Doormen determine who go gets to go in the door at a venue, and there are plenty of doormen who will play sweet chin music if you get out of control. That is a worst case scenario for sure, but if you are going to get up to no good, you are probably not going to be allowed to enter anyway. Shame there is no microscopic alveoli doorman making these determinations at the entrance to your airways, because if there were pollen and other allergens would be bounced big time. But there is nothing to stop them being inhaled, and so it is that allergies happen. But can allergies cause shortness of breath?

Allergies themselves won’t cause a shortness of breath. You may be sneezing like mad and with the itchiest, reddest eyes ever, but you’ll be inhaling freely and easily just as always. It is a different story if allergy attacks promote allergic asthma, and with that condition there will be airways constriction to go along with allergic rhinitis in the nose, sinuses, and throat and those same histamines wreaking havoc on the mast cells in your eyes.

That is where we need to focus with can allergies cause shortness of breath. With allergic asthma histamines also work to promote the muscles around the airway tightening in the same way it does for conventional asthma sufferers. So, it is only people that have allergic asthma who will need something more than an OTC or RX antihistamine that is formulated to curtail the release of histamines by your immune system. For people with mild allergic rhinitis that should do well enough to relieve the breathing challenges too, but if you can do what nearly all asthmatics do.

Asthma First, Allergies 2^nd

We have been talking about can allergies cause shortness of breath from the perspective of allergy sufferers having asthma symptoms, but that’s not so much of the correct way to look at this affliction. It is more that people with asthma also have allergies too and when they have an allergy attack it promotes an asthma attack right alongside it. And it’s not just pollen that can be the culprit, as mold, animal dander (especially cat dander) or even dust mite allergies can be the ones that trigger asthma for people.

We will conclude this entry by saying that allergic asthma can have non-allergic triggers, and that can be looped into a discussion of can allergies cause shortness of breath too. A person’s breathing difficulties may be attributable to allergies, but that trigger might be, for example, very cold dry air that makes it hard for them to breathe. It can also be a reaction to smelling strong scents, or seeing someone in yoga pants who should not be wearing them.

Exercise-induced asthma where physical exertion triggers an asthma attack can be a possibility too. The standard recommendation for people there is to use an asthma inhaler preventatively over time to help prevent asthma attacks when exercising.