How Food Allergies and Environmental Allergies Affect the Throat

Your immune system works constantly to fend off anything it deems to be dangerous, helping to protect against possible infection from viruses, bacteria, fungi, and other possible threats. Allergies disrupt the immune system by causing it to overreact to specific particles, called allergens, and interpret them as threats.

A wide variety of harmless particles can trigger allergies and affect numerous parts of your body, including your throat. How your throat is affected by allergies depends on what kind you’re dealing with, so to better understand the impact of an allergic reaction, let’s find out what environmental and food allergies can do to harm your throat.

Lake Oswego, Oregon, residents looking to find better ways to manage their allergies can get help from the medical team at Lake Grove ENT.

Environmental allergies and throat problems

This refers to particles found in the air or on surfaces inside or outside your home, including pollen, pet dander, dust, mold, or smoke. The signs of an allergic reaction bear many similarities to those of a cold, affecting your sinuses and throat and causing symptoms such as congestion, postnasal drip, coughing, sneezing, itchiness, and a runny nose.

Sore throats are common in these reactions, but if your allergies also cause an asthma attack, which inflames your airways and leads to symptoms like shortness of breath, wheezing, coughing, and chest tightness or pressure.

Food allergies and throat problems

Substances in various foods and drinks, including milk and dairy products, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, fish, shellfish, sesame, soy, and wheat, can cause a range of allergic reactions. Reactions include vomiting, hives, shortness of breath, wheezing, chronic coughing, shock, pale or blue skin, dizziness, and weak pulse.

In the throat, it can lead to tightness, hoarseness, swallowing difficulties, and anaphylaxis. This life-threatening response to a food or drink happens quickly and can lead to swelling, tightness, hoarseness, nausea, and trouble breathing.

Treatment options

We offer a few options to help manage the symptoms that can affect your throat from allergies, such as:

Medications

Drugs used to alleviate allergy symptoms include antihistamines, corticosteroid nasal sprays, and leukotriene modifiers. 

Immunotherapy

This treatment exposes you to a minuscule amount of the allergen to build immunity to its effect on your body. It can be administered as an allergy shot, a sublingual dose, or a pill.

Getting the right treatment is vital, and what works for you will depend on your allergen and the severity of its effect on your throat. Make an appointment with the medical staff at Lake Grove ENT today to address your allergy-related throat problems.