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Allergies: 'Tis the Season

By Bruce Jansen, M.D., Clinical Director of General Medicine Department, University Health Services

Spring is officially here and for most students who have had it with winter weather, it's a cause for celebration. Perfect weather! Well, maybe yes, maybe no. For the lucky majority, yes, it is perfect weather for being outdoors.

But it depends on who you are and how your system responds to your environment. Unfortunately, Mother Nature is not friendly to all of us. If your son or daughter is a seasonal allergy sufferer, Spring can mean the start of sneezing, sniffling, wheezing, itching, hives, and/or headaches. Pass the Kleenex!

Some people experience allergic reactions to almost anything in their environment. It can be seasonal allergies (hay fever is one of the more commonly known seasonal allergies) or allergic reactions caused by other environmental culprits. Allergic triggers may include exposure to irritants such as smoke and pollution, or allergens such as dust, mold, and animal dander. Other triggers are exercise, cold air exposure, or a recent upper respiratory illness (such as a cold or the flu).

The process by which an allergic reaction occurs is quite complicated, but here is an abbreviated version of why your body reacts as it does: an allergy develops when your body reacts to a substance in the air called an allergen. The allergen combines with an allergic antibody in your body, a protein that you produce and release as a chemical mediator. This causes an allergic reaction to occur. The allergy can occur in your skin, eyes, nose, sinuses or lungs. The specific allergic reaction is determined by the location of the affected tissue and its particular response to the chemical mediators.

If your allergy symptoms are mild, you may only need to be treated with antihistamines. However, if they are more serious, you may require a complete medical history, physical examination, skin testing, a lung function test, x-rays, blood tests, or you may need to alter your diet and take medication.

An allergist usually recommends one of three methods of treatment:

• avoiding the substance that causes the allergy
• taking medications
• putting you on a desensitization program

The most common form of specific treatment is by hypo sensitization, especially in cases involving a respiratory allergy. A small dose of the allergen, causing the reaction, is injected into your body. The injections cause your body to produce antibodies called "blocking antibodies" which then combine with the allergens. This leaves fewer allergens to react with the regular allergic antibodies.

The popular belief that most persons will outgrow an allergy is often misleading, since the allergy may persist for a long time or become worse. Also, you may develop an allergy to something you have been exposed to in the past but never been allergic to before.

University Health Services at University Park provides a variety of treatment options for the management of allergies. To make an appointment at the Allergy and Immunization Clinic at University Health Services, students may call 863-0774.

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