Allergies in adults, children: symptoms, treatment, psychosomatics

When spring comes, we all expect the trees to be covered with young leaves. However, for many, this very expected flowering period can turn into a serious problem. Of course, we are talking about people susceptible to seasonal allergies, and their number in the world is growing every decade. Today, more than a third of Russians experience allergy symptoms, including seasonal allergies.

About what it is and whether it is possible to cure it, says Candidate of Medical Sciences, Allergologist, EMC Ksenia Yakovleva.

What is allergy?

Everyone has defense mechanisms that are designed to resist the causative agents of diseases – immunity. If viruses, bacteria, foreign agents enter the body, immune cells react and neutralize pathogens. But there are times when the body also reacts violently to substances that do not pose a threat to health: pollen, dust, some food. This is the mechanism for the development of allergies, and a substance to which a person reacts violently is called a causal allergen.

Seasonal allergy develops mainly to pollen. If a person knows that he has a pronounced reaction and avoids contact with pollen, then he will not have unpleasant symptoms either.

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Are seasonal allergies different from year-round allergies?

According to the mechanism of development, both seasonal and year-round allergic rhinitis are one and the same: a pronounced reaction of the body to a certain substance, which is realized through certain molecules, specific IgE, formed in the body. The main difference is that people suffer from seasonal allergies for a limited period of time, as long as the allergen is, as they say, “available”. Plants do not bloom all the time; the period when pollen is in the air is limited. This means that the symptoms of allergies disappear over time.

What allergens can cause symptoms throughout the year?

This is house dust, the main component of which are microscopic insects – house dust mites and their particles. Allergens from animals, cats, dogs, and rodents play an important role in the development of year-round rhinitis. We now know that animal hair itself does not cause allergic reactions. Symptoms are caused by substances found in saliva, animal urine, or excreted by the skin. That is why today there are no “hypoallergenic” breeds of dogs and cats.

How does allergy manifest in adults and children?

The main symptoms of allergies, whether they are seen in adults or children, include itching, runny nose, sneezing, redness of the mucous membranes of the eyes. There may also be skin reactions, various rashes. A severe course of allergies can be accompanied by the appearance of a cough, asthma attacks and even anaphylactic shock. In order not to confuse the manifestations of allergies with the symptoms of acute respiratory viral infections, it is important to remember that with allergies the temperature does not rise.

As for the “age differences” of allergies, the children’s immune system has not yet matured, it is only “learning” to recognize pathogens. Therefore, children often react to a variety of stimuli, they may have a reaction not only to flowering, but also to food, cosmetics, dust, even to washing powder with which you wash clothes. Children can “outgrow the allergy”, but in fact the body adapts, the immune system response becomes more perfect.

In adults, this is usually not observed, if a person has a reaction to pollen, then it occurs every year and manifests itself in about the same way. To a greater extent, it depends on the intensity of dusting of certain plants and the characteristics of the weather. By the way, it is impossible to predict the intensity of dusting in the coming season. There is no acceptance or mathematical calculations that can determine the severity of the symptom in the upcoming flowering period. Therefore, the intrigue persists every year.

Read also: 11 Most Common Child Allergies Today – Allergy Symptoms in Children

What tablets can be used for allergies without a doctor’s prescription?

We do not recommend the use of medicines, including antihistamines, without prescription. Only if the doctor once prescribed a medicine for you, and you know that it helps you. If you take it regularly, you may not need to seek advice every time. Take it as usual for the allergic season.

Medicines for the treatment of symptoms of allergic rhinitis are improving, science is gaining new knowledge in the development of treatment and prevention of these diseases. It is always a good idea to see a specialist and brush up on your knowledge in this area. Most likely, it will be possible to find something more modern and effective than a few years ago.

The best allergy remedy today

The best remedy is one that relieves allergy symptoms. You do not need to endure them, because they bring too much discomfort to life, interfere with normal work. The most modern way to get rid of allergies today is allergen specific immunotherapy (ASIT).

This is a course of treatment, which, as it were, teaches the body’s immune system to the allergen, adapts it. After ASIT, the hypersensitivity to the allergen decreases, and during the flowering period, the person no longer reacts to pollen. Modern drugs for ASIT exist in the form of tablets and drops, which greatly simplifies their intake.

What is the latest scientific evidence and predictions about allergies?

Much research in recent years has focused on methods for diagnosing allergies. For this, a blood test is usually done to detect specific immunoglobulins E. Today, doctors can find that the body reacts to an allergen, even if there are no external manifestations of the reaction. This allows you to make accurate forecasts and take preventive measures in time.

Allergy – no such disease exists. There is only a diagnosis. What does it mean?

• Consider seasonal allergies

Spring, everything blooms, pollen flies, aromas, odors disperse. And sneezing, congestion, lacrimation begin, up to the inability to breathe and Quincke’s edema. In the framework of the new psychosomatics, allergies are just a signal that a person has fallen into the circumstances of a stressful event, when something was happening that was unsafe for his psyche and survival earlier. Of course, the word “survival” is used formally.

Example: the boy is taken to kindergarten against his will (or he is lost, lost), and on the street there is spring, the sun, the flowers are fragrant, the trees are blooming. The boy has a lot of stress – a drama for his age and perception, and there is a so-called “separation conflict” with the significant adult. For him, this event is tragic. The brain sends a signal – it’s not safe here. The psyche instantly counted the scent, color, tree, sun, house, porch, sculpture, standing nearby as signals of danger. And everything that surrounded the boy became symbols and signs for his psyche in case of survival in similar situations. And even if the allergy occurred at the age of 30 – the event that shaped it was in childhood, or even during the programming of the child: a year before conception, conception or a year after birth.

And when spring comes, an adult feather / male boy begins to react to pollen, scent, sun, place, house color, or sculpture and the allergy symptom starts. Which is then endlessly treated, annually, and even hormonal drugs, causing a new disease or hormonal dependence.

• Consider food allergies

Everything is the same here. Most often there is a “conflict of separation”, less often the suggestions of grandmothers and mothers: “If you eat a lot of oranges, there will be allergies,” “You will be stained from sweets, chocolate,” etc.

Example: the girl is eating red apples, at this time someone calls her mother, and she exclaims: “Grandma died”, or “Knocked down the kitten”, “The hamster died”, “The dog was gone”. The girl is under extreme stress. The psyche considered instantly: the situation around and the apples are a danger! I wrote down and sent this file to the memory box, in case of “danger”. So there is an allergy to red apples, or to apples in general. The next time the girl eats a red apple – and an allergy will appear, and then the doctor will also say that she is allergic to everything red, tomato, pepper.

Or the second option. Mom herself is experiencing the tragic departure of her mother (the girl’s grandmother) – the girl subconsciously reads her mother’s condition and gets allergies or neurodermatitis (or other skin disease). And then the children are tortured with pills, hormonal ointments, lotions, examinations. And mom needs help.

In a “separation conflict,” there can be any sudden / unexpected separation from significant adults – hospitalization, violence, fight, death of a loved one, especially in front of a child.

*****

To try to heal yourself of allergies, you can tell yourself: “I have already grown up, I am an adult who does not need a mother as an object for survival and safety. I can give myself this safety, because I have already survived after allergies, and after other circumstances of my life. I’m an adult. I’m safe”. And you can live and enjoy a fulfilling life.

After all, everything is thought out by the universe for us. Nature is very wise. And even its color is green, so that the eyes rest, and not blue or red, which strain the eyes, and the snow is white – not yellow or black.

It is important to remember that we are all unique in nature, there are no two identical people, fingerprints and lines on the hand. The cases of various allergies and dermatitis are also unique. There are no similar stories, so this information may simply guide you, but sometimes only specialists can make out your story. Many do not remember the events from childhood, and even parents do not remember the stories of their children. A specialist using different methods and approaches will help you find the trigger for your allergic reaction and nullify it.