I’m not asking for medical advice, I just want to understand better how allergic reactions work.
Some backstory. Growing up in Northern California I never had an allergy that I was aware of. My family did, but not me. At age 50 or so I moved to Northwest Montana and for the first few years I continued to be allergy free. (My wife suffers from allergies both in California and Montana.) Starting about 3 years ago I started to get an allergic reaction when the weather turned warm in the Spring that would last until the early Fall. Runny nose, itchy eyes, sneezing, the whole nine yards. It was worse in the morning when I first awoke and would usually improve by the afternoon on it’s own. I started taking a non-prescription allergy med and that seemed to help with the symptoms during the day. The worst month seems to be July, which also happens to be one of our hottest months.
So how does this work? There is obviously something around here that is triggering the reaction. For 3 years it didn’t bother me, but now it does, and it seems to be getting worse each year. I assume based on the seasonality that it’s a plant-based allergy, as opposed to a pet allergy, which would be year round. I should probably go see an allergist, but I haven’t had time to deal with it.
Is this normal for someone who has never had allergies to develop them later in life and for them to get progressively worse, year after year? Why is my body reacting this way to whatever is triggering the reaction? Shouldn’t I be building up antibodies against whatever it is causing the reaction? I don’t get a cold every year, even though I am exposed to the rhino virus each year. I would expect my allergic reaction to decline over the years and not increase. What am I missing here?
I once worked with someone with a degree in immunology. He asserted that to have an allergic reaction you first must be exposed to a sensitizing dose. That is, you can’t have an allergic reaction to something the first time you are exposed. Perhaps another board member will confirm or clarify that.
In general, an allergic reaction is the bodies immune system over-reacting to an “intruder”. Since the human body changes as we age, getting slower in some things, being more sensitive in others, a change in allergic reactions is not surprising. Again, perhaps another board member will elaborate on mechanism.
As a side note, auto-immune disorders like Celiac are a little different. Where the allergy over reaction is generally directed at the intruder, the auto-immune over-reaction is directed to another part of the body.
You’re missing that the last part of an allergic reaction is your immune system over-reacting to an impulse which isn’t really a threat. The symptoms are your body trying to defend itself; getting more antibodies doesn’t diminish the reaction but heighten it.
And yes, it is possible to become allergic to something to which you weren’t (once there is enough antibodies in your system to start over-reacting) and for the allergies to get worse. As the “worse” can actually kill, that visit to the allergist is a very good idea.
You’re missing that the last part of an allergic reaction is your immune system over-reacting to an impulse which isn’t really a threat. The symptoms are your body trying to defend itself; getting more antibodies doesn’t diminish the reaction but heighten it.
And yes, it is possible to become allergic to something to which you weren’t (once there is enough antibodies in your system to start over-reacting) and for the allergies to get worse. As the “worse” can actually kill, that visit to the allergist is a very good idea. Even if it turns out that you don’t have an allergy but a sensitivity (no hives and the path between “trigger” and “response” is different), it’s better to know what the trigger is.
You don’t say what you are allergic to. And you are taking a non-prescription medication. Does this mean you have not seen as doctor (allergist) asbout this?
You should.
They will be able to do test to specifically identify the cause, and have much more potent medications available. And allergies, left untreated, often get worse.