What you need to know about your allergies

October 29, 2020

By: Lorien Strydom

An allergy is when your immune system reacts to a foreign substance, called an allergen. It could be something you eat, inhale into your lungs, inject into your body, or touch. This reaction could cause coughing, sneezing, itchy eyes, a runny nose, and a scratchy throat. 

There is no cure for allergies. You can manage allergies with prevention and treatment. More Americans than ever say they manage allergies. It is among the country’s most common, but overlooked diseases.

In severe cases, it can cause rashes, hives, low blood pressure, breathing trouble, asthma attacks, and even death. Here are a few interesting facts about allergies.

• Asthma and allergic diseases, such as allergic rhinitis (hay fever), food allergy, and eczema, are common for all age groups in the United States. Asthma affects more than 24 million people in the U.S., including more than 6 million children.

• Allergies are the 6th leading cause of chronic illness in the U.S. with an annual cost in excess of $18 billion. More than 50 million Americans suffer from allergies each year.
  
  
• Allergic rhinitis often called hay fever, is a common condition that causes symptoms such as sneezing, stuffy nose, runny nose, watery eyes, and itching of the nose, eyes, or the roof of the mouth.
  
  
• Allergic rhinitis can be seasonal or perennial.
  
  
• Symptoms of seasonal allergic rhinitis occur in spring, summer, and/or early fall. They are usually caused by allergic sensitivity to pollens from trees, grasses, or weeds, or to airborne mold spores.
  
  
• People with perennial allergic rhinitis experience symptoms year-round. Perennial allergic rhinitis is generally caused by sensitivity to house dust mites, animal dander, cockroaches, and/or mold spores. Underlying or hidden food allergies rarely cause perennial nasal symptoms.
  
  
• Once diagnosed, allergic rhinitis treatment options are avoidance, eliminating or decreasing your exposure to the irritants or allergens that trigger your symptoms, medication, and immunotherapy (allergy shots).
  
  
• Immunotherapy (allergy shots) helps reduce hay fever symptoms in about 85% of people with allergic rhinitis.
  
  
• The prevalence of food and skin allergies increased in children under 18 years from 1997-2011.
  
  
• In data published from the 2014 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), 8.4% of US children under age 18 suffered from hay fever, 10% from respiratory allergies, 5.4% from food allergies, and 11.6% from skin allergies.

What Are Indoor and Outdoor Allergies?

Types of indoor and outdoor allergies include sinus swelling, seasonal and returning allergies, hay fever, and nasal allergies. Many people with allergies often have more than one type of allergy. The most common indoor/outdoor allergy triggers are tree, grass and weed pollen, mold spores, dust mites, cockroaches, and cat, dog, and rodent dander.

Immunotherapy (allergy shots) helps reduce hay fever symptoms in about 85 percent of people with allergic rhinitis.

Allergic rhinitis, often called hay fever1 affects 6.1 million of the children population and 20 million of the adult population.

In 2015, white children were more likely to have hay fever than African-American children.

The same triggers for indoor/outdoor allergies also often cause eye allergies.

How Common Are Skin Allergies?

Skin allergies include skin inflammation, eczema, hives, chronic hives, and contact allergies. Plants like poison ivy, poison oak, and poison sumac are the most common skin hypersensitivity type 4(not histamine related) triggers. But skin contact with cockroaches and dust mites, certain foods, or latex may also cause skin allergy symptoms(Histamine mediated).

• In 2015, 8.8 million children had skin allergies.
• Children age 0-4 are most likely to have skin allergies.
• In 2015, African-American children in the U.S. were more likely to have skin allergies than white children.

How Common Are Food Allergies?

Children have food allergies more often than adults. Eight foods cause most food allergy reactions. They are milk, soy, eggs, wheat, peanuts, tree nuts, fish, and shellfish.

• Peanut is the most common allergen followed by milk and shellfish.
• In 2015, 4.2 million children in the US have food allergies.
• In 2014, 5.4 percent of US children under age 18 had food allergies.

Support Your Immune System Naturally

BHealthy Honey Immune Support is an excellent source of intact honey activities plus herbal food supplements to naturally boost immune systems. It supports a healthy immune system and contains ingredients such as echinacea, turmeric, fennel, and black seed.

The addition of Self-heal to the BHealthy Immune Support offers an extra boost to help the body fight off viral and bacterial infections. Self-heal can help balance the immune function and lower the risk of upper respiratory infections and can reduce chronic inflammation and seasonal allergies. Consuming Self-heal regularly can help reduce symptoms of seasonal allergy.

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