Allergies can cause all kinds of symptoms from itching to coughing and sneezing. Therefore, it can have an effect on your mood. But can it go as far as create depression?
In a recent conference by the American Psychiatric Association in New Orleans concluded that there can be a parallel between allergies and depression. Therefore, allergies are contributing to the amount of cases of depression, according to the researchers. And it is not only mild cases of depression that have been detected as being a part of allergy related depression. This is because there is a relation between the levels of suicide and pollen in the air. Therefore, more suicides occur in the spring when a large amount of pollen particles are in the air. A smaller spike in suicides occurs in the fall when there is again pollen in the air.
Depression or Allergy, which Comes First?
According to medicinenet.com, Dr. Partam Manalai, who has studied the phenomena of allergies and depression, says that patients with mood disorders experience worsening of mood when they are exposed to an allergen. However, he does not know whether the allergy triggers the depression, or if the depression makes the allergy worse.
What to Do?
If allergies are making your life miserable by not enabling you to live your life normally, breath properly, to sleep or eat normally and constantly causing a feeling of stress you might be at a higher risk to suffer from depression. It is good to take this into consideration when being treated for depression. If the reason for the depression is in allergies you should see if there can be a way to cure it or relieve the symptoms of the allergy. Therefore, a visit to the doctor is in order if you have depression or allergies. Make sure that your doctor understands what might be creating the depression so that the allergy can be treated concurrently with the depression.
