We are constantly trying to bring you the most up-to-date and relevant information available. To help in doing so, we've began partnering with board certified doctors to answer some of the most frequently asked questions we receive about allergies and asthma.<\/p>\n
_With our first set of questions, I'd like to introduce Dr. Frank Lichtenberger, MD, PhD. He has taken the time to start of our series and answer three very common questions about allergies.<\/p>\n
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Determining the difference between a cold or allergies is actually quite difficult, even for some seasoned professionals. Allergies and
\n________colds are very similar in terms of symptoms and presentation. Both colds and allergies can cause inflammation of the upper and lower
\n________respiratory tract, irritated eyes, cough, and fatigue. Colds are infections caused by viruses, and multiple people that share a common
\n________residence, classroom, or workplace can be affected at one time. This is similar to allergies, as many people in the same family, classroom
\n________or workplace can be allergic to the same things in the environment. Finally, antihistamines which are medicines used to treat allergies,
\n________are the most common ingredient in cold medicine because they are very good at reducing nasal inflammation.
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So, how do we tell the difference? Colds tend to cause more ‘systemic inflammation,’ which include things like joint and muscle
\n________aches, nausea and stomach upset. Allergies tend to cause more itching, and thin watery secretions from the nose and eyes.<\/p>\n
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Asthma, eczema, and allergies (food and seasonal) can all be part of a condition called ‘Atopy.’ Atopy refers to a decision our immune
\n________system makes on how it is going to behave (fight off bacteria, viruses, cancer, or allergies.) Anyone can be allergic to something, but
\n________people that are allergic to lots of things have ‘Atopy.’ The same basic processes that cause people to get stuffy noses can cause lungs to
\n________develop asthma or skin to become itchy and scaly. We know that children with food allergies, and\/or eczema are much more likely to develop
\n________asthma later in life.<\/p>\n
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Absolutely. We know that people that have food allergies tend to also have environmental allergies. We don't actually know how the two are
\n________connected, but we know that there is a lot of ‘Cross Reactivity’ between pollen and fruits and vegetables. Imagine that the Allergic
\n________System recognized allergic things based on a 4 letter code, and if it senses these ‘codes’ in the environment it triggers an allergy. Now
\n________imagine that the alphabet only has 20 letters instead of 26, and animal, plant, fungal, and viral particles all had their codes written
\n________with these letters, but in very different languages from one another. The plant language, using only 20 different letters with MILLIONS
\n________of plants, has some redundancies. For example: some pollen from the Birch family had the code ‘BRCH,’ which was similar to the apple
\n________fruit's code ‘BCRH.’ Because they are very similar, the Allergic System will trigger the birch reaction when it senses the apple's code.
\n________This is what we call ‘oral allergy syndrome’ where people think they are allergic to fruits or vegetables when in reality their Allergic
\n________System is just over reacting a little bit. Other similarities exist between dust mites and shellfish, and ragweed and melons. <\/p>\n
_Do you have questions you would like answered?<\/span> Submit them to us via the FAQ form on every product page, email them using blog@achooallergy.com, send them to us via our live chat or send us something via snail mail. The most relevant and intriguing we'll select to be answered.<\/p>\n