Over 50 million people in the United States have allergies and that number has been steadily rising over that past few decades. And they can affect anyone, regardless of age, gender, race or socioeconomic status. They can occur for the first time at any age or, in some cases, recur after many years of remission. So it’s understandable that this question is being raised over and over again.
So how does an allergy come to be? The short answer is that the body gets confused. It thinks it’s fighting off a bad guy, but it’s really just something it doesn’t recognize. The purpose of your immune system is to help your body fight off attacks by viruses, bacteria, fungi. However, sometimes the immune system recognizes harmless substances as foreign substances – and effectively as intruders – to your body. Hence, the immune system responds with a heightened sensitivity resulting in reactions to those foreign substances or “intruders”. The result of that heightened sensitivity is what we know as allergies. These substances include pollens (trees, grasses and weeds), mold spores, animal dander and saliva (cats and dogs), dust mites, cockroaches, and even foods and medications. Individuals who suffer from allergies often experience specific symptoms triggered as your immune system reacts to those harmless substances. Depending on the severity of the allergic reaction, the symptoms can be relatively tolerable or excruciatingly unbearable.