What Are the Main Allergy Symptoms?

The symptoms play an important role in the diagnosis of every disease in this world. In this particular case, knowing what the allergy symptoms are is the fact that determines people to look for medical advice. The tests that are performed during the diagnosis help the doctor to realize the connection between the symptoms and a certain disease. In the diagnosis of allergy, the main problem is not whether the patient is allergic or not. Instead, doctors try to find out what allergen has caused the allergic reaction.

The allergy symptoms are generic. In other words, the symptoms of a certain type of allergy do not differ from the ones of another type. In addition, the signs that are believed to be allergy symptoms may indicate another health problem. This is why the diagnosis is so important. In order to diagnose allergy, doctors usually perform two tests: a blood test and a skin test. Prior to performing the tests, people may confuse these symptoms to the ones of cold. However, there are some elements that help people to make a distinction between these two health conditions. First, the cause of the symptoms is different, as cold is provoked by viruses while allergy is determined by allergens. Next, the duration differs, as the cold is cured after a period of time that ranges from 2 to 14 days. Allergies may be observed even for a few months, if they are provoked by allergens that are present only during certain seasons. In addition, the treatment and the prevention methods are different between cold and allergy.

First of all, people must know what determines the allergy symptoms to appear. When exposed to an allergen, the immune system sets free histamine into the body. This is a chemical substance that is supposed to fight the presumed intruders. As soon as this chemical substance is released into the body, the allergic reaction is triggered and the allergy symptoms become visible.

The main allergy symptom, and also one of the first to be observed, is the itch of the skin. The intensity may not increase, but the duration of this allergy symptom is equal to the exposure time to the allergens. The itch usually affects the nose, too. In addition, people may experience stuffed nose and watery eyes. Furthermore, the respiratory tract is affected in most types of allergy, while food allergies affect the gastrointestinal tract. Regarding the respiratory tract, the allergy symptoms include lung congestion, cough and wheezing. In rather seldom cases, people may also experience allergy asthma.