How can food allergies be so life-threatening that one goes to the ER? Why not minor aches and pain?
December 5th, 2006 by admin
caltam84 asked:
Why can’t people with food allergies suffer minor aches and pains? Instead, they suffer serious and severe pain to a point that one needs to go to emergency room. It can be so deadly that possible death can occur. Why is that?
Why can’t people with food allergies suffer minor aches and pains? Instead, they suffer serious and severe pain to a point that one needs to go to emergency room. It can be so deadly that possible death can occur. Why is that?
- Posted in Allergies
December 6th, 2006 at 5:13 pm
because allergies can do that thats just life i guess
December 8th, 2006 at 2:17 am
y ask y? that’s just the way it is!
glad to say i have noooo allergies whatsoevr!!
December 11th, 2006 at 12:35 am
Simply because their body’s immune system reacts violently towards the allergen .
December 12th, 2006 at 10:17 am
Unfortunately, allergies aren’t tailor-made for our comfort; they simply are what they are. It’s sort of like saying, “Why can’t a person always have a minor car accident instead of a huge crash?” We don’t have control over how it happens or how it manifests itself.
December 12th, 2006 at 12:01 pm
Some people experience anaphylactic shock as a severe allergic reaction. Symptoms can include respiratory distress as the throat and airways actually swell closed–that’s where the emergency comes in.
Anaphylactic shock can be from an allergy to an insect sting (such as bee or wasp) and to certain medicines, as well as food allergies. People who know they have this severe allergic reaction often carry epi-pens in order to give themselves an injection of epinephrine to counteract the allergic reaction so that they don’t have to go the emergency room, or in case they can’t get to one in time.
December 12th, 2006 at 9:31 pm
It doesn’t always start out major, usually they start out small and un-noticable like a runny nose or slight itching and people usually don’t but two and two together until something major happens.
December 15th, 2006 at 7:30 pm
I wish they could just suffer minor aches and pains, but when someone is truly allergic to anything, their body just reacts and they can’t control it. The reason it can be so deadly is due to Anaphylasis.
Anaphylaxis is a serious allergic reaction that is rapid in onset and may cause death.
Follow the link that I put in below, I think this site will answer your questions.
December 16th, 2006 at 2:22 pm
I have massive shellfish allergies. The hives are bad, but the throat swelling to where I can’t breathe? Yeah, I found out I was allergic the hard way when I was young. Obviously I avoid shellfish like the plague….
My friend’s son has a peanut allergy that does the same thing to him (also an ER visit).
Its just our body’s way of reacting to allergies then same way that person with hay fever or whatever other allergy have, only its internal as your body ingests whatever it is your allergic to.
December 18th, 2006 at 10:40 am
I have worked with allergy sufferers for many years as a p.a. and I can assure you that foods cause symptoms all the way from annoying to catastrophic. Some people get headaches and/or stomach aches, joint pains, fatigue, depression - all sorts fo manifestations - that they may well just put up with. A lot depends on the persons “target” organ, which may vary due to many factors, and which can be his/her skin, lungs, intestines, etc. Unfortunately, when the factors add up just “so”, even a small amount of a food, when the target organ is the airway and lungs and circulatory system, can lead to severe or even fatal breathing difficulties and/or shock. When this occurs help is needed very fast i.e. the E.R. or your own syringe with epinephrine. The vast majority of suffering from food allergies probably does come down to “minor” aches and pains, but the uncomfortable symptoms of food allergy are so relentless and hard to control (unknown allergens, etc.) that there really is a lot of misery going on for many millions of people day after day. By the way, I know for certain that a person can have a stomach ache from a food one day and then have a severe reaction to it - like described - the next time they ate it. When the cells in the body get “primed” by exposure these reactions are known to occur.
December 21st, 2006 at 7:00 am
This is a type 1 hypersensitivy reaction, and the deadly allergies are mediated by IgE. IgE is an antibody that surrounds mast cells and basophils, this is of course abnormal. When a person is exposed to the allergen, like a bee sting, shell fish, or one of the deadliest peanuts then the fun starts. The allergen binds to the antibodies and this reaction tears open mast cells and basophils. These two cells are filled with vasoactive chemicals like serotonin and histamin. This tearing open of the cells floods the body with these substances and can cause massive fluid build up around the throat and close it off. No throat, no breath, death is 3 minutes away. This is why these people are lucky if they make it to the ER.
December 21st, 2006 at 6:03 pm
Allergies cause the body to over-react to the things the person is allergic to. The body views those things are intruders and goes over board to attack it. Most season allergies are not life threatening because they simply involve the allergy cells ( mast cells) in the skin and nasal, eye mucous. Food allergies involve all of the types of cells, including mast cells in the skin and stomach and respiratory tract. The body doesn;’t know how to not go over board. So with all the cells reacting all over the body, you get some people with breathing problems ( mast cells in the lungs and throat), hives ( mast cells in the skin) and some people because sick to their stomach ( mast cells in the stomach) as well as runny nose and water eyes….all just from eating a tny bit of what the person is allergic to. No one really understands why some peoples body attack more than others…but that’s it in a nut shell.
December 24th, 2006 at 5:48 pm
I am allergic to almonds. I have ate them my entire life. When I turned 30 I became allergic. My lips, tongue and throat started swelling up. The emergency room has epipens or something similar to inject to keep the swelling down.