best Of You
Along with watery eyes, an itchy throat, and constant sneezing, seasonal allergies can cause post-nasal drip, meaning excess mucous in your nose trickles down the back of your throat rather than out of your nostrils. This can easily irritate your throat or cause a cough, but when that mucous makes its way down your esophagus and into your stomach, nausea may hit.
Nix the nausea: First things firsttry to avoid anything that seems to trigger your allergies . Keeping your mucous under control with some over-the-counter allergy medslike NasalCrom Spray and Claritincan also help. Just be sure to discuss with your doc. If your allergies become unbearable overall, he or she may recommend prescription-strength medication or even an allergy shot.
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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.
Swollen Tongue Or Lips
If your mouth, lips, or tongue swells up for no apparent reason, it could be angioedema, a sign of an allergic reaction. It isnât always serious. But if the swelling makes it hard to breathe, it could be life-threatening. If your lips or tongue swells up often, let your doctor know so you can get treatment and find the cause.
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Limit Your Exposure To Allergens
Once you know which allergens are causing your symptoms, you can reduce your exposure to them. For example, if youre allergic to pollen, you can try to stay indoors on days when pollen counts are high.
You can check online with your local weather station to find your local pollen report. You should try to keep your windows closed if you have air-conditioning. If you do spend time outside, its important to bathe and change your clothing as soon as you come inside.
Signs Your Symptoms Are Caused By Allergies
1. You have a combo of nasal congestion, a scratchy throat, a runny nose, pressure around your eyes, and itchy ears and eyes. Looks like allergies, smells would smell like allergies too, if you weren’t too stuffed up to smell.
2. Your symptoms last more than two weeks. If your nose runs on and on, with a scratchy throat and lots of congestion that gets no worse, but no better, it’s probably just allergies.
3. Your snot is yellow or clear. Even with pale yellow snot, you’re OK.
4. You’re fine the rest of the year. Asthmatic coughing and wheezing that starts up juuust about the same time as the flowers bloom in April, May, or June is an unlikely coincidence. *Puts money on allergies.*
5. If you do think you have allergies: Consider taking an OTC antihistamine, or better yet, see an allergist who can tell you exactly what to take and whether you could benefit from a nasal steroid or a nasal spray. And feel better!
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Seasonal Allergies & Digestive Symptoms
Among some of the lesser-known symptoms of seasonal allergies are stomach upset, constipation, diarrhea, GERD, acid reflux, nausea, and stomach cramping.
These digestive symptoms can come with little or no upper respiratory symptoms which is why it can be difficult for these symptoms to be traced back to their source.
A Side Effect From Allergy Medication
Many people reach for over-the-counter antihistamine pills to treat allergies. Dizziness may be a possible side effect, depending on the type of antihistamine that you take.
The oldest antihistamines on the market which tend to cause drowsiness as a side effect are more likely to cause other side effects, including dizziness, in some people.
If this happens, your doctor may recommend that you switch to newer antihistamines, which dont tend to cause side effects like dizziness or drowsiness. Talk to your doctor about which medication may be right for you.
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How Is Nausea Treated
The best thing to do if you feel nauseous is take small sips of water or herbal tea. Sipping cold or frozen drinks may help to relieve the symptoms. Sometimes nibbling on some ginger or dry cracker biscuits can help you feel better.
Try not to skip meals, as an empty stomach can make the nausea worse. Eat small amounts more often. Some foods you may be able to manage include foods at room temperature, like sandwiches, puddings, noodles or biscuits, and salty foods like clear soup or potato crisps. Avoid fatty, spicy or very sweet foods as these can make the nausea worse.
Your doctor may prescribe medicine such as an antihistamine or an antiemetic . If you are pregnant, they will choose a medicine that is safe for your baby.
Allergy Dos And Don’ts: Get Shots
A flu shot can prevent influenza. Can you also get shots for allergy prevention? Yes! Officially called “immunotherapy,”allergy shots work like a vaccine. Your allergy specialist tests to see what substances are triggering your allergies. Then, in a series of shots, he injects you with tiny bits of those allergens. The aim is to build your tolerance to those triggers so your body no longer reacts to them. If allergy medication isn’t working, if you can’t or won’t take it, or if your allergies are triggering other health problems like asthma, allergy shots may be an option. This allergy treatment is a big-time commitment and is not right for everyone. Consult with your allergy specialist.
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Causes Of Nut Allergies
For all allergies, the immune system reacts to specific allergy trigger molecules . Your immune system, or that of a child in your care, produces antibodies that detect the allergen and cause inflammatory reactions and the release of a chemical called histamine. Histamine causes hives, hay fever and other allergic symptoms. The molecules that trigger your allergic reaction can be present in a range of foods, and you may have an allergic reaction to foods containing that molecule. For this reason, some people are allergic to the same allergy trigger in cashews and pistachios. This is known as cross-reactivity. Speak to your doctor about cross-reactivity because it is difficult to predict. In addition to peanuts, a wide range of tree nuts can also cause allergic reactions in some people. These include, but are not limited to:
- almonds
- pistachios
- walnuts.
The most common type of seed allergy is to sesame, although other types of seed, such as sunflower and poppy seeds, can also cause allergies. Allergic reactions to eating coconut, a large seed, are rare. However, an allergic reaction caused by contact with coconut, and cosmetics and products containing coconut, is more common. Peanut, tree nut and seed allergies are difficult to predict, so visit your doctor for an accurate diagnosis.
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.
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