• Question: How can someone become allergic to something later on in their life?

    Asked by spacenut1982 to Christina on 18 Jun 2013.
    • Photo: Christina Pagel

      Christina Pagel answered on 18 Jun 2013:

      I’m not sure, but it happened to me! About 8 years ago i suddenly became allergic to apples and pears!

      I think that something can trigger your immune system overreact at any point in your life and then that can develop into an allergy… Also, we have millions of bacteria in our guts that help us digest our food (they are good bacteria) but taking antibiotics for infection can kill these off – if the wrong sort of bacteria then grow back, these can cause food allergies (e.g.. to wheat).

Comments

  • Photo: spacenut1982

    spacenut1982 commented on :

    Oh okay! That happened to me with an allergy to dogs! Does the same still apply?

    • Photo: Christina

      Christina commented on :

      I became allergic to cats as i got older! but it seems to have gone away again (we just got a rescue cat and I’m ok!). I think with cats and dogs, it bits of skin that flakes off (called dander) that can cause an allergic reaction to people just like pollen does for hayfever… taking hayfever tables will help! and it’s possible that prolonged exposure to dogs will desensitize you – or it might make it worse! it’s different for different people…