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.

Common allergens and irritants

The American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology reports that the most common allergens and irritants are:

• Dust mites and their waste: microscopic bugs (and their droppings) common to all households
• Pollen: tiny grains of plant reproductive material
• Mold spores: the reproductive seed of fungi, such as mildew and mold
• Animal allergen: tiny particles of an animal’s shed skin (dander), urine, and saliva
• Viruses: submicroscopic infection-causing agents
• Tobacco and other smoke: both first- and secondhand
• Air pollution: including airborne chemicals, especially ozone
• Airborne chemicals and vapors: including household cleaners, paint, varnish, and perfumes

Learning what affects you

Allergy tests are available for some of the most common protein-based allergens, like dust mites, animal dander, mold, and pollen. But you can be tested for only a limited number of things. For example, 35.9 million people are allergic to some kind of pollen, according to an article published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. But only some pollen types show up on today’s allergy tests. As a result, you may be tested for the most common allergy-provoking pollens (like ragweed), but you simply can’t be tested for every possible allergy-provoking pollen.

An allergy diary may also help you pinpoint the allergens that get you down. With a little vigilance, you can track exposure to triggers and their associated symptoms over time. You and your health care provider will play detective together, reviewing your diary for clues that point to the exact allergens and irritants that bother you most. Eventually, you’ll have the information you need to help you avoid triggers and improve your quality of life.

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 9th, 2008 at 6:35 am and is filed under Allergies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.