Why We Get Allergies
By: Abhijay Bhosale
Allergies are the bane of my existence. Every spring, when I can finally go outside after being cooped up for winter, I need to be around the flourishing of life that somehow manages to disrupt my eyes, nose, and overall life without fail. I got so mad in fact, I took the rabbit hole down obscure medical words and hypothetical knowledge to figure out why I get like this.
Overview of the Immune System
Allergies happen because of your own body. Not only the effects, but also the categorization. And the one to blame is the immune system. It's everywhere in your body, just keeping guard and making sure nothing goes wrong. When different things enter your body, the immune system looks over it and deems it safe or not safe. If it's safe, no problem. But if it's not, then a whole chain begins. Although it's a lot more complicated, the process to fight back can be seen in 3 steps. The first is the Messenger. Once it spots something, it races around the body, a lot like a Paul Revere. It tells the cells a part of the immune system that are fighters (like white blood cells) to start going to where the threat is. Most times, that's all it needs. The threat is gone, and you're safe. But let's say it was something big, like Tetanus or Influenza. Your immune system has something for that too. This is step two. Special cells that collect information (like DNA and RNA) from dead cells from the thread and transfer it to the Factories. The Factories, in short, are places where antibodies are made. If it's something that it has never encountered, it'll start making new antibodies and experiment until it finds one that works.
There can also be Factories that already have experience. There are 2 ways that can happen. The first is through sheer experience, where the body had met something new, fought it, and remembered its information to fight it again. Another one is through vaccines. Vaccines hold a weaker version of a virus or illness, and lets our immune system "fight" it and remember it so if you were to ever actually get it, the body would remember and easily overcome it. It's better to have these Factories have information readily available and when needed immediately start making antibodies. Step three is just that, making antibodies and seeing who wins. If you're reading this, chances are you've won.
Now that we know how the immune system works, why does it matter? Allergies aren't illnesses. It's not like pollen or peanuts naturally have the ability to kill. Well, here's how it works.
Step One: Misinformation
Let's go back to the Messenger stage. It's just relaxing, going around, when it meets a new, but harmless, substance. Now your body can do two things. Say it's good or bad. Remember, the immune system has no knowledge of what this is. If it says, no, that's an allergic reaction. Now your body's caught up fighting something that doesn't need to be fought. All those reactions you get when interacting with an allergen aren't the goal of the fighting, they're just a byproduct. And your body will keep on fighting until the allergen is forced or naturally drawn out. The bad part is that there's no way to stop it. See, in that phase where your immune system is deciding whether something is good or bad, scientists have no idea how it happens, only what happens as a result. And another layer is sometimes, your body doesn't even deicide. If one of your parent's have an allergy, you might also have it. That's another lesson in genotypes and such, but all that's needed to know is that your body is already pre-set to have forces to fight against said allergen.
Step Two: Friendly Fire
It's necessary to know that your immune system CAN kill you. It can use up your body's resources to the point where your immune system just breaks you. That's why medication and other things aid in battle, not necessarily stop it. The thing is, with allergies, it's hard to fight against. That's why things like Epipens that fight against peanut allergies is just adrenaline; it drives your immune system to act faster but use a lot more resources quicker. That's how allergic reactions seem to progressively get worse. You use snot, tears, sneezes and coughs to get the allergen out of you, but your immune system also fights.
Step Three: Treatment
(Always check with your doctor before taking treatment of any kind)
Perhaps the most important part of an allergy is treating it, and although we don't know how to stop your immune system, we what causes it to happen. Remember all the way back when we talked about the messengers in your immune system? Those messengers allow the release of certain chemicals that tell the immune system what to do. There are 3 major chemicals which keep on giving you discomfort.
Histamines:
Histamines are things in your body that try to push out the said allergen. They cause a bunch of stuff like inflammation and other allergic reactions, so you can treat them with things that are called quite simply antihistamines. Claritin, Allegra, and Zyrtec (the one I use) are examples of antihistamines. If you've used these, you'll know that although they help, they only limit the symptoms. That's because there are TONS of histamines in your body, antihistamines just try their best to stop the transmitting of histamines. It's like putting a big square in a circle. It'll greatly stop the flow and only let a little affect you.
Leukotrienes:
Leukotrienes are probably one of the most annoying chemicals. They cause 2 things that are irritating without fail. Tightening of the airways and production of excess mucus. In fact, your airways tighten because of the mucus since it blocks your lungs' full air capacity. There aren't any direct blockers for Leukotrienes, but there are modifiers. Medicines that contain montelukast, zafirlukast, or zileuton are said to be good ways to manage leukotrienes. I've personally not tried any, but if you have had experience with this, leave your opinion in the comments below.
Cytokines:
Now cytokines are regulators. The immune system actually has its own cytokines that control the severity of the attack your immune system forms. If you want to dial down the effects, just dial up the cytokines that tell the immune system to mellow down. These are lab-grown cytokines, and although I couldn't find medication that had it, if you feel like you really need this, ask your doctor.
Until Next Time
I hope this helps anyone struggling with allergies, seasonal or non-seasonal. The most you can do with nature stacking the cards against you is to just mediate. Good luck.
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