It wasn’t just the children born in the 90s. I have serious allergies, as do both of my middle aged sons. One of my sons and I have (different) nut allergies, and my other son has a sulfa allergy. A friend’s mother died in the 1970s at a football game when she accidentally ingested an item made of peanut. I think these allergies are more prevalent, but I also think they are more widely publicized than they were even when my children were young. People also play fast and loose with the word, declaring an allergy to things they are not actually allergic to, much to the consternation of those who actually have to deal with them. Currently, gluten ‘allergies’ are a popular fad. Inability to process gluten is a serious issue, and to have all of these people declaring an allergy to gluten without understanding what a real allergy is, is frustrating, “I just don’t have a lot of energy, my neighbor told me I’m allergic to gluten, so now I’m on a gluten free diet” is a common conversation. On the other hand, it has publicized a very real condition, and manufacturers are breaking their necks making the next gluten free food….
Growing up in the 50’s I knew very few kids or parents with allergies and never heard of allergies to peanuts in any form. Now school systems especially are absolutely paranoid about anything with peanuts included. They even taut the schools as “peanut free”. Also, kids are allergic to foods with red dye! I was diagnosed with an allergy to pet hair but that wasn’t until I was in my 50’s and as my doctor said it’s normal to develop them later I life. We are so paranoid about allergies now and it seems that more and more people are being diagnosed every year. What’s happening? The pharmaceutical industry has commercials on every channel now along with the frightening side effects BTW. Could this epidemic be contrived to sell more products or we evolving to be allergic to everything?
I think we have already discussed this before, but from what I heard, they are suspecting that many more people today suffer from allergies because we (or rather our immune system) don’t get exposed to enough germs to do what we are programmed to do. So the immune system goes berserk, kinda like a Border Collie who spends all day lying on a couch instead of herding sheep.
But it could also be that we can now diagnose allergies more easily than we ever used to. There is always that possibility.
I think we have already discussed this before, but from what I heard, they are suspecting that many more people today suffer from allergies because we (or rather our immune system) don’t get exposed to enough germs to do what we are programmed to do. So the immune system goes berserk, kinda like a Border Collie who spends all day lying on a couch instead of herding sheep.
But it could also be that we can now diagnose allergies more easily than we ever used to. There is always that possibility.
I’ve also read a lot on how it may have something to do with all the recycled air we breathe in. All the dust, spores, microbes and whatnot that normally would be blown away simply get sucked into the system and pumped back out. Don’t know how true it is, but it makes sense. I guess. Could also just be a bunch of back-to-nature hippie BS. Who knows?
I think I’ve heard that kids in third-world countries don’t suffer from allergies as much as our kids do. I am sure their living conditions are a lot worse than ours, even though they may be more “natural.”
But one thing does drive me crazy in Canada: people won’t open the bloody windows. Not sure what’s up with that. It made sense in Spain where people kept their windows closed during the day not to let in the hot air, but here most people will keep their windows closed even whe the temperature is around the lovely 20 degrees.
I think I’ve heard that kids in third-world countries don’t suffer from allergies as much as our kids do.
....either that, or they die from the serious allergy quickly, because they have no treatment, or they die from other ailments before allergies develop..
I think we have already discussed this before, but from what I heard, they are suspecting that many more people today suffer from allergies because we (or rather our immune system) don’t get exposed to enough germs to do what we are programmed to do. So the immune system goes berserk, kinda like a Border Collie who spends all day lying on a couch instead of herding sheep.
But it could also be that we can now diagnose allergies more easily than we ever used to. There is always that possibility.
I also thought about both possibilities. Growing up in that time period we played outside daily at school and at home. In fact our parents wanted us to go outside. We usually didn’t go in until dark even in the Winter months so our exposure to the elements was much more than today. We also had no airconditioning so all of the windows were constantly opened even in Summer. We had a window fan to circulate the air. BTW, anyone remember when the only air conditioned building was the movie theater? Sooo, our exposure to germs was constant. That may account for it.
My mother very allergic to shellfish, but nobody else in my family is. I wasn’t either until my mid-teens. I remember the first time I had a problem I was eating an egg roll and my mouth went numb. It was a strange experience, but I thought nothing of it. The next week I ate some shrimp and my mouth again went completely numb and I could feel the roof of my mouth start to swell. I later found out that the egg roll had shrimp in it. After that, I avoided shellfish. Every so often when I’m at a restaurant, my mouth will go numb and my throat and the roof of my mouth swell and it always turns out that my food was cooked in the same oil or on the same grill as shellfish. I now I have an EpiPen just in case, although I have yet to use it.
