Irritated

Do you live with a constantly runny nose, an itchy throat and sore eyes? Maybe you have eczema or get rashes from contact with allergens? Perhaps you or your children carry emergency adrenaline because an allergic reaction could be life-threatening? If so, you're definitely not alone: between a third and half of all UK adults will experience allergies at some point during their lifetime and the numbers are rising. We are more allergic now than we have been at any other time in history.

Peanut or tree nut allergy now runs at 1 in 70 children, versus 1 in 250 in 1997.

Hospital admissions for anaphylaxis went up 174 per cent in the UK between 1998 and 2018.

Around 21 million people have allergies in this country, but we have fewer than 80 adult and paediatric allergy specialist doctors.

Children who grow up in deprived households are more likely to have allergies, asthma and eczema and for their symptoms to be severe.

More than 80 per cent of people living with allergies say that it adversely affects their mental health.

Irritated looks at why allergies have become so prevalent in recent years and asks whether there is anything we can do to stop more people developing them and help those who already have allergies to cope. Journalist Rebecca Seal writes about the difference between allergies and intolerances, the role of gut health and microbes in the development of allergies, how deprivation increases the risk of allergies and can make the experience of having them much worse, and offers practical strategies for managing both allergy symptoms and the anxiety which can come with them.

Allergy is a complex and under-funded area of medicine, and there are few books out there to support families and adults living with allergies. This book provides the answers and information that people with allergies need, while making the science accessible and easy to understand.