Allergies are the manifestation of hypersensitivity reactions that occur because of an invader unknown and incompatible to the host. These can be caused by almost anything and everything. Severe allergic reactions can be extremely harmful as they can be the cause of death however mild allergies are irritating and limit the activities of people.

Allergies can be triggered by many things and over the years people become aware of all the elements that can induce harm to their body. It varies from individual to individual but some of the common allergens that cause a reaction in many people are pollens, seeds, anchovy, nuts, heat and countless others. This has been followed closely by doctors in order to help their patients cope up with this unnecessary turmoil and allow them to lead healthy active lives. Coping up with a known allergic agent is easier than dealing with allergies of unknown origin. The behavioral pattern of each patient is scrutinized and the management plant for everybody differs from the other.

Allergies can be coped up with in various forms and all these can be broadly categorized into two

• Preventive measures
• Treatment options

Preventative Measures

Like all other aspects of medicine here also the art of prevention has a higher significance than the art of cure and thus should be emphasized upon by both the doctor and the patient.

There are generally four physical states that make people prone to the development of an allergic reaction. These are:

Implications of stress or Hyperactive immunity: by this it is meant that the individual is more likely to react to a foreign substance as compared to the general population because of their genetic and cell make up. An important contributor to this state is the social evil called stress. Stress manifests itself in several ways and one of them is over activity of the adrenals that causes increment in the circulating levels of cortisol. With time this mechanism is fatigued and the normal suppressive function of the hormone declines thus resulting in increased hypersentivity or allergic reaction. Hence one of the most eminent preventive measure against allergy is to control one’s stress level to reasonable range so that it does not disrupt the normal physical activities of an individual.

Implications of Diet: There are certain elements in food that can result in decreased strength of cell membranes, which are then liable to rupture and release the mediators of an allergic reaction. This can be evaded by eating cautiously and increasing the consumption of omega 3 fatty acid available in cod liver oil etc. this enables the strengthening of cell membranes and is an important preventive measure for all kinds of allergic reactions.

Implications of intake of water: Drinking adequate quantities of water is essential as body deprived of water has increased cellular as well as substance levels and thus this kind of blood has higher levels of histamine which cause allergic reactions.

All these measures can assist in reducing the number of allergic attacks whether they are seasonal or all year round.

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 17th, 2008 at 2:07 pm and is filed under Allergies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.