What is an allergy?

We can experience many everyday symptoms when we are feeling below par. These can include tiredness, anxiety, headaches, bloating, and general aches and pains. These are often caused by sensitivities to things we either, breathe, touch, eat, drink or encounter without even being aware of their effect. These sensitive responses are actually symptoms of allergies, which left untreated can often lead to more serious or chronic ailments. We may be totally unaware of having any known allergies.

The term allergy has varying definitions, but in essence, it is an unusually sensitive response by the immune system to something physical, physiological, emotional or any combination thereof. It usually has more than one trigger, resulting in symptoms of varying degrees of severity.

It is probably easier to consider the term allergy, as the body’s loss of ability to recognise and/or process something correctly, which results in physical/emotional symptoms. Matters of the mind and emotional triggers can also present in the form of physical symptoms.

The resulting reaction can be to either one or more substances, which would normally be essential, beneficial, or harmless to most people.

If the allergen is an essential nutrient, vitamin or mineral, your body will not be able to absorb it properly or benefit from its value. Even taking these in the form of supplements, will not derive their full and desired effect.

If substances are wrongly identified as a threat by the immune system, an inappropriate response is triggered which can affect us physically, psychologically or both. This sensitivity can cause a variety of symptoms, from mild to severe, with transient or long term effects. These symptoms can range from:-

a slight itching to a severe swelling of tissues or organs a mild runny nose to a severe asthmatic attack bloated to severe abdominal cramps general tiredness to chronic fatigue panic attacks to depression slight to chronic hormonal imbalances a mild reaction to ultimately the worst case scenario of anaphylactic shock

Allergens can be encountered in many different ways, some on multiple levels, without us even being consciously aware. For example, they can be inhaled as in pollen, moulds, perfume or dust; ingested as in food, drinks or pharmaceutical drugs; touched as in animals, chemicals, fabrics or cosmetics; injected as in chemotherapy, prescribed medications, immunisation or insect bites and stings; infected as in viruses and bacteria or physical agents as in heat, dampness and radiation from many sources including computers, Wi-Fi, mobile phones or sunshine.