Besides symptoms like allergic rhinitis, allergic conjunctivitis, itching and respiratory disorders, allergies are also known to affect a person’s mood and energy levels. A study on 2500 people with allergies indicate that about one in every four persons feel embarrassed about the symptoms, almost one third felt depressed, more than half felt irritable and put off by their allergic symptoms and around 80% of them felt tired. One explanation to this can be that symptoms like sneezing, coughing, congestion cause fatigue. It can also be due to side effects from medications like antihistamines.
Effects On Mood
It is said that food-allergic people are feel lethargic and dizzy, suffer from insomnia and have mood swings and poor concentration levels. In some cases these can be purely mental symptoms while some can have them in combination with physical symptoms like dark rings under the eyes, sniffing and congestion. This is not common only with adults. Junk food eating like carbonated drinks, sweets, cookies etc., can excite even children and they can have difficulty in concentrating. Artificial food colors and preservatives like sodium benzoate are also found to have an effect on the behavior of young children. The chemicals in them can increase their hyperactivity.
Lifestyle also plays an important role in behavioral changes and mood swings. Stress, relationship problems, financial problems can hurt you emotionally. If you learn to overcome these issues in addition to avoiding certain foods in your diet you can keep your symptoms at bay. The most common food found to have an effect on mood is wheat. Other foods like oranges, eggs, yeast, nuts, legumes and onions also play a role. You can follow an elimination diet by cutting out these foods for few weeks to check if they have an effect on your mood and behavior. You can then slowly introduce these foods back into the diet and study the symptoms again. A review of both the results will help you identify the culprits. However, ensure that by elimination of foods you do not sacrifice the essential nutrients in your diet.
Singulair is an allergy medication that blocks chemicals from mast cells which causes inflammation of the respiratory tract. There is a study which says that this drug causes behavioral changes and some people may even attempt suicide. It is thus important to discuss the concerns with the doctor on the allergy as well as the possible behavioral effects of the drug.
You can stabilize your mood by –
• Visiting a doctor for food allergies
• Increasing intake of magnesium from vegetables, fruits and nuts
• Having a good intake of fish oil supplements
• Avoiding stress, caffeine, sugar, cigarettes and other stimulants
• Taking multivitamin and mineral tablets
Allergy symptoms can also make you poor at decision making. Good mood helps you make right judgment and take decisions. It is thus important to work on these symptoms and look for treatment to improve your mood. Fewer allergic symptoms will also increase your activity level and enable you to work with a clear head.