112988 Resource 104505 101017 101017 1137085298837 1137116137036 Controlled Are you allergic to exercise?

Exercise-induced allergies, while uncommon, are a real phenomenon.

This past semester one of my students asked why she itched whenever she began to exercise. Years ago a good friend claimed she would itch if she pushed herself above a certain exercise intensity and stated that she would only workout so hard and not any more. These two individuals are among a small group of people who exhibit allergic reactions to physical exercise. Their symptoms are similar to those a person would exhibit to a mild food allergy. Seldom are the symptoms severe enough to warrant medical attention. Although innocuous, they are none-the-less annoying. If, however, you suffer from exercise-induced anaphylaxis, ceasing exercise is a must. Exercise-induced anaphylaxis differs from a mild allergy. Symptoms begin with tingling sensations and itching, a systemic allergic reaction progresses to include hives, asthma symptoms, swelling of the mouth and throat area, difficulty breathing, vomiting, cramping, a drop in blood pressure, and loss of consciousness. While these symptoms are serious and potentially life threatening they are generally not deadly. Most exercise-induced anaphylaxis is associated with recent food intake either prior to or during exercise. Apparently, the food destabilizes the immune system and exercise triggers the overall response. Often exercising prior to eating can solve the problem. Over-the-counter antihistamines can be used to reduce the response. A last resort is the use of self-injectable epinephrine as is used with bee-sting or sever food allergic reactions. As more and more followers of the Fountain of Youth Project become active and involved in exercise it is inevitable that some of our readers will experience the milder type of symptoms and wonder whether to continue on with their exercise program. The answer is yes. The immune systems in individuals with exercise-induced allergies are erroneously sensing that a harmless substance (in this case exercise) is dangerous. As long as the symptoms aren't severe there is no danger in continuing with your exercise. In fact, typically there is a threshold intensity below which you can exercise and the symptoms won't occur. 10 application/xml false allergy asthma exercise exercise-induced allergies exercise-induced anaphylaxis Fountain of Youth Project immune system Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1; SV1) 68.4.244.32 68.4.244.32 DrEric false true false false true 104505 blog blogsite/SeniorSafety/web