Many years ago, in fact, Way back when, in the infancy of modern medicine, Medical Doctors began seriously considering the notion that some illnesses could be related to low resistance to some internal diseases.
At that point, the eyes of Medical Scientists were opened to diseases that were not transmitted from person to person, like a virus but were caused by a perfectly natural external substance such as pollen or food.
Now, we were all raised believing that “Food is good for you”, But we have since discovered that that which can be harmless to one body, can develop into a toxin in another. And so another look was needed in order to make proper diagnosis and treatment for previously ignored and or unknown ailments.
In this article, we choose to look at a common but yet rarely immediately understood medical condition, that of Food Allergy.
What Is Food Allergy?
The term allergy refers to any altered reaction of the body occurring with time. Whilst most of us relate allergies to pollen, dust, mold, and animal danders, The reactions these substances produce are dramatic and easy to measure in lab tests.
Pollen and dust are not so close to us as foods, And so we more readily accept an external problem unrelated to our daily lives, than we are to accept the idea of an allergy caused by our favourite food. So it is way better and easier to accept that we have hay fever, than to accept that we are indeed having an allergic reaction to our favourite food, say a cheese omelet or banana split.
Symptoms of A Food Allergy?
Food allergies are far more difficult to diagnose and treat than hay fever or asthma. The symptoms can be deceptive at times and often are mistaken for pollen allergy. For example: tearing up or a reddening of the eyes may be caused by an allergy to wheat products as well as by an allergy to cat hair.
Gastrointestestimal problems too are deceptive. We often blame a stomachache on last night’s late meal rather than this morning’s glass of milk. Al allergy to what is considered the most harmless food can result in diarrhea, constipation,gas-bloating, .naussea, ulcerative colitis, vomiting, and pain -ranging from mild, to severe.
Its important to note that Food allergies can intensify peptic ulcers, and may even mimic gallbladder disease or appendicitis.
We often think that chocolate allergy symptoms are confined to a bad complexion, but they are far more extensive. Chocolate affects more tissues in the body than do inhalants, drug allergens, or infectant allergens.
Food allergies can also cause excessive urination, urinary tract infection, prostate disorders, and gynecological problems. Furthermore, , such allergies can affect the heart and circulatory systems by causing swollen eyelids, an irregular heartbeat, and high blood pressure.
They can affect the muscular system causing muscle aches and pains, pain at the nape of the neck, spasms in the lower back, chest pains abdominal spasms mimicking appendicitis, arthritis, joint pains, and swelling and bursitis.
Fatigue and sleeplessness are the most common symptoms of food allergy. Often experienced at its very worst in the morning. Food allergy fatigue can be accompanied by general weakness, drowsiness, and a sensation of heavy limbs, and is often associated with headaches, irritability, confusion, and depression.
Symptoms such as: moodiness, indecisiveness, poor concentration, diminished memory, and mental lapses, are frequently confused or combined with hypoglycemia. They can lead to extreme depression, anxiety, and tension, breakdowns, social withdrawals and worse, hospitalization. But the most identifiable neurological allergy symptoms are headaches.
Causes:
Reaction to food is a more frequent cause of allergic manifestation than widely believed. With most people, at one time or another in their lives, are allergic to certain foods. Many allergies start in childhood, or you may have inherited your allergy if other family members show similar symptoms, after similar consumption patterns. The stronger the family history of allergy, the earlier you might experience it.
Four basic conditions can contribute to food allergy;
a) Inherited tendencies: Your susceptibility to food allergy, or your own ability to react may have been inherited from your parents. Many times there is a family history of allergies but the absence of allergies in your family, does not necessarily mean you are immune.
People think that food allergies only or mostly occur in small children or infants. Few expect adults to become allergic and commonly believe allergies disappear with age. Nothing could be farther from the truth. In fact, the older you get, the more food allergies you are likely to develop. Even the latter stages of life.
b)exposure: The more often you are exposed to a specific food, the more likely he or she, will be prone to develop an allergy. Too much exposure to one kind of food at any one time, may overwhelm the immune system and trigger the allergic process.
The combined assault of chemicals, pollens excessive dust or mold, and too much sugar milk, wheat, or yeast, can overload the resistance system, to breaking point.
By and large, the most common cause of allergy, other than heredity, is lack of variety. In one’s diet.
c)health. Time after time, allergy sufferers claim that their allergies began after a serious health problem or a major psychological stress. So one’s health can trigger ones allergic reaction as the immune system is compromised during these times and can induce stress. And stress is high on allergy-inducing triggers, which in turn affect the immune system. As will Cancer, Obesity and premenstrual tension.
d) Cross reaction.
Reactions to foods, within the same biological families, are common. A person reactive to potatoes may also have difficulties eating tomatoes, green peppers or eggplant -which are all from the same family.
The following foods have been known to trigger allergic reactions in some:
Apples, Beef, Cane Sugar, Carrots, Chicken, Coffee, Corn Chocolate, Eggs, Green beans, Oats, Oranges, Milk, Peanuts, Soy products, Pork, Wheat, and Yeast.
The typical reaction after consuming any of these foods to show you are indeed allergic could be Overactivity: feeling irritable, nervous, or aroused.
Underactivity: You feel sedated, bored, and or tired.
Hunger: You develop an increased appetite.
Personality Changes: you experience a change in your behaviou, such as increased anger or fear.
All of these demonstrate a definite neurological allergy. Your symptoms can be divided into two categories: Subjective and or Non-Visible Sensations; And Objective Symptoms or Visible Sensations…
We recommend that you consult with your family physician for diagnosis and treatment, and not self-diagnose and prescribe.
