A Simple Description of an Allergy

People who suffer from allergy have reactions that are not the same as most people when they come into contact with things like animal hair, dust and pollen. They may have reactions when they eat certain foods or take various drugs or come into contact with certain substances. Just about everyone has an allergy, something that makes them react to something in minor ways such as itching or sneezing and violent ways such as breathing impairment or other medical problems. If you have an allergy you know that this means.

For instance, asthma is a typical example of an allergy and it is in fact believed that the majority of people that develop allergies also suffer from asthma. People that develop allergies will also usually notice inflammation of the nose and eyes as well as of the skin and sometimes, they may even experience pain in their ears. Even a headache, though not a typical allergy symptom, is also noticed, especially in the case of people that are allergic to drugs.

When having an allergy the affected person will generally also experience difficulties in breathing normally and the reason for this is a constricted bronchia. Diagnosis of such a condition can take several different paths though only after tests are performed can the true cause be identified. A skin prick test is perhaps the most effective of all allergy tests and this form of testing is in fact known to provide extremely exact results that cannot be achieved by other forms of testing. It is also a procedure that costs little and is easy to perform.

A skin prick test requires the patient to have their skin pricked as well as marked with special kind of ink. Of course, the ink used must have been tested beforehand to ensure that it will not be the cause of a new allergic reaction. Following this, an allergen is introduced that is already known to make people develop an allergy. It only takes another half hour before the reaction occurs that in turn will show whether the person is allergic or not. In case the person is tested does develop an allergy it then requires to be treated with the help of a steroid cream that must be administered over the affected area to provide immediate relief.

An allergy test can also be conducted by drawing a sample of the patient’s blood in order to determine immunoglobulin E count.

It sucks but about 50 million people in the U.S. require some sort of allergy relief. There are a ton of medicines that are found to be very useful in treating an allergy. These include drugs such as epinephrine, antihistamines and cortisone which are found to be good ways to treat an allergy.