Author: Dr Jo Clough

Allergies are on the rise, both in adults and children.

One person in every three has a medical condition caused by or associated with allergy. Despite this worrying increase, it is still difficult to get accurate and helpful information on how to deal with allergies and reduce your worries. Until now.

Allergies: Answers at your fingertips answers over 330 questions about all types of allergy: how and why they happen, what the common triggers are and how to control your allergy symptoms effectively.

This book gives you:

• Easily accessible sections explaining the causes and effects of different skin, food and respiratory allergies and how they can be tested for
• Comprehensive information on the most common allergic disorders of the Western world, including asthma, hay fever and eczema
• Medically accurate advice about medication, trigger avoidance techniques and complementary therapies
• Guidance on avoiding the allergens that affect you, and how to deal with allergies in the home, at work and on holiday

Questions include:

• How do you become allergic to something?
• If my allergies are not treated will they become worse?
• Can allergies be cured?
• I have asthma which my doctor says is caused by stress. Does stress encourage the development of allergies?
• I get eczema but only on my hands. Why is this?
• I have heard that evening primose oil might improve my eczema. Is this true?
• How do pollens cause hay fever?
• Is hay fever getting more common?
• How do I know which kind of pollen causes my hay fever?
• Why have I become allergic to just one or two foodstuffs and not to every food that I eat?
• I think I am allergic to something in my diet, as I keep getting swollen lips and nettle rash on my body, but neither I nor my doctor can work out what food is responsible. What can I do?
• What are the commonest triggers to workplace allergies?
• Is skiing safe for an asthmatic?
• Which are the most troublesome allergens?
• Allergies run in my family. Is there anything I can do to prevent my children from developing allergies?

"This excellent book is a treasure trove for allergy sufferers"
Muriel Simmons, Chief Executive, Allergy UK

"The small (even silly) questions you have answered are often the ones that can cause the most stress and are impossible to get answered by the medical profession."
Mrs Calla Fleischer, London

For further information about allergies, please visit the Allergy UK website at www.allergyuk.org