Allergy
Allergy, exaggerated and sometimes harmful reactions to external substances, called allergens. Allergy may result from exposure to such common allergens as plant pollens from grasses, trees, or ragweed; animal danders, which are tiny scales shed from the skin and hair of cats and other furred animals; arachnids and insects, such as house dust mites, bees, and wasps; and drugs, such as penicillin. The most common food allergies are caused by eggs, milk, peanuts, shellfish, wheat, and chocolate.
Diagnosing and treating allergies is usually performed by an allergist, a physician trained to understand the body's immune response. When visiting an allergist for the first time, a patient is usually asked which substances seem to provoke symptoms and whether other family members have allergies. The doctor conducts a brief physical examination, looking in the nose, eyes, ears, and throat, listening to the chest, and examining the skin.
For most patients with allergies, medicines are used to begin therapy. Most forms of hay fever are easily managed with antihistamines, which relieve the symptoms, such as itching and sneezing, produced by histamine. Asthma is usually treated with medications taken orally or inhaled in vapor form using a metered-dose inhaler. Asthma medications include bronchodilators (drugs that expand the air passages) and anti-inflammatory steroids, which suppress the immune response that causes airway inflammation. In cases of anaphylactic shock, emergency treatment with an injection of adrenaline, also known as epinephrine, is required. This injection quickly widens blood vessels and opens up constricted airways.
Diagnosing and treating allergies is usually performed by an allergist, a physician trained to understand the body's immune response. When visiting an allergist for the first time, a patient is usually asked which substances seem to provoke symptoms and whether other family members have allergies. The doctor conducts a brief physical examination, looking in the nose, eyes, ears, and throat, listening to the chest, and examining the skin.
For most patients with allergies, medicines are used to begin therapy. Most forms of hay fever are easily managed with antihistamines, which relieve the symptoms, such as itching and sneezing, produced by histamine. Asthma is usually treated with medications taken orally or inhaled in vapor form using a metered-dose inhaler. Asthma medications include bronchodilators (drugs that expand the air passages) and anti-inflammatory steroids, which suppress the immune response that causes airway inflammation. In cases of anaphylactic shock, emergency treatment with an injection of adrenaline, also known as epinephrine, is required. This injection quickly widens blood vessels and opens up constricted airways.
Comments