The Truth About Allergies and Headaches – Chinese Allergy Tests
If you are a migraine sufferer, you may reckon that you’re allergic to certain foods that you know will bring on an attack. The most common trigger foods are cheese, chocolate, red wine, caffeine and monosodium glutamate (found in high quantities in Chinese food). It’s right that these can certainly bring on a migraine in some people – but it is not a right allergic reaction that causes it. We all differ in our bodily make-up and in some poor individuals, their body chemistry releases irritating substances when we eat some foods. This is a unpleasant reaction – but not an allergy.
Allergies by themselves don’t, in general, cause headaches. One of the most common exceptions to this is Hay fever, which is a right allergy – and it’s one of the worst. As you inhale pollen, your body sees it as perilous and launches a large, aggressive immune response. Other common right allergies are dust, mold and animals.
In all of these situations, it is the inflamed nasal passages and sinuses (sinusitis) caused by the allergy that give you that dreadful headache. The misery of sinusitis can’t be underestimated. Sufferers lose sleep, take time off work and feel too rotten to join in leisure activities. Some people try to get rid of it by buying over-the-counter allergy medications – but as the dilemma is really with the sinuses, these won’t help. It is often at this point that people go to their Doctor for help.
How do I know if I’ve got sinusitis?
The symptoms vary greatly, from people not even knowing that they have it, to feeling very poorly with a headache, nasty, greeny-yellow nasal discharge, a feeling that your face is ‘full’, a general stuffed-up feeling, tiredness. If the infection has been going on for some time, you may also have a fever.
Acute or Chronic?
People who suffer from allergies are most likely to have acute sinusitis. It can also be caused by a bacterial infection, such as the ordinary cold. It is generally small-lived but still very unpleasant. It may resolve itself (especially if the source of allergy is removed) or it can hang on and develop into chronic sinusitis. Chronic means that it lasts longer and is harder to treat. It also means that it will recur maybe several times during the year.
Help! What should I do?
If you contemplate you may have sinusitis, see your Doctor, who will probably give you general antibiotic treatment. This usually clears the problem up honestly quick. If it doesn’t and the condition becomes chronic you may be sent to see an immunologist. This is a Doctor who is specially trained in allergies. A complete medical history and appropriate tests are needed to make a proper diagnosis and then treatment specifically tailored to your allergy can start.
If sinusitis isn’t treated it can give further problems with the nose, eyes and middle ear and can go on for months; in some cases, even years. If in any doubt, see your Doctor.
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