 The symptoms of food allergy are various: from a tingling sensation in the mouth, swelling of the tongue and the throat, difficulty breathing, hives, vomiting, abdominal cramps, diarrhea, drop in blood pressure, and loss of consciousness to death. Symptoms typically appear within minutes to two hours after the person has eaten the food to which he or she is allergic.
The most severe thing to come is anaphylaxes. This is a sudden and potentially fatal reaction in which many problems occur all at once and can involve the skin, breathing, digestion, the heart, and blood vessels. A person's blood pressure can drop, breathing tubes can narrow, and the tongue can swell. People who are at risk of having such a reaction must have a plan of overcoming it. It is estimated that more than 150 people die annually from anaphylaxis to food.
If you have certain reaction to some food and you fear about its recurrence you’d better tell your doctor about the problem. The doctor (allergist) will do certain test but your observations will be very helpful. Before you see a doctor you should keep a diary during 2 weeks writing down all the food you have eaten and the reaction it caused. You are to put all the symptoms you experienced and the time they lasted. This will be very helpful for choosing the tests and for making the diagnosis.
Children are more often under the risk of getting a food allergy. And it is more difficult to know what causes the allergic reaction. In this case parents can be of a huge help. The thing is that doctors believe that allergy is hereditary. So parents should remember if they had any food sensitivity in the young age. Food allergy does not last for a lifetime. Most food allergies disappear with the running of time. The ones to stay are peanuts, certain kinds of fish, and shrimp allergies.
Very often people have allergenic reaction and not the allergy itself. The most commonly observed one is the lactose intolerance. After consuming peculiar dairy products people get belly pain and diarrhea. This doesn’t mean you have the allergy. The thing you really have is the intolerance, which appears as your body can’t break the sugar found in milk.
The diagnosis of food allergies can seem complicated because reactions to foods are often delayed and may be affected by many factors, including insufficient rest, stress, and other allergens we are exposed to at the same time. Indeed, it is usually impossible to determine what you are allergic to on your own. Therefore medical testing is important.
While diagnosing food allergy two types of tests are applied. They are the skin test and the RAST (or radioallergosorbent test). Both tests are reliable. The skin test is accomplished the following way. A small amount of a dilute extract of the food to be tested is injected into the skin of the patient's arm or given under the tongue. Any symptoms that result are recorded and the skin reaction is monitored. This test suits perfectly if the reaction is not delayed, that is it appears immediately after the contact with the allergen. If not – the efficiency of this test is doubtful. Also if the patient has some skin problems (for example, eczema) the doctor will use RAST as it will be impossible to see the reactions of the skin test. Moreover the skin test can cause further skin irritations. RAST is very comfortable for the patient also as using only one blood sample it will be possible to test hundreds of foods. The received results are always combined with the history of symptoms what makes your diary especially important.
One thing to keep in mind for parents is children’s initiative. It may happen that your child will test allergy himself. You should be very attentive and under suspicion you should show your child to the doctor. Do not allow him and do not do the tests yourself! Any test done at home can cause serious problems for your child’s health!
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