The two symptoms Dr. Saifer was talking about are found mainly in people who have a food allergy. But they aren’t the only two signs of food allergy. If you answer yes to any following questions, your problems may be food related:

• Did you have colic as an infant?
• Do you have frequent attacks of indigestion, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea or gas?
• Are there foods that you can eat freely in one season (winter, for example), yet they bother you during other times of the year?
• Do you feel tired after you eat?
• Do you feel better if you skip a meal?
• Do you have to loosen your belt after meals?
• Are there any specific foods that you particularly dislike?
• Are there any foods that you crave or eat frequently?

Another sign often associated with (but not limited to) food allergy is a patchy tongue. Little round or oval smooth patches appear on the back, edges and tips of the tongue. They tend to come and go.

.... Or Is It Something in the Air?

Chemical allergy is another problem that can sneak up on you. About 500 billion pounds of chemicals are produced each year in the United States, to say nothing of the fumes given off by autos, industry and even home appliances. Ultimately, chemicals and fumes and up in our bodies.

And invariably, some people can’t tolerate them. Maybe you, are chemicals sensitive – but don’t know it. ”You may have a gas strove, yet never suspect you’re allergic to gas, when you’re home every day,” says Theron Randolph, M.D., a well known allergist in Chicago, Illinois.

”Yet when you take a vacation – say, up to the mountains where the air is good – you may come home only to become sick within minutes after walking through the door. But when you were living with the same stove every day, you never suspect it.”

Petroleum derived chemicals, by virtue of their infinitesimal size, find their way into the most sensitive parts of the body – like the brain. In fact, since petrochemicals are fat soluble and have a special affinity for the nervous system, they tend to effect sight, hearing, personality, memory and reasoning.

The following questions will help you evaluate whether on not you’re sensitive chemicals:

• Are you more aware of smells and odors than other people seem to be?
• Do the odors of perfumes, making pens, correction fluid, freshly printed newspaper, auto exhaust, fresh paint or new car interiors make you ill?
• Do you (or your child) do well in school one day and poorly the next?
• Is your behavior unpredictable, turning from Dr. Jekyl to Mr. Hyde (and back again) at the drop a hat?
• Are you cranky, listless, impatient and ill tempered more often than not?
• Did any health problems begin shortly after exposure to a chemicals – after refinishing furniture, cleaning carpet, mopping up spilled gasoline or doing pool maintenance?

”There are an awful lot of folks who could be helped if it occurred of them that they may have an allergy,” said Dr. Saifer. She added that once they realize they have an allergy, their aim should be to reduce their overall exposure to allergens by using ”avoidance tactics” – specific methods to keep the allergens which they come in contact to minimum. Reducing exposure not only eases existing allergies, but may also prevent allergy from surfacing in the first place.