The Allergies-Cancer Connection Bloomfield Hills MI
The Allergies-Cancer Connection
If you suffer from severe allergies, you may find it hard to understand how your discomfort could actually turn out to be a real blessing. But some researchers believe that the sneezing, itchy eyes, nose and throat and tiredness that go along with different types of hay fever and allergic reactions could actually be protective.
Allergies and Cancer
Though the correlation seems unbelievable, several studies have discovered that having allergies may lower your risk of getting certain types of cancers. So the misery you suffer might really be the lesser of two evils.
The jury is still out as to exactly how allergies and cancer interrelate, but there are several different theories as to why having allergies seems to lower the risk of getting a cancer diagnosis.
The Theories that Exist
Both allergies and cancer affect the immune system, but doctors suggest that the way they do this can differ a great deal and this programming may be at the heart of deciding which condition you will get. In allergies, the immune system has a heightened response to various triggers, while in cancer, the problem could stem from an immunodeficiency instead. Therefore, one thought is that most people whose immune response is hyper reactive may be less likely to be programmed to develop cancer.
Another possible theory to try to explain exactly why some types of allergies can protect you against some types of cancers is that when your immune system is programmed to fight off cancer cells, the actual process may also cause the hyper responsive state that triggers the allergic reactions you experience...
