Allergies in later life

At 36, I developed Asthma. At 45, an allergy to Lanolin (there are a few types, apparently, and I'm allergic to all)and nickel. At 55, I started with hay fever.

I developed a severe hay fever reaction to flowering oil seed rape a few years ago. I was most put out as I'd never had allergies or anything of that ilk in my life!

I had two bad years of reactions but thankfully it's eased off, helped by the fact that there seems to be less rape being grown in this area now.

I am atopic and suffered excema as a child but nothing else until my 50s and I now have asthma and hay fever and lots of chemical things set off the asthma such as deodorant sprays. I do take antihistamine daily.

My ENT consultant did a patch test and it showed what I had suspected - that birch pollen is the offender. Unfortunately, there's a huge birch tree just the other side of a brook that runs past the end of my garden. Particularly when the wind is from the west, I'm inundated with pollen. The consultant prescribed Dymista nasal spray which has worked well, though I also take fexofenadine antihistamine tablets. It's my impression that there are more people in our generation suffering from these allergies than I can remember in my parents' generation, though they may have described them as 'summer colds' which is what my mother said I had every spring.

I had a late onset tree pollen allergy which is becoming worse. Unfortunately as I have other lung problems the consultant prefers that I don't take anti-histamine.

I started to intolerant to gluten after I had a hysterectomy. It took ages for me to make the connection and it doesnt really help.

I'd never had any allergies as a child and growing up in a semi-rural area was always used to cornfields, rape fields etc blossom trees, grass and all animals.

Over the years each spring I've been plagued by fits of sneezing and a blocked nose. I couldn't fathom it out as I've lived quite close to the sea for most of my life and not that many years ago I found the culprit which was responsible-------Mountain Ash ( Rowan ) as soon as the blossom comes out that's it. Eyes streaming, sneezing reaches exhaustion pitch and it can't be avoided.

I'm so annoyed with myself because it's a beautiful tree in both summer and autumn when you see the red berries, but its spores and particles are lethal.

It obviously is an age-immune thing or even climate change because at home we had a large elderberry tree outside the back door and I was never bothered by it.

I suffered hayfever from 3years of age but no other allergies until in my 30's then I became allergic to Penicillin
and also developed asthma , mainly happens if I drink cheap wine , laugh a lot and if I have a nasty cold . In my 50's I came out in hives after eating a banana which was slightly more tips than usual and ended up having allergy tests that came to the conclusion that I am allergic to all uncooked veg but not to bananas.!!!
I sometimes break out in hives if I eat certain tomatoes but I don't know which to avoid . I only discover if I'm reacting when I start itching a couple hours after eating .

I became allergic to cats in my 50’s.
I was OK if I didn’t put my hands to my face if I had been stroking DD’s cat, but if I did, my eyes would swell up.
We always had cats when I was growing up, and as adults we had three cats early on, so why do these allergies catch us up later?

I had allergies as a child - the sneezing kind, but I seemed to outgrow them. But in recent years I’ve had a few odd food allergies. Not intolerance but a kind of delayed reaction, starting about 4 hours after eating, resulting in swollen mouth and lips and lasting at least 24 hours. One time it was to cod’s roe, but now I’m definitely allergic to buffalo milk and products like buffalo mozzarella!

I wasn’t always allergic to buffalo milk as I’ve been to India, where many dairy products are from buffalo, lots of times but only started reacting in recent years.

At least I now know what I’m allergic to, and can mostly avoid, but hay fever type allergies are harder to deal with.

Yes, very familiar. I get hay fever which is new, am now allergic to cat hair, house dust and have become sensitive to wheat and milk.

It's down to an ageing immune system I think. I take antihistamine when I need to. I also use a sea salt nasal spray recommended by the pharmacist which is helpful. I also now have mild asthma!