When we think of seasonal allergies, the usual suspects come to mind — sneezing, itchy eyes, a runny nose, and, in more severe cases, even skin irritation like a rash or hives. But what about stomach pain? Can the blooms and breezes of spring also upset your digestive system?
In this article, we’re diving deep into the often-overlooked connection between seasonal allergies and gastrointestinal discomfort, exploring how the same allergens that tickle your nose might also be troubling your tummy.
What Are Seasonal Allergies?
Seasonal allergies, often called hay fever, arise from your immune system's response to airborne particles like pollen from trees, grasses, and weeds. When these tiny proteins enter your system, they can trigger allergic reactions if your body mistakenly identifies them as harmful. This immune response releases antibodies and histamine, which are meant to protect but can also cause the typical allergy symptoms we're all familiar with.
Unlike common food allergies, which can cause severe reactions and even anaphylaxis due to direct contact with food allergens (tree nuts, shellfish, and dairy often contain these offending foodproteins), seasonal allergies primarily affect the respiratory and sinus tracts. However, the impact of these allergens can sometimes extend beyond, influencing other systems in your body — including your gastrointestinal tract.
Common Symptoms of Seasonal Allergies
Seasonal allergies are notorious for triggering a variety of bothersome symptoms. From your head to your toes, these allergies have wide-ranging effects.
Let’s break down the typical signs you might experience:
- Sneezing: A classic reaction to pollen, sneezing is your body's way of trying to clear out allergens that irritate the nasal passages. It’s one of the most immediate and common responses during allergy season.
- Itchy, Watery Eyes:Allergens can trigger inflammation in and around your eyes. This often leads to itching, redness, and watering, making it uncomfortable to be outdoors on high pollen days.
- Runny Nose: Much like sneezing, a runny nose is a direct result of the body trying to flush out intruding allergens. This symptom can be persistent and sometimes overwhelming, making it hard to go about your daily activities without a tissue in hand.
- Sinus Pressure: When allergens irritate the sinus passages, they can become inflamed, leading to a feeling of pressure or fullness in the face. This can sometimes be mistaken for a sinus infection but is typically just another facet of allergy symptoms.
These symptoms all stem from the body's immune response to what it perceives as threats from airborne allergens. While these reactions are well-intentioned, they can cause considerable discomfort.
What Gastrointestinal Symptoms Are Linked to Seasonal Allergies?
While it's less common to associate seasonal allergies with the digestive system, certain gastrointestinal symptoms can emerge as part of the body’s response to allergens. After all, the immune system influences the entire body — including the gut.
So, if you're wrestling with seasonal allergies, you might also notice some digestive problems:
Nausea
Feeling queasy isn’t typically the first symptom you might attribute to pollen in the air, but it can occur. The release of histamines in response to allergens can irritate the gut as much as it affects the nasal passages, leading to feelings of nausea as part of the body's generalized reaction to allergens.
Bloating
Histamine can also influence the digestive tract by causing the intestines to produce more gas, leading to bloating. This is part of the body's attempt to expel the allergens or deal with inflammation caused by the immune response, which can make the abdomen feel uncomfortably full.
Irregular Bowel Movements and Diarrhea
When allergens disrupt the normal function of your immune system, this can accelerate your gut's motility, leading to irregular bowel movements. For some, this means experiencing diarrhea as the body attempts to quickly expel what it perceives as harmful.
Stomach Pain
The increased activity in the gut, whether from excess gas, rapid transit of particular foods, or the general inflammatory response triggered by histamines, can lead to stomach pain. Histamine on its own can contract the smooth muscles in the GI tract, leading to cramping, diarrhea, and abdominal pain. This discomfort is often similar to stomach cramps and can vary in intensity, sometimes even mimicking life-threatening conditions.
Can Allergic Reactions Lead to Stomach Pain?
Yes, the discomforts of seasonal allergies can stretch beyond the typical itchy eyes and sneezes to affect your stomach.
Here’s how the same allergens that send your sinuses into a frenzy can also stir up trouble in your digestive system:
1. Histamine response can cause gas + bloating.
Are you familiar with sneezing, sinus congestion, and a runny nose? The culprit to those symptoms is histamine. Histamine is a chemical released by your immune system in response to a potential allergen.
When histamine is released in the gastrointestinal tract, the gut responds. The GI tract has histamine receptors. When histamine binds to these receptors, it can affect gut motility and secretions. These symptoms include bloating, diarrhea, nausea, and stomach pain. For example, individuals with an allergy to birch pollen often experience GI symptoms.
A clinical study in 2014 looked at the mucosa of their GI tracts and found an increased amount of white blood cells. Their intestines were inflamed, and understandably, the individuals felt that (1).
2. High gut diversity = less severe seasonal allergies.
Since 70% of your immune system lives in your gut, your gut plays a role in any response to a seasonal allergen. In seasonal allergies, a body mounts an immune response to pollen, grass, and/or mold.
Once spring arrives, you might be hit with a running nose and sneezing attack, while a friend may be completely unfazed. This difference may be due to the gut. The gut microbiome in those who experience seasonal allergies differs from those who do not.
Specifically, gut diversity is higher in those who do not experience seasonal allergies. Greater gut diversity is typically related to higher health. Think about the strength that diversity can provide — if you have a team with a lot of different skills, you will likely be able to respond to a variety of threats!
Wondering how to diversify your gut bacteria? Try adding probiotic-rich foods like yogurt, tempeh, miso, and sauerkraut, to your diet.
3. Probiotics can help your gut and your allergies!
Through probiotics, you can introduce bacteria into your gut to help improve gut diversity. And this improvement can help protect your body from seasonal allergies. The research between probiotics and seasonal allergies is only just emerging because, as you may know from the overwhelming amount of probiotics often sold in a store, there is quite a lot of variety!
Probiotics play an important role in the prevention and as a therapy for seasonal allergies. However, the benefit depends on many factors, including the type of probiotic, route of administration, dosing, and others (2).
One randomized controlled trial in 2011 administered either a probiotic or a placebo to adult volunteers. The probiotic was in the form of fermented milk. After four weeks of administration, the researchers measured each participant’s nasal reaction to a grass pollen.
The study found that subjects who received the probiotic had lower nasal congestion in comparison to the placebo. This response was strengthened by a reduction in systemic immune markers, including IL-5 and serum IgG. Therefore, the probiotic acted as an effective therapy against a seasonal allergy for these participants (3)!
How Can You Manage Stomach Pain From Seasonal Allergies?
Now that we've uncovered how seasonal allergies can affect your digestive system, let's look into some effective ways to manage that discomfort and keep your gut feeling good throughout allergy season.
1. Manage Allergen Exposure
Keeping your environment free from allergens is key. Simple steps like staying indoors when pollen counts are high, using air purifiers, and keeping your living spaces clean can help minimize your exposure and, in turn, reduce stomach issues related to allergies.
2. Adjust Your Diet
Sometimes, your diet can exacerbate allergy symptoms, including those affecting the gastrointestinal tract. Consider eating foods that are easier on your stomach and reducing consumption of items that might trigger histamine release, such as certain aged cheeses or processed foods. Including anti-inflammatory foods like ginger, turmeric, and leafy greens may also help soothe your system.
3. Over-the-CounterAntihistamines
These can be handy for taming both sneezes and stomach issues. Antihistamines work by blocking the release of histamine, which causes those classic allergy symptoms. They can also help settle your stomach, but it’s a good idea to chat with your healthcare provider about which type might work best for you.
4. Natural Remedies
For a holistic touch to managing seasonal allergies, consider incorporating natural remedies. Our Seasonal Transition Set, which includes Indoor/Outdoor Support and Elderberry Immune Gummies, provides a natural, dual-action approach to support your immune system and help clear your sinuses during allergy season. This combo is designed to help you handle environmental triggers with ease, keeping both sneezes and stomach issues at bay.
5. Consult a Specialist
If your stomach just isn’t settling down, it might be time to see an expert. A gastroenterology expert can figure out if your digestive upset is really from allergies or something else entirely, and an allergist can run allergy tests to pinpoint what’s triggering your symptoms. Getting specific about your triggers can open up new ways to treat them.
So, can seasonal allergies stir up stomach pain? Absolutely. It's clear the allergens triggering sneezing and watery eyes can also affect our guts, leading to symptoms like nausea and abdominal pain.
At Hilma, we're here to help you tackle these less-discussed effects of allergies with natural, science-backed remedies that support overall well-being. Dive into our range of products designed to ease your discomfort and explore holistic ways to manage allergy symptoms this season.
Embrace the change in seasons with confidence and comfort, knowing Hilma has your back every step of the way.
Sources:
Seasonal Allergies | Causes, Symptoms & Treatment | ACAAI Public Website
Seasonal Allergies (Allergic Rhinitis) | Yale Medicine
What Is a Food Allergy? | FoodAllergy.org
