Matt Jancer

<p>It took me three years of research and tests to find the answer. But along the way, I learned something far more shocking. If youre not like me, you could be someday, and youll have to work pretty hard to find the culprit. More people than ever are suffering from symptoms that could be the result of adult-onset allergiesor something worse. </p>

<h1> It's not just you who's suddenly having seasonal allergies </h1>

<p>The World Allergy Organization reports that the prevalence of allergies has risen in industrialized countries over the past 50 years. In 2018 alone, more than 19 million adults in the U.S. were diagnosed with hay fever (known as allergic rhinitis), according to the CDC. Meng Chen, M.D., an allergist at Stanford Universitys Sean N. Parker Center for Allergy and Asthma Research, says her office is seeing more cases each day. Its something I oftentimes hear from patientsIve never had allergies, and all of a sudden, I, an adult, have developed all of these allergies, she says. What the heck is going on?</p>

<p>For one thing, the world is warming up, and that leads to longer allergy seasons as much as 27 days longer, according to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America. Then theres all the moving around we dothe average 30-year-old will have already moved about six times in their life. If some resident in your building has cats, or your new bedroom faces a field of sagebrush, you may develop a reaction youve never experienced before. </p>

<p>For any allergy, the reason you get symptomswhether theyre the visible ones like sneezing and watery eyes or the more internal ones like brain fogis that your body produces antibodies to fight the allergen. Your antibodies, for some yet-to-be-understood reason, classify the molecules of what you just inhaled as pathogens and seek to destroy them. To do that, your immune system releases certain toxin-fighting chemicals, such as histamines, that kick off the allergic response. Even after the compound is gone, the antibodies hang out in your body like sentries, always on the lookout for its return. Every time youre exposed to that allergen, your immune system learns better and faster ways to attack it, says Caroline Sokol, M.D., Ph.D., the principal investigator at Massachusetts General Hospitals Center for Immunology and Inflammatory Diseases.</p>

<h1> Why these allergies are happening now </h1>

<p>Allergists dont yet know why some people are affected by constant exposure to a potential allergen while others arent. Its a biological false alarm. However, the rise of adult-onset allergies can be particularly vexing because sufferers had been fine for years. Or at least they appeared that way. When people move to a new place, it usually takes at least a couple of seasons [for the full-blown response] to develop, says Dr. Chen.</p>

<p>Lets say youre a lifelong Angeleno who moves to New York, where birch trees are everywhere. When spring rolls around, your immune system may respond to the new factor in the air. It takes a week or two to develop all the antibodies specific to each pollen. By the time those antibodies make it through your whole body, the irritant could be gone and symptoms wont get a chance to show up, says Dr. Sokol. So youll have no idea youve been primed to launch an allergic response.</p>

<p>That same thing will happen the next year, only more quickly, although you still might not see symptoms. But you better believe that your bodys not going to forget about it in your third birch-pollen season, says Dr. Sokol. The next year, your allergy cells are primed for attack, and you are miserable from the first day of birch-pollen exposure to the last day. </p>

<p>This is also true for new exposures to pet dander, or foods that you eat on occasion. Once that immune response starts, it can be hard to stop, says Dr. Sokol. </p>

<h1> How to know what you're allergic to </h1>

<p>Since it takes a while for the allergy to build up and hammer you, it can take a while to track down whats driving it. You dont have to know exactly which grass or tree is your nemesisdosing up with OTC allergy medication can usually squelch symptoms ( <a href="https://www.menshealth.com/health/g19448262/seasonal-allergies-prevention/" id="17906707-0971-34da-a068-97bd494a291f">  discover how to keep symptoms to a minimum here </a> ).</p>

<p>Another path, which I took, is to visit an allergist. I got tested for 46 different allergens, and all but onea slight allergy to dust mitescame back negative.</p>

<p>I decided to try OTC medications and rolled through a few, none of which had any effect on me whatsoever. After months of that, my allergist offered another diagnosis altogether: What I likely had was an almost-allergy. In some people, artificial fragrances create symptoms that mimic an allergic reaction, but theyre not actually allergies. I probably was hypersensitive to some manufactured scents and perfumes.</p>

<h1>  It might be a chemical sensitivity, not an allergy  </h1>

<p>Allergies are an immune-system reaction to an organic substance, while synthetic-fragrance reactions are considered sensitivities, and they work differently. Instead of causing an immune-system response, the fragrance particles stick in your airways and irritate them, just like what would happen if you inhaled a plume of black pepper, says Dr. Sokol. Companies add scents to everything from trash bags to laundry detergent these days. At least 51 million adults also suffer because of it, according to a report in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. Thats up 200 percent in the past decade. </p>

<p>Unlike with allergies, theres no test to narrow down which synthetic substance youre sensitive to. And typical allergy treatments wont do anything for you. But you can control these sensitivities: Today, I only buy products with packaging that explicitly says 100 percent natural or unscented.</p>

<p>For more-standard allergy sufferers, there are other ways to allergen-proof your life. Theres no magic fabric to help shed pollen or dander, so wear what you want, but when you come indoors, take off your shoes and put the clothes youre not washing immediately in a sealed bin. Shower right away to get offending particles off your body, especially your hair. We cant all control what were allergic to, but maybe you can do me and millions of others a favor and use unscented soap and shampoo. Bless you.</p>

I felt fine until my late 20s, and then the mysterious symptoms struck. Almost overnight, I began to feel constantly tired, foggy, disoriented, and, well, stupid. Each spring, friends with allergies nodded in agreement, pointing out their own malaise, often along with sneezes and scratchy throats. That didnt totally make sense to me, though, because I felt bad year-round. Could it be Id developed allergies to something more permanentlike dust mites, ficus trees, or animal dander?

Why You Suddenly Have Allergies

<p>People get drunk because they drink alcohol quicker than the body can metabolize it. The liver can only process so much alcohol at a time, and because alcohol can't be stored, it circulates in the bloodstream over and over until the liver processes it all, says Marjorie Nolan Cohn, owner of MNC Nutrition and a registered dietician. Drinking more means that more alcohol is added into the queue to be processed, which raises your blood alcohol level. You can't force the body to process that alcohol any faster, but you can slow down how it's absorbed into the blood by eating beforehand.</p>

<h1> Why should you eat before you drink? </h1>

<p>Packing food into the stomach does three things, says Dana Hunnes, PhD, a senior dietitian at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. First, it dilutes the alcohol you pour in afterward due to the water content of the food. Then the proteins, fats, and fiber slow down the absorption of the alcohol. It also reloads your body with vitamins and minerals that alcohol depletes.</p>

<p>Eating anything is better than eating nothing, except perhaps for caffeine and salt, Hunnes says. Caffeine exacerbates the dehydrating effects of alcohol, she says, and salt affects the hormones your body uses to get rid of water. Salt also makes you feel bloated, and youre less likely to grab for a glass of water to hydrate yourself if you feel bloated.</p>

<h1>  Will greasy food help you stay less drunk?  </h1>

<p>Lots of people also believe that eating greasy, high-fat food right before drinking helps because it coats the stomach like a protective lining that slows down the speed at which alcohol is absorbed. That's actually correct-partially, at least. Greasy food, like any food, will slow the absorption of alcohol and minimize the effects of feeling drunk, says Cohn. But it's not because it coats the stomach. It's because food, in general, mixes with alcohol in the stomach.</p>

<p>The best foods to eat are fruit and vegetables with a high water content, such as cucumber, tomatoes, bell peppers, and radishes, says Erin Morse, chief clinical dietitian at UCLA Health. If you're not the type who can live off a meal of vegetables alone, eat salmon or a sandwich in a whole-grain wrap. Hummus is also a good, filling vegetarian option thats more substantial than fresh veggies.</p>

<p>Steer away from relying basic sweets as a way to fill up before drinking if you have other options. Foods based on simple sugars are digested quickly, and so they're not as effective at slowing down alcohol absorption, Cohn says. She adds that its best to eat a balanced meal of carbs, protein, and fats before drinking in order to lessen the tipsiness thatll come when you add alcohol to the mix later.</p>

<h1> How long before drinking should you eat? </h1>

<p>Although you technically start digesting food from the moment your saliva begins breaking it down in the mouth, the stomach is a big mixing bowl and not an assembly line. You don't have to eat the food long before you take your first drink. Wait to have your first sip of booze at least 15 minutes after you begin your meal, Hunnes says. If you drink right at the start of a meal or on an empty stomach before the meal, the alcohol will immediately be absorbed into the stomach since there's nothing else in there to slow the absorption rate.</p>

<p>Theres no specific amount to eat that's a universal rule for everyone. Body weight, metabolism, gender, and activity level are going to affect how much is enough to eat before drinking. Just eat to satiety until youre not hungry, Hunnes says. You dont have to stuff yourself, but give yourself permission to go in for more than a nibble. </p>

<p>No foods will worsen your drunkenness outright, according to Cohn, Hunnes, and Morse. As long as you have something in your stomach before you take the first sip, go ahead and rationalize that appetizer plate before the waiter brings out the first round of drinks, even if its not an ideal healthy meal. Your stomach will thank you later.</p>

What You Should Eat Before Drinking Alcohol

By now, you probably know that a couple of beers on an empty stomach can get you buzzed-even if you're used to handling four or five. If you're a lightweight drinker, you can end up downright tipsy off a glass of wine. That's why the old advice to eat before you drink is smart: While some foods are better than others, the bottom line is just to get any food into your stomach before those drinks hit you.

What You Should Eat Before a Night of Drinking

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Matt Jancer

Articles written by the author

Why You Suddenly Have Allergies

What You Should Eat Before a Night of Drinking