It’s Asthma and Allergies awareness month. Some of you may be wondering how Asthma, Hay fever and Food allergies are related. 

Our immune system is like an army. Any good army, needs to know how to identify the enemy and to put up a good fight. Otherwise, the army may waste energy attacking harmless “foes”, like  pollens, or worse yet attacking friends like certain foods etc.

Interestingly, “atopic” or “allergic” individuals are individuals whose immune system has gotten a bit confused and has started to react to things that are usually harmless to us.

This can lead to a variety of incurable, chronic diseases like Asthma, Eczema, Hay fever and even food allergies. There can be overlap between these, so people who have one of these, may be more at risk of getting another.

There is something called the “Allergic March” which refers to the fact that earlier on in life different “allergic” diseases may present: Classically Dermatitis/eczema in infants, then food allergy then hay fever and asthma tend to occur at various stages of life.. However, although it is true that an individual who has a family or personal history of one of these is at increased risk of another, it does not mean that once you have one, you will have all, or that they occur in such a definite sequence….and the good news is, that while they may be “incurable”, we can help you get control of them, so they don’t control you!

So how do you know if your Asthma is controlled? Well if you see the pictures above and relate to them, then you may have asthma, and your asthma may not be well controlled. Similarly, if you are needing to use your rescue inhaler, that’s not good control.

If your Hay fever symptoms are playing havoc then give us a call for help.

For the month of May we are offering 10% off all Asthma, Hay fever, Eczema and Food Allergy consultations.

For videos on how to use your inhalers see our You Tube Channel: Ames Medical Services – YouTube