With spring right around the corner and many anticipating the fragrance of flowers blooming and trees budding, many are not excited to see this season come. For the millions who suffer from allergies, this means scratchy throats, watering eyes, running noses, skin, and asthma flare-ups.
Allergies can occur when your body’s immune system reacts to what it perceives is a foreign body or substance. When this happens, your immune system begins to make antibodies that target a particular irritant that your system deems as harmful. When this occurs, you may experience inflammation around your skin, your airways or even your digestive system. While most people only experience mild symptoms, for some the immune system can react so actively these symptoms can lead to a more severe condition called anaphylaxis which is life-threatening.
A visit to your allergy Doctor can help to determine what your triggers are, how serious you must be to avoid them, and what measures you should take when you have encountered some irritants.
While there is no cure for seasonal allergies, there are some things you can do to reduce the amount of suffering you experience during these seasonal changes.
The primary antibody that drives an allergic response is called the IgE antibody; this is a protein that the body releases when it perceives a harmful substance needs to be neutralized. Therefore if you want to minimize your allergic responses, you must lower the amount of IgE floating around in your body.
- Omega-3 fatty acids: Research has shown that a diet rich in omega-3’s such as salmon, walnuts, flax seed, chia seeds or an Omega-3 supplement reduces the amount of IgE’s the body produces.
- Turmeric: A potent anti-inflammatory that works to lower the body’s IgE levels.
- Anti-oxidants: Zinc, selenium, along with vitamins A, C, and E all work to lower IgE, thus reducing the number of symptoms you may have during allergy season.
Allergy season can put a damper on your activity level, but learning to protect yourself from many irritants and keeping your body out of such a conservative state by the healthy choices you make can help you tremendously.
