Talk of Allergy
Written by:The immune system serves to defend the body from external aggressors, especially bacteria, viruses and parasites. Allergy is an anomalous response of this immune system that perceives as dangerous harmless substances such as pollens or dust, and attacks them.
Asthma , characterized by a sensation of choking, shortness of breath and "whistling" in the chest. Asthma has a low mortality, but instead affects more and more people and also, experts predict an increase in the frequency of allergic diseases in general and especially asthma , in the Western world. This increase is attributed to industrialization, food additives and the reduction of infectious and parasitic diseases, which previously dominated the attention of the immune system.
Allergic rhinitis and rhinoconjunctivitis are the best-known allergic diseases , since each spring they are discussed in the media. It is due to pollens and is manifested by sneezing, runny nose, itchy nose and eyes, and sometimes also nasal obstruction. Some rhinitis is suffered throughout the year, as they are due to perennial allergens such as mites or the epithelia of domestic animals.
There are many inhalant antigens that can cause asthma or rhinitis, but as we have explained, the most frequent are dust mites and pollens (gramineas, parietaria, etc.) and, less frequently, the epithelia of domestic animals and fungi of humidity.
There are also allergic pathologies that affect the skin: atopic dermatitis, contact dermatitis, urticaria, angioedema (swelling of eyes, eyelids or lips) that may be due to an allergy to food or food additives and also to medications.
Precisely the allergy to medicines can give very serious pictures of anaphylactic shock, even with the result of death. Equally serious may be the allergy to the venom of bees or wasps, as we have seen in the case of Pharaoh Menes.
The main treatment of an allergy is always to avoid the antigen that produces it and for this a series of protection measures have been developed against mites, fungi and pollens, but almost never the antigen can be avoided at all and then we must use pharmacological medication appropriate to each case.
In the treatment of an allergy, immunotherapy should be highlighted, known as "therapeutic vaccines for allergy", which involves injecting small doses of pollen or mites so that the body "gets used" to them. It usually gives very good results with mites, pollens or insect venom. It is the only etiological treatment (of the cause) that can be offered to the allergic patient. When it is well indicated and well controlled by the Allergist it is very effective and has very few side effects, since being a biological product, it must not be metabolized by the liver and excreted by the kidney as usual drugs.
I have tried in a few lines to explain all the pathology that may be due to an allergy, but in these diseases is fulfilled more than in any other the maxim that "there are no diseases but sick", and we must customize in each case diagnostic means such as treatment.
