Where can allergy symptoms appear in my body?
You can experience allergy symptoms in nearly any area of your body. When your body mounts an inflammatory response to fight your allergens, the inflammation can have a widespread impact.
The cells that trigger allergic reactions, called mast cells, are in every system and organ throughout your body. That means you can develop common symptoms, as well as symptoms you would never suspect are related to allergies.
What allergy symptoms affect my head and neurological system?
There’s no doubt that allergies to pollen, dust mites, animal dander, molds, and foods can cause headaches and brain fog.
You may also experience a host of head or brain-related symptoms, such as:
- Migraines
- Mild-to-moderate headaches
- Head pressure and tightness
- Throbbing and stabbing pain
- Fainting
- Depression
- Mood swings
- Hallucinations
- Hyperactivity
- Irritability
- Fatigue
- Apathy
- Confusion
- Lethargy
- Blackouts
- Insomnia
- Somnolence
Somnolence refers to abnormal sleepiness due to a health condition such as allergies.
What allergy symptoms affect my ears and nose?
Allergies often cause nasal symptoms such as:
- Sneezing or the urge to sneeze
- Itchiness
- Nasal obstruction
- Nasal discharge
- Postnasal drip
- Sinus pressure and pain
- Stuffy feeling
Allergies that affect your nose and ears can cause:
- Earache
- Itching
- Hearing loss
- Fullness or blocked ears
- External ear redness (erythema of pinna)
- Ringing in your ears (tinnitus)
- Abnormal sensitivity to sound (hyperacusis)
If you have hyperacusis, normal or soft noises sound unbearably loud.
What allergy symptoms affect my vision?
You already know about red, itchy eyes caused by allergies. But some types of allergies may lead to vision changes.
You could experience one or more of the following:
- Blurry vision
- Double vision (diplopia)
- Decreased visual acuity
- Seeing spots or flashes of light
- Darkened visual field (vision loss)
- Sensitivity to light (photophobia)
- Dyslexia (difficulty reading and interpreting letters and words)
To give you one example, fungal allergies that affect your nose can lead to blurry vision, vision loss, and a damaged optic nerve.
What allergy symptoms affect my lungs and heart?
Though the team at Allergy & Environmental Treatment Center, LLC may find other allergy-related causes for lung and heart symptoms, these body systems are most often affected when you have allergic asthma or an anaphylactic reaction.
The lung and heart symptoms you may experience include:
- Coughing
- Sneezing
- Reduced air flow
- Shortness of breath
- Heavy-feeling or tight chest
- Inability to inhale enough air
- Hyperventilation (rapid breathing)
- Chest pain
- Rapid pulse (tachycardia)
- Intercostal retractions
Retractions occur when you have a hard time breathing. As your muscles work to pull in air, the areas between your ribs and under your neck sink in.
What allergy symptoms affect my joints?
Inflammation due to allergies can also affect your joints, causing:
- Aches and pain
- Stiffness
- Swelling
- Warm, red skin (erythema)
A close association exists between arthritis and food, drug, and environmental allergies.
What allergy symptoms affect my abdomen and gastrointestinal tract?
Food allergies and sensitivities most often affect your abdomen and gastrointestinal (GI) tract, but mast cells in the GI tract can be activated by other allergens such as chemicals, odors, and insect stings.
Abdominal and GI symptoms include:
- Nausea
- Belching
- Bloating or fullness
- Vomiting
- Pressure, pain, and cramps
- Flatus (gas) and GI rumbling
- Diarrhea
- Hunger and thirst
- Acid reflux
You may also experience gallbladder-like symptoms such as pain in the upper right or center abdomen, pain that spreads to your right shoulder or back, and tenderness over your abdomen.
What allergy symptoms affect my genitourinary tract?
Of all the body systems affected by allergies, you may least expect to have problems in your genitourinary tract. But you can experience:
- Urge to urinate after voiding
- Frequent urination
- Urge or pressure to urinate
- Painful or difficult urination
- Itchy genitalia
- Urinary frequency
- Burning when urinating
- Vaginal discharge
If you have a thick, white, odor-free vaginal discharge, you may have a yeast infection, which is another allergy symptom.
If you have ongoing allergy symptoms, call Allergy & Environmental Treatment Center, LLC, or book an appointment online today.
