The weather often changes these days. It even rains during the winter time now so please take care of your health. In this article, we, Health Lab, would like to introduce you to one disease which can be caused by various factors in which one of those factors is the change of weather. Such disease is ‘Allergy’.

What is allergy? What are the factors of this disease? How many types it can be divided? Also, what is the measurement for preventing ourselves from allergy and what is the treatment? The answer for these questions will be provided in this article.

Allergy is the disease cause by the body’s response to certain stimulants. In normal cases, the stimulants, such as dust mites, pollen, as well as the food we eat on a daily basis, would caused no harm to human body. However, in case of allergy, the body’s response to those substances is too extreme that it causes an inflammation to the organs exposed to the allergens. Allergies caused by both genetic and environment. The result shows that if the father or the mother has allergy, chances that their children might also have allergy are up to 30-50%. If both the father and the mother have allergy, the chances will be increased to 50-70 while children who come from the families with no allergies record will have about only 10% chances of having allergy.

Types of allergies can be divided accordingly to the body system, which there are 5 types as follow:

1. Respiratory allergies such as asthma: The symptoms of the patient while having asthma include oppression in the chest; have dense Dyspnea; and whistling respiratory. The symptoms may occur at any site. Symptoms may be alleviated with bronchodilators, but it usually works fully only in the beginning. After receiving medication for a certain time, the patient will have to receive the medication more often and with more dosage. Sometimes the symptoms may only be coughing at night, chronic cough without the whistling sound, or the oppression in the chest during exercise.
2. Allergic rhinitis or sinusitis: There are different types for allergic rhinitis symptoms which are 1) the predominant nasal discharge symptoms type with itchy nose, sneezing, the flowing of clear nasal discharge; 2) the predominant stuffed nose type; 3) the combining of type 1 and type 2 type which include having clear nasal discharge and itchy nose; and the last type having symptoms which are difficult to diagnose. This group may have chronic cough with phlegm in the morning; some may have chronic headaches, snoring, dry mouth, frequent sighing or even having itchy eyes.
3. Allergic skin diseases: The most common diseases which can be found are urticaria and allergic dermatitis. Patients with urticaria usually begin with itching, followed by swelling, which can occur throughout the body. Patient with severe symptoms may have swollen eyelids, lips, genital and even intrarespiratory. Patients with allergic dermatitis, the symptoms usually start during their first year of birth, in which patients will have rash on their body and face with dry skin and skin inflammation. Young patients are at risk of developing respiratory allergies when they grow up. The major cause of allergic skin diseases in children is food allergies. The result shows that the food allergies for cow’s milk, eggs, seafood and wheat flour are more common in Thai children.
4. Eyes allergy: is an inflammation of the conjunctiva and under the eyelids. The symptoms usually include itchy eyes, acrid, red and watery eyes and having gum in the eyes. The symptoms usually occur when the eyes are exposed to the stimulants/allergens such as dust, pollen or animal hairs. Patients with eyes allergy usually have allergic rhinitis also.
5. Anaphylaxis: is the allergic reaction which may be life threatening. The allergic reactions can be severely, occur very fast and has many systemic symptoms. The symptoms also include itchiness, urcitaria, swollen face and lip, oppression in the throat, sneezing, flowing of nasal discharge, and difficulty in breathing. The more severe symptoms include abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhea, blood pressure decreased, insensible and can be fatal If not treated promptly. For those who have asthma, it might stimulate the existing asthma to occur. The major causes of anaphylaxis are severe allergies in food, medicine and bugs. Patients with anaphylaxis are strongly recommended to avoid such allergens. For those patients who have severe allergic reactions such as shock, the patient should have the Adrenaline or Epinephrine injections (medication to treat severe allergy that stimulates the heartbeat and increases blood pressure) with them at all time to prevent the chances of death before seeing a doctor.

That is all for this article! And since there is much information regarding allergies, the next article will be more about allergies in respect of how to protect yourself from allergies and treatment guidelines. Don’t forget to follow our next article!