Discovering Your Allergies

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As a child I suffered with the standard eczema and hay fever but as I grew up I grew out of these. I now have no confirmed allergies but am pretty sure that I have some or perhaps they are just intolerances. A few years ago, I had surgery to remove my gall bladder and before, during and after the experience, I was prescribed codeine along with a host of other things and had no problems. A few months later, when suffering an injury, I suddenly found I was unable to ingest any that didn’t result in severe abdominal pain. A few years later the same thing happened in regards to oramorph too, which can caused numerous issues when I had a shoulder injury and also last year ended up in hospital again. Are these allergies or are they simply intolerances?

Allergy testing is becoming more and more common and not just in children but as adults too. Sometimes we have allergies as a child that we grow out of and sometimes we suddenly develop allergies as an adult that we have never suffered with.

An allergy is the body’s a reaction to a food or substance. There are lots of different things that can cause an allergic response from pollen and dust to pets and we call these allergens. Allergies are extremely common affecting 1 in 4 adults at some point in their lives. 

There is now an increasing number of people who identify themselves as intolerant or allergic to foods. Having an intolerance or an allergy to a food are two different things. A food allergy is when the body’s immune system reacts to a specific food, thinking that the body is under threat, and a severe allergy can of course be life threatening.

Food allergies are an immune system response to a food, whereas a food intolerance can also be called a sensitivity and is not an immune system response. When you have an intolerance to a food, it may be caused by a difficulty to digest certain food for many reasons.

If you suffer with craps or odd bowel movements or skin reactions, it is a really good idea to get yourself tested. There are home allergy test kits which make it quick and simple or you can also reach out to your GP and asked to be referred for allergy testing though this may well be a much longer process, so it depends on your urgency.

Only half of the people suffering from allergies have a doctors diagnosis, and very few people know what allergens they are allergic to (some may not even realise their symptoms are an allergic reaction). Even mild symptoms can be debilitating and it is very hard to avoid allergens if you don’t know what you are allergic to! So getting an allergy test is a really important step to take back control of your situation. 

An allergy test are either involve a skin test or a blood test. These tests give you a good indication of what allergens you are sensitised to and can help you to identify what you are allergic to. By identifying your allergies you can make adjustments and take back control of your life.