Allergies
(17 health indicators)
An allergy is when your body's immune system reacts to something harmless as if it were a threat, leading to symptoms like sneezing, itching, or more severe reactions. This trigger, known as an allergen, can be something you eat, breathe in, inject, or touch. Common allergens include pollen, pet dander, bee venom, peanuts, and certain medications. When your body encounters an allergen, it can release chemicals like histamine, causing allergic symptoms.
Anaphylaxis is a type of allergy which is severe, potentially life-threatening and can occur within seconds or minutes of exposure to an allergen.
Testing for allergies helps identify specific allergens that trigger your reactions. Knowing what you're allergic to allows you to avoid those triggers and manage your symptoms better. It also prepares you to handle severe reactions, like anaphylaxis, effectively.
In allergy testing, the primary type of antibody looked for is Immunoglobulin E (IgE). IgE is a class of antibodies produced by the immune system in response to exposure to an allergen. When someone is allergic to a substance, their immune system mistakenly identifies this harmless substance as a threat and produces IgE antibodies specific to that allergen.
These IgE antibodies bind to the surface of mast cells and basophils, which are types of cells involved in the body's immune response. Upon subsequent exposure to the allergen, these cells are triggered by the allergen-bound IgE to release histamine and other chemicals, leading to the symptoms of an allergic reaction, such as itching, swelling, and difficulty breathing.
