Do allergies really cause grumpiness?
They sure can, according to a new survey conducted by
The survey involved more than 1,000 consumers (people with and without allergies), 1,000 allergy sufferers, and 300 physicians.
An allergic reaction involves the release of inflammatory substances that cause sneezing, nasal congestion, runny nose and eyes, and other symptoms. An estimated 50 million Americans have indoor and outdoor allergies, some of which get worse in the spring.
The consumer portion of the survey revealed that, while most people feel sorry for allergy sufferers, more than one-third think allergy sufferers overstate their symptoms or use allergies as an excuse to get out of something.
"People see the outward signs but don't recognize what the allergy sufferer is going through emotionally," said Belinda Borrelli, a professor at Brown University's Alpert Medical School and a clinical psychologist at Miriam Hospital in Providence who helped designed the survey. People with allergies often skip the activities they enjoy, which can lead to further mood deterioration.
In their part of the survey, more than half of allergy sufferers said allergies made them feel annoyed, 48 percent said they felt irritable, and some felt their symptoms rendered them unattractive or self-conscious.
Allergy specialists were far more sympathetic than the public at large, saying that they believed their patients were not exaggerating their symptoms.
Dr. Frank Twarog, an allergy specialist in Concord and Brookline and a clinical professor at Harvard Medical School who was not part of the survey, said the link between allergies and emotions can work both ways. "If you have hay fever and you can't sleep well because you can't breathe and your ears are full and your eyes are itchy, you're going to be irritable the next day." But emotions, like the stress of final exams, can make allergies and asthma worse.
The best bet, he said, is to see a doctor and get allergy symptoms treated properly.
JUDY FOREMAN
E-mail health questions to foreman@globe.com.
