Although our bank of medical knowledge is continually growing worldwide, it ironically hasn't put a damper on the many allergies that people suffer with. In fact, it would seem that not only have the number of people with allergies increased, allergies are now coupled with additional complexities as well, making specific allergens difficult to isolate and which anti-allergy drugs can't seem to touch, except in many cases making the condition worse.

Naturalists shake their heads and blame it on the busy lives we lead, the environment and world we live in with toxins of every sort invading our homes and communities. Naturopaths and Holistic practitioners all agree that what we are seeing is our bodies becoming overloaded with so many poisons from various sources that they are having a difficult time just keeping up normal bodily functions much less fighting allergies. The resulting dilemma is allergies upon allergies to give a snapshot picture of what people are experiencing.

In the wake of this, some medical authorities are reverting to age-old vitamin C for help. Vitamin C commonly thought of mainly in prevention of colds, flu and scarlet fever, is being rediscovered for help in allergies. In various controlled studies, vitamin C has been used with much success in high doses to eradicate specific allergies. With such achievement, vitamin C is now being seen as a big help to the body as it fights allergies. Vitamin C helps to reduce the level of antihistamines in the body. When you have an allergic reaction, your body's immune system reacts by producing an enormous amount of antihistamines to fight the aberrant allergen. It's the histamines that cause all of the various types of irritation and inflammation that make us uncomfortable or that could kill us. Vitamin C can slow down the reaction giving you time to get medical attention in the event of a serious reaction.

People usually associate allergies and allergy symptoms to something life threatening like acute asthma, snake bike or anaphylactic shock but often overlook the simple cold-like symptoms like a stuffy nose. The simple symptoms of coughs and colds could very well signal an allergic reaction and if an individual is continuously exposed to a particular allergen could develop into something more serious.

Allergens are of a broad scale and can be anything you've eaten, breathed in, touched with your hand or worn. When you're searching for possible culprits, you don't dare leave anything uninvestigated. Allergens are in nature, our homes, places of employment and anywhere on earth.

There are various types of tests that can be done to determine possible allergens. There are blood tests, skin patch tests and others available. You can talk to your own doctor, ask friends to recommend one or call a few doctors of naturopathy in your area about other tests.

If you already are aware of allergies you have, you should do your very best to avoid the offending allergens and do the same after discovering other allergies you have through testing. Avoidance can take care of most allergies, but when you don't know what you're fighting allergies can be bothersome and sometimes life threatening. Talk to your doctor or other medical practitioner and consider keeping vitamin C on hand as an extra protection against allergies.