According to the latest studies, around a third of all people in industrialised nations suffer from allergic symptoms to a greater or lesser extent. Allergies usually begin harmlessly, for example in the form of a mild hay fever, which passes after a few weeks until the following year. However, even with mild symptoms, it is advisable to get to the bottom of the allergens that trigger them.
Particularly in the early stages of an allergy, effective measures can be taken to achieve lasting relief of symptoms, prevent the allergen from spreading and prevent the dreaded "change of stage", i.e. involvement of the bronchial tubes. In any case, it is important to take an allergic medical history and to assess the mucosal findings. Skin tests are the method of choice for allergies of the immediate type.
It is carried out on the inside of the forearm. Standardised allergen extracts are applied to the skin in drop form and then pricked through the drop into the uppermost layer of skin using a very short and fine tip of a prick lancet.
The size of a wheal and the reddening of the skin are analysed after 20 minutes in comparison to a control solution.
Intracutaneous, scratch and friction tests are additional test methods that can also be used to test an allergen that is not present in a standardised form.
For all allergy tests, the results must be based on the patient's medical history.
If there is any doubt about the relevance of a positive or negative test result, further tests may be useful.
In allergological laboratory tests, blood is taken from the patient and tested for the presence of specific IgE-type antibodies (RAST test). Laboratory tests are sometimes also used if a skin or provocation test cannot be carried out at present due to certain contraindications. With these tests, too, the diagnosis of allergy can only be confirmed if the medical history and test results match.
The first pillar is clearly abstinence. Avoid contact with the allergen that triggers your symptoms (allergy avoidance). This can work well, for example, with food intolerances and allergies to animal hair or mites. Special covers for bed linen and mattresses are also available for the latter. Dust-avoiding furnishings in your bedroom can provide additional relief in the case of dust mite allergies.
Supportive relief of allergy symptoms with medication is the second pillar of therapy. Modern medication can dampen the body's excessive immune response (e.g. localised cortisone sprays) or suppress the effectiveness of the histamine that triggers the allergy (antihistamines).
Numerous studies (e.g. publication on aertzeblatt.de clearly show that specific immunotherapy (SIT or, in the case of sublingual therapy, also known as SLIT) is the only treatment that addresses the causal causes of hypersensitivity to various allergens.
SIT is particularly effective for pollen, house dust, animal hair and insect venom allergies. For this form of desensitisation, you receive the allergen to be treated in ascending doses up to the maintenance dose. We then administer it to you in fixed intervals. Injections under the skin and sublingual drop therapy are possible.
With this continuous treatment, we give you regular injections throughout the year. This allows us to build up long-term allergy resistance.
This is an accelerated treatment that can build up allergy resistance quickly with a few high-dose injections over a short period of time.
This is a method in which we administer several allergy vaccinations in short intervals on one day to shorten the duration of treatment.
The "grass vaccine tablet" has been authorised in the EU since November 2006. It enables oral immunotherapy. You take the tablet daily to increase your allergy tolerance to grass pollen. This procedure makes specific immunotherapy particularly easy.
When the body's immune system reacts strongly and inappropriately to substances that are normally harmless, this is known as an allergy. In an allergic reaction, too many antibodies are produced and substances such as histamine are released in the body, leading to unpleasant symptoms. These can be characterised by sneezing fits, runny nose or hay fever. ENT area but can also affect the eyes (conjunctival irritation), the skin or the digestive tract (nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea).
Most patients are not born with an allergy - unless they have a genetic predisposition to it. Otherwise, the hypersensitivity reaction of the immune system only develops in the course of life through contact with foreign substances.
Incidentally, the word allergy is derived from two Greek terms: "allos" (= different) and "ergos" (= activity). This refers to the altered responsiveness of the immune system.
Allergy-causing substances are known as allergens. This means that a certain substance is categorised as dangerous by the immune system. This results in an allergic reaction.
Allergens can be found in the air (e.g. pollen or house dust) or in food, insect venom, medicines, latex or light-sensitising substances (substances that make you sensitive to UV radiation).
It is still unclear why exactly certain substances trigger allergic reactions in patients, while other people react quite normally to them. At least a few factors are now known that can favour the risk of an allergy. In many cases, several of these factors come together. In combination, they can then lead to unpleasant allergic symptoms.
These factors can be
An allergy can develop when the body repeatedly comes into contact with allergens and then becomes hypersensitive to them in the course of sensitisation. The initial contact usually goes unnoticed and no symptoms occur. If contact occurs again or repeatedly, it can take anywhere from a few days to several years before an allergic reaction occurs.
The body or immune system "remembers" the allergen and activates the relevant defence mechanisms.
The most common types of allergy are
Hay fever is an allergy, i.e. a hypersensitivity reaction of the immune system, to pollen from trees, shrubs, grasses or cereals. They are carried from one plant to another by the wind or by bees and other insects - this is the way some plants reproduce. If the pollen travels with the wind, it can cause unpleasant symptoms in allergy sufferers: hay fever.
Patients who suffer from hay fever react with an allergic reaction when pollen comes into contact with the mucous membranes of the eyes or nose.
Unpleasant symptoms occur such as red, itchy and watery eyes, a pronounced sneezing irritation and swelling of the nasal mucous membranes, resulting in a blocked and/or runny nose. Skin reactions, a scratchy throat or a cough, which can develop into allergic asthma (change of stage), are also possible. Many patients also complain of headaches, sleep disorders and reduced performance.
Find out more about the Pollen forecast about the current pollen count.
Let us test which pollen you are allergic to. This will provide you with a list of foods that contain related allergens. You can avoid a cross-allergy by avoiding these foods.
Various indicators can be used to distinguish whether you are suffering from a cold as part of a common cold or whether you are having an allergic reaction, e.g. to pollen or house dust.
This includes observing the season and regularity: if the cold occurs every year at a certain time of year (e.g. in spring), you should have it checked whether it is hay fever instead of a cold.
A cold can also be distinguished from an allergy by its onset and duration: An allergic reaction is likely if the onset of the cold is sudden and severe. A cold, on the other hand, announces itself slowly. The rule of thumb for a cold is: "It comes for three days, stays for three days and goes away for three days." The improvement usually occurs over the course of a week. If the cold symptoms last longer, an allergy may be present and should be investigated.
If the rhinitis is dependent on a certain time of day or place, an allergic reaction is more likely than a cold.
Even if it is somewhat unpleasant, the colour and consistency of the nasal secretions provide information on whether you have an allergy or a cold. While the nose releases viscous, yellow-green coloured secretions in the case of a cold, these tend to remain clear and watery in the case of an allergic rhinitis.
It is also helpful to pay attention to other symptoms. A cold or flu can be accompanied by fever, chills, a sore throat and difficulty swallowing. An allergy is more likely to be accompanied by itching or excessive sneezing.
Of course, a cold can also be "passed on" within the family. But if the common cold keeps recurring and family members have certain allergies, this is also a good reason to have an allergy test carried out by us.
So: A cold with an atypical course may be hiding an allergy that should be investigated! And: Both illnesses can also be present at the same time!
This is a disease of the upper respiratory tract that can occur both seasonally (e.g. as hay fever) and all year round (e.g. as part of a house dust mite allergy or animal hair allergy). The symptoms of what is medically known as allergic rhinitis are similar to those of hay fever: a sudden runny or blocked nose, watery, red and itchy eyes, sneezing attacks and/or coughing.
Fragrances are not only applied to the skin in the form of perfume, scented body lotion or fragrant shower gel. More and more fragrances are also found in the air, e.g. through room fresheners, room fragrances or incense sticks. It often doesn't matter whether the fragrance is synthetic or natural - when inhaled, it can irritate the mucous membranes of the respiratory tract and cause allergic reactions.
Do you feel like you're coming down with a cold after a glass of wine, for example? Your nose is blocked and your head is stuffy? Then you may be suffering from a type of vasomotor rhinitis - a cold that is not triggered by an infection. Alcohol rhinitis is not a classic allergy, but rather a biological reaction: when alcohol is consumed, the blood vessels dilate, including those of the nasal mucosa. In some patients, it can even be so severe that it feels like a cold.
A slight itch, a brief tickle - and suddenly your attention is focussed entirely on your ear. The feeling usually passes quickly, but sometimes it persists or returns again and again. There are various reasons for this.
Modern diagnostic procedures make it possible to precisely identify allergies and initiate appropriate treatment. Below we explain how the tests work - and what they can tell us.
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