As for medicines, those helpful for pollen allergy may be
used. Food Allergy some people notice that ingestion of a certain food causes
hives nasal congestion and sneezing, or asthma. Others trace to a particular
food such symptoms as abdominal discomfort, nausea, cramps, belching, and
diarrhea. Some people experience migraine headaches after eating particular
foods such as chocolate.
When there is a clear association between particular
foods and symptoms, diagnosis presents no problems. But when the symptoms are
those of indigestion, it may be more difficult to be certain that a true food
allergy is involved. In such cases, the doctor relies not only on the patient's
account but does skin tests with allergens pre- pared from egg, milk, and many
other foods.
Also, he has the patient keep a diary of food intake and
symptoms. Then, in some cases, the doctor puts the patient on a basic non
allergenic diet and adds suspected offending foods one at a time to establish
which produces symptoms. Food allergy is rarely a serious disease. When milk is
the offender in a child or adolescent, care must be taken to include in the
diet other foods which can provide the minerals and protein of this important
dietary constituent. The best way to treat food allergy is to avoid the
troublesome foodstuff.
This may sound simple but there are dozens of foods that
contain eggs and milk, for example; and the purchaser may not realize this or
he may have to eat in restaurants where food preparation is not under his
control.
Thus people who are allergic to common foods should learn
the long list of dishes that may contain such foods. Complete lists are
provided in all about Allergy by M. C. Harris, M.D., and N. Shure, M.D.
(Prentice- Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, N.J., Publisher, 1969). This 1000-posts contains much of value to persons whose allergies are not readily
controlled or whose doctors want them to read extensively about their ailment.
Can a person allergic to food be desensitized? The method is not easy. It
consists of taking very small amounts of the offending food by mouth until
resistance to it is finally built up. Medicine-Induced Allergy Any medicine may
have more than just a primary effect. For example, an antihistamine may provide
some relief for hay fever; that is its primary action. But it may have a
secondary effect, drowsiness. In addition, it may have unexpected bizarre
actions, producing varied symptoms, sometimes including hives, skin rashes, hay
fever, or asthma.
The most feared reaction from administration of a medicine
is the allergic condition known as anaphylaxis or anaphylactic shock, in which
the patient develops itching, hives, runny nose, and asthmatic breathing,
sometimes followed by pallor, cold sweats, low blood pressure, stupor, or coma,
and in some cases, death may occur. In some cases of anaphylaxis, there may be
only hives with or without swelling of the throat and larynx; this reaction is
called angioedema. Another allergic reaction to medicines and serums is the
delayed or serum sickness type. It occurs five to ten days after the
sensitizing sub- stance is used and involves itching, hives, and joint pains.
In addition to hives, medicines may sometimes pro- duce other skin reactions
including eczema.
