Your Headaches Could Be A Food Allergy
Food allergies don't always cause severe symptoms that clearly indicate your reaction was caused by a certain food. They can create subtle problems, such as stomach cramps, mild diarrhea, and headaches. The symptoms may not appear until long after you've eaten. You may ignore these warning signs as anxiety, work stress or just a one-off situation. Here is how food allergies may be causing these annoying symptoms.
A Few Food Groups Cause the Majority of Allergies
Nearly 90 percent of all food allergies are caused by just a few food categories including:
- eggs
- fish and shellfish
- dairy products such as milk
- groundnuts such as peanuts
- tree nuts such as almonds
- soy beans
- wheat
Allergies to these foods are so common that manufacturers are required to list them on the ingredient's label. Some manufacturers voluntarily note on their labels whether the food was produced or packaged with or near equipment that handles some of these allergens. For example, a label may state that a particular product was packaged in a facility that also packages foods that contain peanuts.
Food Allergies Are Like Any Other Allergy
You may have a genetic structure that makes you allergic to dairy, just as you might be allergic to pollen or cat hair. When you come into contact with certain foods, your body has an immune response designed to repel the allergen. You may have some of the same symptoms as a pollen allergy, but you'll also have gastrointestinal symptoms that make you uncomfortable.
Some of the common symptoms of a food allergy include:
- sneezing, runny nose, itchy eyes
- labored breathing
- dizziness
- stomach cramps
- diarrhea
- swelling in the mouth or throat
- nausea and vomiting
These symptoms range from mild to severe and may appear several hours after you've eaten. They can be triggered by eating only a small amount of the food. If you don't know you have an allergy to a food, you may eat a large amount creating severe symptoms that last a long time.
Identifying Food Allergies
An allergy specialist will test you for a reaction to various food categories. Further tests can narrow down your sensitivity to specific foods. The allergist will be able to say how sensitive you are to the foods. For some people, exposure to a small amount of a substance can produce severe symptoms. Some of the foods that generate the most severe symptoms include:
Milk - Some people can't process the proteins in cow milk. The proteins triggers an allergic response. Some people with this allergy can drink goat or sheep milk. A few people are allergic to all animal milk but can drink almond or rice milk.
Peanuts - Allergies to nuts start early in life and rarely go away. Contact with only a small amount of a food containing nuts can cause a life-threatening reaction in some people. Since nuts can show up in many ways, such as a thickener for soups and sauces, people have to be diligent about discovering where peanuts are hiding in their foods.
Wheat - Gluten is a component of wheat and many people have discovered a sensitivity to gluten. It can cause a number of stomach and intestinal problems. Gluten-free products allow people to continue to enjoy baked goods and other wheat-based foods.
If you have frequent headaches or stomach aches, especially after eating, see your doctor for an allergy test. The foods you eat may be making you uncomfortable. Then it's a simple matter to eliminate a few things from your diet to get rid of those annoying symptoms.
For more information on allergy testing, contact a professional like Diane L. Ozog, MD, SC.
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