You absolutely love plums, but after eating them, you always get a familiar little tingle in your tongue. You shrug it off, thinking it's a normal reaction, but soon, you begin to experience more symptoms. Suddenly, your nose runs furiously while eating your favorite fruit, and you begin to get a tickle in your throat. This is a common phenomenon for many Americans, and it's known as oral allergy syndrome. To learn more about the condition and what you can do to prevent the symptoms, read on.
Who is Likely to Suffer from Oral Allergies?
While not everyone with a pollen allergy will experience symptoms related to oral allergy syndrome, those with oral allergies typically have an allergy to one or more types of pollen.
Certain fruits, vegetables, and tree nuts share allergy-inducing proteins with pollen. For example, someone allergic to birch pollen may have trouble with apples and hazelnuts because they share a similar protein. Of course, oral allergies also get a bit more complicated because not all fruits, vegetables, and tree nuts which share a protein with a particular pollen will cause oral allergy symptoms in all patients. For example, to continue with the birch pollen example above, while apples and hazelnuts may bother you, you may not have any trouble with the other list of common reactants, including cherries, almonds, and carrots.
How Can Oral Allergy Symptoms Be Prevented?
Common symptoms that those with oral allergies may experience when eating a raw fruit or vegetable which triggers their allergies include hives; itchy throat or mouth; itchy ears; swelling of the mouth, tongue, or lips; and vomiting.
Fortunately, for sufferers of oral allergies, there's an easy way to prevent such symptoms from occurring, and that's to abstain from the raw fruit or vegetable that causes you trouble. For many individuals with oral allergies, a cooked form of the fruit or vegetable can still be consumed, as the proteins which cause the reaction become damaged during the heating process. Of course, some individuals may wish to seek further treatment for their allergy symptoms, and, luckily, there are a few ways that can allergist can help.
How Can an Allergist Help?
If you have oral allergies, you may just consider them a nuisance. However, it's important to keep in mind that an oral allergen can eventually lead to an anaphylactic reaction, which is life threatening. There is hope for oral allergy sufferers, however.
A common form of treatment for pollen allergies (which, remember, trigger oral allergy reactions) are allergy shots. The purpose of this treatment is to get your body's antihistamines to stop reacting to the allergen, and this is done by introducing increasing levels of the allergen little by little until a resistance is built. Allergy shots can be a great way to lessen (or completely stop) your seasonal allergy symptoms, such as sneezing and wheezing, and this can also lead to a lessening in oral allergy symptoms.
If you suffer from oral allergies, consult with your allergist at a location such as Southern Allergy and Asthma PC to learn more about available treatments.
My name is Shawna Banks and this is a blog that focuses on health issues that affect women. I became interested in women's health when my sister began having medical problems. After her condition worsened, she went to see a doctor. After her diagnosis and successful treatment, I helped her research the different kinds of health conditions that are common in women. By becoming knowledgeable about these types of problems, we can keep ourselves healthier. I hope that when you read this blog, it will help you to identify symptoms that shouldn't be ignored. If necessary, you can schedule an appointment with your physician as soon as possible.