Food Allergies Can Cause Serious Reactions

A food allergy can be described as a bodily reaction to one of the foods that your body has deemed harmful. What happens is your immune system will decide that a particular food is not wanted for reasons that sometimes remain a mystery, causing it to create antibodies against it. The next time you decide to eat that food you will experience any number of adverse reactions from mild ones affecting your eyes, nose, or throat to more serious ones affecting your respiratory system. It's very important to immediately seek help from a medical professional if you or one of your children experience any of the usual symptoms.

It's estimated that about 12 million Americans have some type of food allergies. They are more common in children as according to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, between 3 and 8 percent of all kids will have some sort of an adverse reaction to food with around 2 percent of adults experiencing problems. The most common of allergies in adults are fish, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, and sesame seeds while infants and babies are more apt to have a food allergy to milk, peanuts, and eggs.

Some symptoms that you can experience while having an allergic reaction to food are swelling of your tongue and throat, tingling sensation in your mouth, a hard time breathing, hives, vomiting, or diarrhea. These symptoms can come on very quickly after eating the offending foods. A common timeframe is anywhere from a few minutes to upwards of a couple of hours. After you seek help with your immediate reaction you will need to talk to your doctor to have the appropriate testing done for you (or your child). If you are found to have any food allergies, your doctor will go over some of the current treatment options to decide which ones would work best for you.

Common Treatments For Your Food Allergies

  • Special diets are the most popular treatment option prescribed by health professionals or allergists today.
  • Certain types of medicine or vitamins can help alleviate the allergy symptoms, but don't cure the underlying problem altogether.
  • Immunotherapy can sometimes alleviate your allergic reactions to food by altering the immune response your body gives.

A special diet can mean a couple of things in terms of dealing with your allergies to various foods. If you have an allergy to just one type of food, like peanuts, then eliminating it from your diet is usually the course of action (at least initially). Some food allergies are not what are called 'fixed', meaning they can change with time. Your doctor may ask you to reintroduce the offending meal into your daily routine after some time has passed, especially if it has a high nutrition value. A rotating diet may be prescribed should you get allergic reactions to many different foods. You will need to first eliminate all of the foods you are allergic to, then 'rotate' all other types of foods at intervals to be determined by your doctor. This is because you are likely to have very slight allergies to other foods that you once thought were safe.

Medications or certain kinds of supplements can be prescribed to help you deal with some of the symptoms that a food allergy can give you. While they won't cure you of your disorder, if taken before exposure to the food they can block your body from releasing some of the chemicals that cause the allergic reaction. Vitamins like Vitamin C can also help your body decide to not release these chemicals. However, avoidance of the food altogether is a wiser choice than using medicine beforehand.

Immunotherapy is another treatment for your food allergies, which basically works by altering your body's immune response to the offending foods. There are two standard types of immunotherapy that are widely used today, neutralization and low dose immunotherapy. Neutralization is the more recommended approach in the United States. You first would be tested to determine which food extracts "neutralize" your allergic reactions. Once this is determined, you would be provided with a solution containing these neutralizing doses for each of the foods you have allergies to. You can then take the appropriate solution as needed to help your body 'turn off' its' reaction to the food. For low dose immunotherapy, you would be given an enzyme potentiated desensitization (EPD) shot which is comprised of a small amount of allergens as well as an enzyme that occurs naturally in your body. Like the neutralization method, this shot will help keep your body from reacting to the offending food.

Food allergies are very serious and can be fatal if left untreated after the food is ingested. They can cause an anaphylaxis reaction, which would make breathing difficult and get rapidly much worse. It's important to have the appropriate allergy test done to determine if you or your children are allergic to certain types of food. It's also important to speak with your doctor or pediatrician about what you can do to live with the allergies, should your tests come up positive. Many people have food allergies and most live happy, normal lives. Being aware of the dangers and really watching what you eat are of the utmost importance, but you should also know what to do in the event of an emergency. If you believe you or one of your kids are having an allergic reaction to food you need to seek immediate medical attention.