Allergic reaction: when the body overreacts

An allergic reaction is, in short, an overreaction of the immune system to a substance that is actually completely harmless. The most common allergy triggers are pollen, animal hair and dust mites - actually nothing to be afraid of. If it comes however to a wrong reaction of the immune system, release exactly these substances breath way or digestion complaints.

If the Allergenees, for example pollen, over the mucous membranes into the body arrive, alarm is announced for the immune system. Because with allergy sufferers the body defense considers the actually harmless substances as highly dangerous. This is due to a protein that turns the innocent pollen into a declared enemy of the body's defenses. The consequence: the body releases more of the messenger substance histamine, which triggers the allergy symptoms.

Allergies have been on the rise in recent decades and affect more and more children, adolescents and adults. But why do these overreactions of the immune system increasingly occur?

• Environmental influences favor that the body's defenses are irritated. For example, the combination of particulate matter and pollen in cities ensures that people there increasingly suffer from allergies.
• Excessive hygiene also contributes to the fact that especially in children the immune system is no longer sufficiently challenged by pathogens. Therefore, it reacts more quickly to harmless intruders and classifies them as harmful.
• Allergiene is hereditary. Therefore, young adults who have already grown up with an allergy themselves, pass on the predisposition to the children. If even both parents are allergy sufferers, the likelihood that the child will also develop an allergy increases.

For the fight against the allergen, the body releases the tissue hormone histamine. This causes the typical allergic reactions that allergy sufferers know all too well. Depending on the type of allergy, the eyes, nose, skin or digestive organs are affected:

• running or stuffy nose
• permanent sneezing
• itching nose
• itching eyes
• burning and redness of the eyes
• increased tearing
• the eyes swelling
• scratching in the throat
• throat pain
• cough irritation
• difficulty breathing
• itchy skin
• rash
• digestive problems with nausea and diarrhea

As long as the allergic reaction is limited to hay fever symptoms of the upper respiratory tract, it is usually not dangerous. Depending on the allergen, symptoms usually disappear after a few weeks with the end of the pollen flight or after avoiding the allergen. However, in the case of a strong or long-lasting allergy, a so-called floor change can occur. Then the complaints shift from the upper respiratory tract to the lower respiratory tract in the bronchi. The consequence can be allergic asthma, which manifests itself by shortness of breath and must be urgently treated by a doctor.

An cross-allergy can also become problematic if for example, a pollen allergy sufferer also reacts excessively to foods such as nuts or certain types of fruit. Then, in rare cases, anaphylactic shock can occur, which can sometimes become life-threatening.

• Prevent: A long-term prevention promises a hyposensitization, also called desensitization or immunotherapy. It is carried out under medical supervision and can extend over three years. The goal is to slowly accustom the immune system to the allergen until it hardly reacts allergic to it.
• Acute treatment: If the allergic reaction occurs acutely, only the treatment of symptoms helps. With Pollival® nasal spray and Pollival® eye drops with the active ingredient azelastine you get a runny or stuffy nose and itchy eyes under control. Alternatively, the symptoms can be treated with Pollicrom® eye drops and Pollicrom® nasal spray . The active ingredient cromoglicic acid intervenes early in the allergy mechanism and inhibits the release of histamine.

If the allergy is severe, tablets are considered for treatment. Antihistamines block the action of histamine and let the symptoms subside within a few minutes. Possibly the doctor prescribes even medicines with cortisone, which may be taken, however, only for a short time.