When your immune system overreacts to an otherwise harmless substance like food, pet dander, pollen, or dust, this results in an allergy. Allergic responses can include everthing from sneezing, itchy, watery eyes, to life-threatening responses like difficulty breathing, low blood pressure, and anaphylaxis. Find expert information on the symptoms, causes, and medications used to treat allergies.

Allergy Basics

Health Overview Illustration - Allergies
Understanding Allergies: Causes, Symptoms, and Treatments

Treatment and Management

Female hand hold pack of yellow allergy medicine tablets
How Are Allergies Treated?
doctor giving patient a shot
What Are Allergy Shots?
Person blows their nose with a tissue at home.
6 Home Remedies To Stop Allergies

Explore Allergies

Mother and daughter having breakfast in kitchen
Your Guide To Raising a Child With Food Allergies
Woman sitting on the side of her bed holds hr hand against her ear in discomfort
Can Allergies Cause Ear Pain? Symptoms, Causes, and Treatments Explained
Why Do Allergies Cause Body Aches?
Can Allergies Cause Body Aches? Understanding the Connection
Older man sitting in the grass blows his nose into a tissue
Can You Develop Allergies Later in Life? Understanding Adult-Onset Allergies
Close-up of a woman sitting on couch holding medication/supplements and glass of water
Is It Safe to Take Allergy Medication Every Day?
A Mother and son are in the kitchen eating healthy snacks including apples and mandarins.
7 Tips for Raising a Child With Food Allergies
A woman, standing indoors in a green sweater and pink scarf, coughs into her hand
Can Allergies Cause Bronchitis: Symptoms, Treatments, and Insights
Someone cuts fruit and prepares an allergy-free snack for school
15 Allergy-Free Snacks Your Child Can Bring to School
Young girl with curly hair wearing a green shirt is eating an apple.
Is the Rash Around Your Child’s Mouth From a Food Allergy? What To Know
A healthcare provider preps a young boy's arm for a food allergy skin prick test.
Testing Your Child for Food Allergies: What You Need To Know
A young girl in a green sweater smiles while holding a piece of a baguette at the kitchen table
Everything You Need To Know if Your Child Has a Food Allergy
Young Caucasian woman with brown hair wearing a green blouse and blue jeans is sitting on her couch enjoying the mist from a humidifier.
Does a Humidifier Help With Allergies?
A woman with long brown hair wearing eyeglasses, a white shirt, and a blue jacket, is feeling dizzy and having a hard time keeping her balance.
Understanding Allergies and Dizziness: Why It Happens and How To Get Relief
A doctor is checking an older woman's lymph nodes in her neck in a doctors office.
Can Allergies Cause Swollen Lymph Nodes?
A young woman with long brown hair who's outside surrounded by trees in a park, is blowing her nose. She's wearing a yellow shirt and a watch.
Bad Allergies? This Is When Allergy Season Will End
man puts honey in his tea to help with his allergies
Does Eating Honey Help With Seasonal Allergy Symptoms?
Woman with short white hair and coral shirt holds a tissue and presses on her sinuses
What To Know About Chronic Rhinosinusitis
woman blowing her nose into a tissue
What's the Difference Between Allergies and a Sinus Infection?
a person holding their chest and coughing
Signs and Symptoms of Mold Exposure
Symptoms of Anaphylaxis
Signs and Symptoms of Anaphylaxis
Person showing skin allergy rash to doctor
Food Allergies: Types, Symptoms, and Treatments You Need To Know
person coughing after eating a meal
Why Do You Cough After Eating?
Symptoms of a Garlic Allergy Composite
Garlic Allergy: What to Know
A woman surrounded by trees sneezing.
Supplements Promise Natural Allergy Relief—But Do They Actually Work?
A man blows his nose into a tissue
What Is Allergic Rhinitis?
seasonal allergies
Your City Might Actually Be a Top Allergy Capital—Here's What to Know and How to Cope
Doctor listening to patient's heart with stethoscope
Signs and Symptoms of Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS)
Person using inhaler outside due to allergic asthma
What Is Allergic Asthma?
woman scratching her back because of hypereosinophilic syndrome
What Is Hypereosinophilic Syndrome?
Woman looking at a pill bottle
When Is the Best Time To Take Allergy Medicine?
Senior woman opening a sealed packet of antihistamines
How Do Antihistamines Work?
Health Overview Illustration - Anaphylactic Shock
What Is Anaphylactic Shock?
Young man wearing a beanie hat with allergies and fever taking his temperature with a thermometer, lying on the living room couch.
Is Your Fever From Allergies?
woman with shirt lifted up to show visible bed bug bites on her back
Signs and Symptoms of Bed Bug Bites
Health Photo Composite - Postnasal Drip
What Is Post-Nasal Drip?
Man and woman sitting in a tree's shade by the water
What Is a Sun Allergy?
Patient talking to doctor about eye
Is It Pink Eye or Allergies?
healthcare provider taking eosinophils blood test
What Are Eosinophils and Do They Indicate Cancer?
Health Overview Illustration - Anaphylaxis
How to Recognize the Signs of Anaphylaxis and Act Quickly
Allergies Photo Composite
Signs and Symptoms of Allergies
High view of five hands toasting with their drinks.
8 Rare Allergies To Know
A lone star tick on someone's skin
Do Tick Bites Cause a Red Meat Allergy? What to Know About The Rise of Alpha Gal Syndrome
Vans Gluten Free Waffle Recall
Van’s Gluten Free Waffles Recalled: FDA Says Product Could Pose Serious Allergy Risk
A man itches his arm
What Is a Maculopapular Rash?
Doctor examines hives on a patient's arm.
Signs and Symptoms of Hives (Urticaria)
A senior woman sits in the doctor's office and touches her chin while talking to a female dermatologist.
How Are Hives (Urticaria) Treated?
A man blows his nose
Why Nasal Congestion Happens—And How to Treat It
A man touches his throat with both hands
Why Your Throat Can Get Itchy—And 7 Remedies to Relieve It
Woman wearing a towel applying moisturizer.
Breaking Out in Hives? 6 Common Causes and How To Get Relief
Young Asian pregnant woman blowing nose with a tissue while sitting on a couch
Is My Stuffy Nose COVID-19? What You Need To Know
4 air purifiers on a carpet
The Best Air Purifiers for Allergies to Pollen, Pets & Smoke—After 3,000 Hours of Filtration
Person scratches itchy bites on their upper arm.
The Differences Between Bed Bug and Flea Bites on Humans
Person on a hike in the woods stops and swats at a mosquito on their arm.
What To Know About Skeeter Syndrome
Close up of person scratching their neck where a small rash is.
3 Common Allergy Rashes
Portrait Of An Elderly Man A Headache While Standing In Garden
What Is an Allergy Headache?
Close-up of a fire ant
What Are Ant Bites?
person with sore throat sitting in bed touching neck
Can Allergies Cause a Sore Throat?
Wasp,hornet stings arm woman red swelling
How Do You Know if a Wasp Sting Is Serious?
Person with swollen eyes from allergies.
How To Treat Swollen Eyes From Allergies
Female sitting on couch under a blanket blowing her nose
7 Differences Between Allergies and a Cold
mold-flood-disaster-cleaning-hurricane
What Does Mold Smell Like?
Stressed young Indian businessman getting sick while working overtime at home late at night
5 Reasons Allergies Are Worse at Night and What You Can Do
lone-star-tick-arm
What Are Lone Star Ticks?