There is reason to believe that in some people the overgrowth of yeast, which grows naturally in our body and in our digestive tract, triggers the immune system to react and produce yeast allergy. This theory has not been proven, however there are a variety of possibilities besides the most common belief which suggests it can be caused by the intake of foods that contain yeasts, and/or the applying of substances directly on the skin that contain yeast.

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How do you know you have airborne allergies? Maybe a friend asks about your nagging cough, or you happen to notice an annual “cold” every time the trees are blooming. The good news: while airborne allergies can be irritating, the symptoms are controllable.

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The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) recommends three ways to deal with allergies: avoid the allergens and irritants that trigger symptoms, treat symptoms with prescribed medication, and ask your health care provider about allergy shots. But before you can start avoiding your allergy triggers, you first need to identify them. You can accomplish this through allergy testing or by keeping a trigger diary.

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If your car starts wheezing, you take it to an auto shop. Your mechanic will diagnose the problem, and spend some time tinkering, tightening, and replacing. You might need to authorize those annoying unexpected charges, but usually the diagnosis and repairs hum right along without you — after all, the mechanic is the expert.

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This is the moment you’ve been waiting for. You spent years getting to know your symptoms — all too well. You spent months confirming what you already suspected — those are allergy symptoms, all right. You spent hours finding out what to do next — allergy testing. Now you’re on your way to gaining control over allergy symptoms, and improving your quality of life. In the case of food allergies, allergy testing may even save your life.

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Allergic disease is the sixth leading chronic disease in the United States, affecting more than 20% of the population. Fortunately, the medical community has effective tools for managing both symptoms and the underlying causes. Allergists recommend avoiding triggers (the allergens and irritants that provoke symptoms) as a first line of defense. Prescription medications are the next step.

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Looking for a sure cure for allergies? You may as well be looking for the Fountain of Youth. Just as medicine offers no surefire way to reverse aging, medicine offers no surefire cure for allergies. Avoiding triggers remains the best way to control allergies. Medications and other care may get you through the worst symptoms. But what happens when an allergen can’t be avoided, or a prescribed medication isn’t doing the trick? In these cases, your health care provider may recommend allergy shots — the closest thing to an allergy cure available today.

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“My antihistamine makes me so sleepy.”
“This decongestant keeps me up all night!”
“My sister destroyed her nose with over-the-counter nasal sprays.”

To self-medicate or not to self-medicate … is that the question? Of 481 people with hay fever surveyed by the Allergy Respiratory Institute of Colorado in Denver, 92% reported ongoing self-medication, either with over-the-counter or prescription drugs. From a health point of view, this isn’t necessarily good news. In fact, if you take over-the-counter drugs for your allergies more than a few days a year, talk to your doctor about switching to prescription allergy medication. They’re quite a bit safer than what you can buy yourself over the counter.

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When hay fever season arrives, you may be looking for relief from allergy symptoms. What are your choices? Medication may treat symptoms after exposure to an allergic trigger, like pollen. But with antihistamines and decongestants come side effects that can interfere with day-to-day activities. In an effort to avoid side effects, as well as to try something new, many people are turning to complementary care: therapies, treatments, and products outside the field of Western medicine, used in conjunction with your regular treatment plan.

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Only about 1.1% of Americans are allergic to peanuts (the most common food allergen), according to the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. That may sound like a small number, but 1.1% translates to about 3 million people — and that’s just peanuts. Milk, wheat, egg, soy, and seafood are also well-known food allergens. Plenty of other foods have been known to provoke allergic reactions as well.

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