Other Allergic and Pseudo-Allergic Complaints

Abstract

Allergies catch more than their fair share of the blame when it comes to illness in children. Too many people physicians among them—wrongly conclude that any condition that resists diagnosis has to be allergic in origin. As a result, allergy has become a catchall diagnosis for a wide variety of baffling conditions, and a steady parade of men, women, and children complaining of a myriad of vague, mysterious symptoms turn up at the allergist’s office. This tendency to turn allergy into the Ellis Island of diseases has been abetted by a parallel development—with the accelerating degradation and invasion of the environment by substances that provoke symptoms—allergic and hypersensitivity reactions—that have not previously been encountered.