Common Causes and Symptoms of Environmental Allergies

A person's allergies change several times over the course of their life. This is caused by natural shifts and modifications in the body's internal chemistry. Most mainstream allergy treatments only serve to alleviate the allergy symptoms and not treat the actual allergy. It is possible to determine the source of your allergies, including environmental allergies, to change your body chemistry. This is a natural and safe way to get relief from your symptoms instead of turning to many of today's traditional pharmaceutical remedies.

Experiencing allergy symptoms is your body's way of telling you that something is wrong. Just treating the symptoms alone does not fix the problem. The body's chemistry can become easily imbalanced, and your allergies can worsen, or you can develop allergies to things you were never allergic to before. There are some different ways to restore balance and help to alleviate allergy symptoms non-evasively as well as effectively.

What Are Environmental Allergies?

Environmental allergies are one of several types of allergies. Seasonal allergies are another more specific type of environmental allergy. All allergies are a type of hypersensitivity in which the body overreacts to otherwise innocuous stimuli. The otherwise harmless substance is known as an allergen. Allergens cause the body to have an inflammatory, immune response. Allergic reactions can range from inconvenient and uncomfortable to dangerous and life-threatening.

Common Causes of Environmental Allergies

Allergies are extremely complex, and research is still being done on the exact cause or causes. There is an enormous amount of variation from person to person. Why some people are allergic to some things and not others is quite a mystery. Genetics likely plays a role in body chemistry, and it is body chemistry that ultimately determines what substances are allergens and what aren't. Many different things can trigger allergic reactions in our environment. Various types of allergens often cause different types of allergic responses in different people.

Some of the most common environmental allergens are:

• Mold and mildew
• Dust
• Pollen
• Pet dander

The triggers for some of the most dangerous environmental allergies are mold and mildew. Mold and mildew are groups of living spores that have existed for millions of years. Both will thrive anywhere that there is adequate warmth and moisture. The spores can get into a person's lungs as well cause major allergic reactions when contacting the skin.

Dust is a very common allergen. It is a mixture of tiny particles of substances like dirt, skin cells, hairs, other fibers, and small pieces of other things in the local environment. Inhaling dust results in the body attempting to expel the particles from the body. It will begin overproducing mucus, and many people will also sneeze and cough.

The cause of seasonal allergies is pollen. Some people react to pollen in the spring and summer, others in the fall. Pollen is the reproductive material of plants. It is often dispersed by the wind, and like with dust, the pollen can be inhaled, resulting in allergic reactions.

Another very common allergen is pet dander. It can cause reactions that vary from mild to severe and cause respiratory arrest. Pet dander is made of tiny particles of an animal's skin. Cats, dogs, birds and rodents all have dander.

Common Symptoms of Environmental Allergies

Most everyone is familiar with the symptoms of allergies. Environmental allergies share a lot of symptoms with the common cold, and there are also several key differences.

Symptoms include:

• Itchy, watering eyes
• Sneezing
• Mucus production in the nose, throat and sometimes ears
• Sneezing
• Rash, swelling, blistering and pain at the site of contact

Environmental allergies sometimes cause skin reactions where they come in contact with the skin and seasonal allergies, associated with pollen, will only present symptoms during certain times of the year. Unlike the common cold, allergies do not result in fevers and the symptoms can persist for weeks, especially seasonal allergies.

Dr. Donna Sergi is a leading Brooklyn Chiropractor and Practitioner of Nutrition Response Testing. Learn more by visiting her website at: http://www.healthieruny.com