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Sandra Hoffmann

Are You Anxious or Just Anxiously Allergic?

Updated: Aug 26, 2023


Anxiety seems to be a word we tend to throw around a lot to describe a certain inability to cope in some way but are there differences and similarities in how and what we describe as anxiety and what we describe as symptoms of an allergy?


There are differences between being anxious from a particular event or trauma and anxiousness caused by an allergy, but the symptoms or feelings can often be mildly similar and induce feelings of upset or pain, and the similarities and symptoms are seldom discussed this way.


In this blog we simply investigate the blurred lines between what seems like anxiety that might be an agitation from an allergy causing what feels like ‘real’ anxiety.


Before I start, we need to explore what anxiety is, or how it is being described today psychologically speak.


According to anxiety.org

Here it’s referenced as being a far from a ‘normal state’, but what is a normal state exactly can vary tremendously different from person to person, their own experiences and also their training or capacity to cope.


What can render one person completely incapacitated can leave another excited and motivated.


The fact that we can have similar symptoms from anxiety and from an allergy without us even realising it though makes for an interesting topic and discussion and it’s fascinating to explore the similarities and the overlaps.


By doing so we can often determine is a food is actually causing us an allergic reaction similar to how we feel when we are anxious and we can then choose to eliminate it or eat less of it.


The feelings associated with an allergy or anxiety can feel very similar and range from feeling unwell, anxious, sweating hands or body, heart palpitations, skin irritations, pain, nausea, sleep disturbances and more.


The causes of the reaction create what is called a hypersensitivity of the immune system to certain allergens themselves that may come in contact with the body through inhalation, ingestion, injection, or physical (skin) contact


Over reaction of the immune system to certain foreign substances and what is called an allergy can feel horrendous.


Symptoms may include sneezing, runny nose, heart palpitations, red, watering eyes, vomiting, diarrhea, rashes, and itching


The feelings from anxiety are often fairly similar including irrational feelings, not wanting to do things differently or go outside and particular fears of often no real origin.


Both an allergic reaction or anxiety can cause us to feel worried, anxious, unmotivated, tired or have aches and pains.


Not knowing that you have an allergy whether it be small or large can cause the body and the person a lot of anxiety, and here I speak from experience.


"My own body has experienced tremendous amounts of distress and apprehension in my lifetime. It has undergone a number of operations such as one to remove a 7cm pancreatic tumour, I’ve had a neurological stroke and a breakdown, not to mention a number of accidents." Sandra from RSN


I’ve experienced quite a significant amount of trauma and encountered some stressful, dangerous and unfamiliar situations in my life previously as a private investigator.


Prior to having the tumour removed I seldom drank alcohol and had quite a significant amount of difficulty eating a full meal but never understood why. Post operation I can definitely eat more and enjoy eating more and have put on 7 kilograms in the process. .


Previously I never suffered from anxiety. I experienced a lot of dangerous and unfamiliar situations in my previous profession as an investigator but I never felt that I suffered from anxiety. I was lucky but I was unaware that I may have been suffering from allergies. I did experience driving anxiety after the breakdown which has gotten alot better but for years I never felt high level anxiety for any reason until after the break down.


Normal worry and anxiety is different as it can sometimes be seen as motivating or get us to take action and can help you with things such as getting to work on time or studying for a test. But in some people, anxious feelings don’t go away and are out of proportion to the situation.


High levels of anxiety can affect your ability to do the simplest of tasks, or drive, go outside, talk to sometime or do a particular task. Low levels of anxiety can manifest in not wanting to go anymore and staying home or indoors a lot.


There can be overlaps however in the day to day life of an individual whereby they are not aware that they are allergic to a certain food or fragrance or cleaning product and develop an anxiety related issue because of it.


Some foods that rate highly in terms of high allergies include;

  • milk

  • wheat

  • tomatoes

  • peanuts

  • gluten

  • eggs

  • stawberries

  • crustaceans

Sometimes a test for food allergies can be a great way of identifying whether you have an allergy or not. Only sometimes it is about lifestyle and oversaturation that causes feelings of anxiety or symptoms of an allergy.


I also just recently found out that there are different types of cinnamon and that some people have a reaction to some cinnamon and not to other ones.


I absolutely love Indian food but my skin can react to it quite significantly depending upon a number of factors, and cinnamon is just one of these factors. It got to a point where something was affecting my sleep and I didn’t know what and Trying to narrow down exactly what it was, was quite frankly frustrating.


What I did come to realise was that a number of factors culminating came to affect my skin from reacting quite badly and becoming red and 'rashy'.Previously I felt that I could not eat Indian two nights in a row but this is no longer true.


I came to realise that if I drank too much water during or after an Indian meal it made sleeping that night quite difficult. I also came to realise that I did my cleaning on a Saturday morning and that the combination of certain cleaning products was irritating my skin but I thought it was the remnants of a Friday night takeaway.


Coming to realise that cinnamon could also be a factor I first avoided having the masala tea only to come to find out that some chefs were making it from scratch and some were using a powdered version that didn’t have cinnamon.


The version made from scratch did not come to irritate me physically but it was more a factor that the milk being boiled that was an irritation and some chefs boiled the milk far too long which did ‘sit well’ with my digestion.


My body doesn't like alot of milk and I now buy A2 milk which was recommended to me by my brother who is a counsellor and life coach and it works wonders.


All of this is important when considering how to figure out the difference between an upset tummy, a skin disorder, a sleep disorder and a distinct allergy to lesson what feels like a lot of anxiety.


Prior to understanding any of these factors, eating Indian food was starting to make me feel quite anxious and as I love eating it I was not about to give it up anytime soon. I have been eating it for over 30 years, and I began to think that I may need to curb my eating habits in general.

Needless to say, I can now eat Indian more often, sleep better, have changed my cleaning products to more environmental ones, and now wear gloves whenever I clean. I don’t drink water during or after the meal for one hour, my skin is better and I sleep more sound. And I still absolutely love Indian food!


What does this all mean exactly, is that we can inadvertently create tension or more anxiety in our lives that start from a simple or more complex allergy and a combination of one of more allergies coming together can cause chaos.


Chaos can feel like anxiety when we come to understand it more deeply and especially work it out for yourself, and alleviate your stressors, it can be such a relief.


Sometimes we need to step back and look at the big picture and our habits in order to change how we feel and identify significant areas that are in reality creating chaos, or making us anxious, including identifying if we are allergic to something.


Looking forward to your comments and feedback on how you detected an allergy or alleviated your anxiety either here or email or call on 044 777 0011.

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