Smoke Allergies: 4 Reasons Why You Might Hate This Article

In an instant, you find that your eyes burn and flood with tears, your nose drips like a facet – then suddenly that tickle in your throat starts to feel more like tightness. A few moments more and you start to feel short of breath or find that it’s becoming difficult to swallow. All of these unpleasant symptoms seemed to hit at once – and all amidst chorus of uncontrollable sneezes and coughs that leaves your head feeling stuffed and your throat sore.

What could cause the instant onset of such a malady? Perhaps it’s a bright spring morning and pollen counts are at their year-round high? Or maybe it’s the guy next to you busily puffing away on a cigarette?

Whether the cause is hay fever or secondhand smoke, you will inevitably find that the symptoms feel the same. Nevertheless, out of these two probable causes I’ve described, one would cause a true allergic reaction – and the other simply would not. The bottom line is this: it is impossible to have an allergy to cigarette smoke.

Now hang on! *Before* you click “back”, scroll down to leave an angry comment - or even add me to your fan list - please keep reading! Not only will this article uncover the true culprit behind those “smoke allergies”, but it will offer help to those who suffer at the hands of smokers.

It only makes sense that many people conclude that they are allergic to smoke – they experience all of the same allergy symptoms whenever they run into tobacco smoke. Still, it causes quite a few ruffled feathers when the statement “there is no such thing as cigarette smoke allergies” is made. Why do people hate to hear that they aren’t allergic to smoke?

In my opinion, there are several good reasons why declaring “smoke allergies” a myth causes tension:

1. It seems like a denial of the obvious. If it looks like allergies and feels like allergies, how the heck could it not be allergies? For someone who considers themselves allergic to smoke, the statement seems absolutely ridiculous. “Are you for real?! Of COURSE these are allergies – I have every symptom in the book!”
2. It feels like an attempt to play down the suffering associated with “smoke allergies”. The truth is that exposure to cigarette smoke can impact one person in a completely different manner than it will another - and some people suffer because of cigarette smoke more than others. When someone is told that their condition doesn’t exist, it almost seems like a way of saying that their pain and discomfort doesn’t exist either.
3. It sounds like pro-smoker propaganda. Everyone has heard about the guy who smokes 2 packs a day and loves every minute of it. He insists that Nicotine is the new vitamin N and even runs a pro-smoking website (if you don’t know what I’m talking about, click here). He can’t understand why everyone else is complaining or making laws about where he can smoke – though in reality it’s a lot like a heroine addict taking offense that you won’t share his needle. For a smoker, “smoke allergies” do not exist, and saying that they do is just a way of infringing on his rights to light up.
4. It’s just plain frustrating! If you experience the burning eyes, running nose and constant cough, you want to know what is causing your symptoms. When you settle on a diagnosis, it can be irritating to have someone else tell you that the condition doesn’t exist. It means starting at square one to find the answers – and potential treatment – for your ailment.

Just from these examples, it makes sense that denying “smoke allergies” could offend a lot of people.

Most all allergens (particles that trigger allergic reactions) are proteins produced by plants, fungi, animals and insects. It is the protein in an allergen that actually causes the allergic reaction – and truth be told, there is no protein left in cigarette smoke. All of the heat caused by the cigarette burning has reduced the paper, tobacco and additives inside a cigarette to carbon (not that inhaling carbon is good for you either).

Because smoke isn’t a true allergen, it does not create the same immune response (i.e. allergy attack) that a grain of pollen would. Or course there is no denying that smoke can aggravate and irritate underlying allergies, but it really cannot be considered the cause of them.

There are some cases of true tobacco allergy, these are very rare and are caused by direct contact with live tobacco plants or leaves. So, unless you are a tobacco harvester on a tobacco plantation, it is highly unlikely that you will ever develop tobacco allergies.

This video shows just how antihistamines work in the body to block an allergy attack as it is happening. The problem with some cases of "smoke allergies" is that there is no allergic reaction causing the symptoms, which is why you might notice that antihistamines offer no relief.

Because allergies are a valid and widely recognized condition, calling your sensitivity to cigarette smoke “allergies” seems to give it more credence.  In addition, calling the problem a “smoke allergy” just makes sense when you break it down.  Exposure to smoke = Allergy-like symptoms, and therefore they are “smoke allergies”.

Yet,  assuming that cigarette or cigar smoke causes your allergic suffering can actually hinder your chances of finding relief from the symptoms.  It’s comparable to treating yourself for a cold when you actually have a case of pneumonia.

So, if it’s not “smoke allergies” what else could it be?

• If you have vasomotor rhinitis, you will have all of the same annoying, persistent, instantaneous and maddening symptoms associated with allergies. This is because vasomotor rhinitis is the evil twin of allergic rhinitis (nasal allergies). The worst part is that though the shelves of your local drug store may be crammed with different medications for allergies, very few of these will actually diminish the effects of vasomotor rhinitis. This is because the pills that are so often popped for allergies work by interrupting the histamines made by your immune system that react to an allergen – if you have vasomotor rhinitis, the problem starts with your nervous system, not you immune system.

Vasomotor Rhinitis Indicators:

1. You are highly sensitive to other elements like perfume, strong odors, changes in weather, changes in temperature, or even spicy foods.

2. Walking into a slightly warmer (or cooler) room makes your nose runny or feel completely dry.

3. Antihistamine medications do not alleviate the symptoms.

• Underlying atopy basically means that you have allergies to other things that are aggravated by smoke. If you have existing allergies or asthma, you are constantly fighting against having an allergic reaction. Maybe that spec of pollen or your flake of dander from your friend’s dog may not be enough to cause a flare-up normally, but one cigarette can make all the difference! Everyone knows the phrase “the straw that broke the camels back” – well, I guess smoke would be considered more of a brick than a piece of straw. The heavy, choking concoction of pollutants that comprises cigarette smoke usually is enough to push your immune system over the edge. Though a tiny pollen grain normally wouldn’t trigger an allergic reaction – the added strain of cigarette smoke makes it an enormous problem.

Underlying Allergy Indicators:

1. You know that you are allergic to other things like pollen, pets, mold or dust mites.

2. You have eczema (skin allergies), asthma or food allergies.

• If notice the same group of symptoms occurring and reoccurring during exposure to a chemical substance, then you might have a syndrome called Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, or MCS. There is very little known about the underlying causes of MCS due to insufficient scientific evidence to link the symptoms to a specific cause. It appears that certain environmental chemicals can cause an array of symptoms that often resemble an allergic reaction or the flu virus. It could caused by formaldehyde commonly used to construct furniture; or VOC’s found in interior paints; or wall-to-wall carpeting (which is made of some very nasty chemical substances); or even cigarette smoke.

MCS Indicators:

1. You often have episodes of flu-like or allergy-like symptoms that only occur from being in certain buildings, cars, or environments where pollutants are present.

2. After leaving a certain area, your symptoms quickly start to vanish (whereas a true allergy attack can take several minutes to several hours to abate).

Hopefully by this point, you don’t completely hate this article in spite of the four reasons previously mentioned.   I am not really trying to undermine the seriousness or suffering formerly known as “Smoke Allergies”.  Instead, this article should offer some new hope when it comes to subduing those awful smoke-related symptoms. 

But regardless of how smoke may or may not affect you – or whether you found this article helpful or not – the truth remains the same.  Tobacco smoke is a killer. 

Perhaps more people should envy those who claim to have “smoke allergies”! I say this because their symptoms to smoke are almost like an early alarm for the undeniable dangers of secondhand smoke. Someone with “smoke allergies” will inevitably flee the scene where a cigarette is burning – which in the end, could save them from consequences.

As for the rest of us, we may not mind smoke to the same degree, and therefore expose ourselves to the effects of smoking without even noticing. We might spend hours in a smoky bar or night club, get a job in a smoky workplace like a casino, or car pull with a friend who smokes in their car.

The truth of the matter is this: whether you are extra sensitive to cigarettes or not, tobacco smoke will cause you nothing but trouble as far as your health is concerned. No matter how large or small the dosage, smoking can (and will) cause long-term damage to your health.

Cancer: You can expect to fall prey to one of many, many forms of cancer. Smoke most often suffer from lung cancer, cancer of the kidney, cancer of the larynx and head and neck, breast cancer, or cancer of the bladder, esophagus, pancreas, and stomach. There is also reason to believe that smoking can increase the risk of myeloid leukemia, squamous cell sinonasal cancer, liver cancer, cervical cancer, colorectal cancer (after an extended latency), childhood cancers and cancers of the gall bladder, adrenal gland and small intestine.

Heart Attack and Stroke: Cardiovascular disease is a general term for a number of diseases that affect your veins, arteries and heart. The most common outcomes of these diseases are heart attack and stroke either through build up of blockages in the veins (called atherosclerosis or peripheral vascular disease).

Respiratory Ailments: This includes everyday nuisances like the common cold and bronchitis – but it also includes life-threatening diseases like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), emphysema and chronic bronchitis.

Birth Defects: women who smoke while they are pregnant often cause their babies to have birth defects that can cause more serious conditions as the child grows up. Studies also show that even when expecting mothers don’t smoke, but are exposed to second hand smoke, there are all the same risks for the baby as would be present in cases where the mother was a smoker.

Burger’s Disease: This is an illness that is strongly associated with tobacco product use (primarily smoking, but smokeless tobacco use as well). It inflames arteries and veins and causes clotting, primarily in the hands and feet. The primary symptoms are pain, ulcers and gangrene in the affected areas. There is no known treatment for Burger’s Disease.

Cataracts: There is evidence that smoking increases your risk for developing cataracts, which may in turn cause blindness.

Cognitive Dysfunction: In other words, it’s going to get harder and harder to think and concentrate as the years of tobacco smoke exposure continue. This applies to smokers of all ages – studies show that adolescent smokers have reduced memory and thinking abilities than their non-smoking peers. For older smokers or past-smokers, there is an increased risk for developing Alzheimer’s disease. In general, smokers experience what is known as cerebral atrophy, which basically means that their brain will shrink in size over the years.

What is the price smokers pay for every moment of their cigarette?

• Each cigarette costs the smoker 5 to 25 minutes of life.
• The risk of lung cancer increases 50% to 100% with every cigarette that a person smokes per day.
• The risk of Heart Disease increases 50% with every pack of cigarettes a person smokes per day. 
• Smoking filter tipped cigarettes cuts the risk of lung cancer by up to 20%, but still does not eliminate the danger involved.
• People who smoke spend 27% more time in hospitals and nearly 2 times the amount of time spend in intensive care units than nonsmokers. 
• A smoker is at twice the risk of dying before age sixty-five as a nonsmoker.

Okay – while “smoke allergies” may not exist, there is a handful of valid ailments that can cause one individual to suffer more than others when it comes to smoke. It should be the duty of smokers (not to mention employers, family members, law makers, etc) to respect this fact and be mindful of where they light up.

As for the rest of the non-smoking population, even if you don’t feel the immediate impact of tobacco smoke, you might just end up suffering later on. The inhalation of second hand smoke has a cumulative effect on your health – so though you might feel fine right now, the risks may catch up with you down the road.

What can you do about the smoke right now?

1. If you are extra sensitive to smoke, see your doctor. He or she can help determine your ailment and effective treatment.
2. Set a boundary for smoking family or friends. Insist that smoking be done on the porch, garage, or only in one particular room in the house (close the room while they are smoking, and be sure to crack a window to draw the smoke outdoors).
3. Think about purchasing an air purifier to help eliminate the smoke while it’s in the air – and before it gets into your lungs!
4. Encourage smoking friends and family to quit.