# When did "allergic" become reserved to life-threatening reactions? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 15, 2017, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-allergic-become-reserved-to-life-threatening-reactions/789041 "2017-06-15T17:34:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![dstarfire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dstarfire/32/5762_2.png) [@dstarfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dstarfire)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2017, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-allergic-become-reserved-to-life-threatening-reactions/789041/21 "2017-06-16T03:10:30Z")
Thank you, all, for the information. Yes, the various accounts all involved reactions to food/ingredients, so it’s likely there was some miscommunication or oversimplification happening. ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2017, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-allergic-become-reserved-to-life-threatening-reactions/789041/22 "2017-06-16T04:53:18Z")
> [@steatopygia](#): > > **outlierrn** Are you aware of any website that discusses the various EMRs? > > EPIC, Meditech etc.? > > Hijack You mean a comparison, the pro’s and con’s? No, but I can tell you that I think Cerner is way worse than Medhost:mad: ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2017, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-allergic-become-reserved-to-life-threatening-reactions/789041/23 "2017-06-16T07:22:34Z")
> [@rat\_avatar](#): > > The critical bit of information here is that an allergy causes an immune system reaction, which is not being gassy etc… Not only that, but that it causes a specific immune system reaction, at least in my local medical system. Right now if you’ve got every symptom in the list except hives, apparently it’s not “allergy” but “sensitivity”. No hives, it’s not IgE-mediated and therefore not “allergy” (note that, by **Qadgop** above, you can also get hives through other mechanisms: what I describe is what I got when I went to the allergologist). This is important and positive in that by differentiating IgE-mediated processes from other over-reactions, docs know whether to give someone medication which attacks IgE or not: for those of us whose reactions aren’t IgE-mediated, medications focused on IgE don’t do shite except maybe give us secondary effects. But it’s led to a sort of vaccuum, where the patient may find herself in the situation of having the allergologist say “not mine, go see a lung doctor” and the pulmologist saying “not mine, go see an allergologist”. Nava, trying with a different allergologist next week… ---
**Author:** ![constanze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@constanze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/constanze)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2017, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-allergic-become-reserved-to-life-threatening-reactions/789041/24 "2017-06-16T08:37:44Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > Just to clarify what “allergy” means to me as a physician: **It’s an IgE mediated reaction to an antigen**. It generally occurs within minutes of exposure, and it might be mild and cause a rash, might be moderate and make someone a bit short of breath, might be severe and cause anaphylaxis or death. > > There are many, many other symptoms that are triggered by exposure to a food or drug or other chemical such as abdominal pains due to gluten sensitivity, nausea due to opioid ingestion, or even a rash due to irritant exposure. But if it’s not IgE mediated, it’s not really medically considered an allergy. > > There are a class of reactions called “Non IgE mediated food allergies” which probably involve some other bits of the immune system but the phenomena are not well understood, generally take hours or days to develop after exposure, and are rarely health or life-threatening. And most allergists are trying to get people from applying the term “allergy” to these reactions, as it runs counter to the scientific definition of allergy. From what I (layperson) have read there has been some changes in the past decades in the medical community about how to define and Label Non IgE reactions. Some patients are more hypochondriac - they fail double-blind tests; but some People do pass double-blind for reactions to sun-light or other things that don’t fall under normal allergy (because the Body isn’t reacting to particles) but is still measurable and a Problem for the Patient that the doctor wants to treat/ solve. I’ve also read somewhere that the prick tests on Skin done in the 90s for Allergens have now been discounted by the main medical community because they gave too many false positives for mild reactions. Also, new intolerances / not-IgE reactions to Food have started cropping up - People eat a Food for 30 years without Problems, and suddenly they react badly to it. People figure out that they feel much better if they eliminate Food element X from their diet (though this is difficult to double-blind given the many additives in processed Food). Some People manage to get rid of a mild Food allergy with Treatment X. ---
**Author:** ![constanze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@constanze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/constanze)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2017, 8:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-allergic-become-reserved-to-life-threatening-reactions/789041/25 "2017-06-16T08:38:56Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Nava, trying with a different allergologist next week… Ah shit. Good luck on getting the right help! ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2017, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-allergic-become-reserved-to-life-threatening-reactions/789041/26 "2017-06-16T13:11:53Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > Just to clarify what “allergy” means to me as a physician: **It’s an IgE mediated reaction to an antigen**. It generally occurs within minutes of exposure, and it might be mild and cause a rash, might be moderate and make someone a bit short of breath, might be severe and cause anaphylaxis or death. > > There are many, many other symptoms that are triggered by exposure to a food or drug or other chemical such as abdominal pains due to gluten sensitivity, nausea due to opioid ingestion, or even a rash due to irritant exposure. But if it’s not IgE mediated, it’s not really medically considered an allergy. > > There are a class of reactions called “Non IgE mediated food allergies” which probably involve some other bits of the immune system but the phenomena are not well understood, generally take hours or days to develop after exposure, and are rarely health or life-threatening. And most allergists are trying to get people from applying the term “allergy” to these reactions, as it runs counter to the scientific definition of allergy. So what is classic hayfever/reaction to cats? Is that IgE mediated? ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2017, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-allergic-become-reserved-to-life-threatening-reactions/789041/27 "2017-06-16T13:42:40Z")
> [@Quercus](#): > > So what is classic hayfever/reaction to cats? Is that IgE mediated? Yes. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2017, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-allergic-become-reserved-to-life-threatening-reactions/789041/28 "2017-06-17T12:28:24Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Not only that, but that it causes a specific immune system reaction, at least in my local medical system. Right now if you’ve got every symptom in the list except hives, apparently it’s not “allergy” but “sensitivity”. Sorry, my reaction to mushrooms doesn’t give me anything but an intense ability to have my throat swell shut and try to drop dead … so I still consider it na allergy \ ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2017, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-allergic-become-reserved-to-life-threatening-reactions/789041/29 "2017-06-17T14:38:29Z")
Which gets back to my point about some non-allergy sensitivities being quite severe. And the distinction _is_ important. If everyone knows that you’re allergic to mushrooms, and you accidentally eat some and your throat swells shut, and the EMS waste their time giving you anti-allergy drugs instead of whatever the appropriate treatment is for the sensitivity you actually have, you could end up dead. ---
**Author:** ![constanze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@constanze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/constanze)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2017, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-allergic-become-reserved-to-life-threatening-reactions/789041/30 "2017-06-18T10:18:37Z")
Are the IgE-allergies the ones that get worse with each exposure? My uncle is “allergic” - that is, he reacts to, but I don’t know if an IgE test was done - to bee venom, and he says the few times he has been stung, the reaction was worse each time. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2017, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-allergic-become-reserved-to-life-threatening-reactions/789041/31 "2017-06-18T13:08:31Z")
IgE allergies _can_ become worse with each exposure, but they don’t always. In fact, _sometimes_ the body stops reacting - that’s what “growing out of it” means for an allergy, and allergy shots are an attempt to induce that. But the food IgE allergies do seem more inclined to get worse than better. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-allergic-become-reserved-to-life-threatening-reactions/789041.md?page=1)