Do allergies affect your life?

Cbbc, Updated 12 february 2004

From hayfever to not being able to eat nuts - more people are starting to be affected by allergies.

Do you have any allergies?
Does it stop you from doing things other people normally do?
Or have you just learned to live with it and get on with your life?
However it affects you email and let us know.

Oh yeah! If I start dusting, or take some boxes out of the attic, I start sneezing like mad, I get hives, and my eyes start watering. Also, if I sit in the grass, I get tons of hives (really itchy ones), and my eyes get watery.
Lisa, 14, USA

I'm allergic to caffeine which means I can't drink coffee, tea or coke!
Jenny, 12, Swindon

In the spring my nose gets all stuffy and I have to take my meds and lots of cold syrup.
Kat, 13, USA

I have hayfever. It affects me because in the summer I can't play out that much because my eyes start watering and getting itchy and go big, red, and puffy!
Hazel, 11, Reading

I am not allergic to anything luckily but I have sensitive skin and I get very itchy.
Lara, 11, Herts

I get hayfever but I think a lot of people do. There is a theory that everyone is allergic to something but people who have never had an allergic reaction just haven't been exposed to anything they are allergic to yet! Seems to make sense...
Isabel, 15, Leicester

I am allergic to all melons: cantaloupe, honeydew, and worst of all watermelons. I love watermelons but I can't eat them anymore because I get a very itchy tongue every time I do.
Carmen, 11, USA

I have an allergy to chocolate. If I eat a bit I end up chocking. People think I am very strange!
Emma, 14, Kilmarnock

I'm allergic to wool, dust (basically like hayfever all year round) and nuts. If I eat them my lips swell up and blister. I don't think allergies affect my life, I'm just careful. If I don't wear woolly clothes, don't eat nuts and take my medication, I'm ok.
Lorna, 13, Peterborough

When I scratch my skin, my skin lumps up! It's disgusting!
Sarah, 12, Cambridge

I'm allergic to a really weird thing - dust! If I'm near dust I go mad, sneezing and my ears water and it's really embarrassing. It's stopped me from having loads of pets like dogs, cats and birds as they all create loads of house dust! But I count myself lucky that I'm not allergic to something serious like the other comments speak of.
Ryan, 14, Enniskillen

I feel sorry for people who have allergies because their whole life has to revolve around whether you can do this or that. I'm glad I don't have any.
Farah, 13, London

I don't have allergies any more. Before I was allergic to taco!! I hated it, because at birthday parties we always used to get taco, so I would get something different from all the others. When you're a kid that can be kind of sad... So my sympathy goes out to all the ppl that are allergic and can't eat/do what they want!
Victoria, 12, Oslo, Norway

I have an allergy that looks like I have rolled about in nettles. It means I have to stay of school sometimes. I have had tests but my doctor can't work out what it is so I have to take very strong tablets!!! I am hoping I will grow out of it though.
Emily, 12, Blackpool

I have suffered from hayfever since I was about four. It's so bad, I have to take tablets, nose spray AND eye drops, it gives me such a bad headache.
Nat, 15, London

I haven't got any allergies but my mum's allergic to apple skin and she also gets hayfever.
Rachel, 12, West Sussex

I have an allergy to wool. Once, I wore a woolly scarf and got a huge rash around my neck and face!
MJ, 15, Midlands

I've got heat rash and plant rash, whenever I go in the sun, I get loads of rashes! It isn't very fair because I can't enjoy summer without using lots of cream and worrying about my skin.
Hira, 12, Hayes

I am allergic to a lot of stuff like eggs, cakes and fizzy drinks. My eyes are always puffy and sometimes they itch a lot which makes it worse. I sneeze when I go near stuff like fur and dust.
Rosie, 12, Liverpool

I have a nut allergy, but only if I eat loads I have rashes - but I sometimes eat them and put my special cream on. I also got allergic to hayfever in 2000 and have to take eye drops and nasal sprays. Sometimes it is so bad I have to cut school for about 3 days and can't have no fun like going to the park :
Rayka, 12, London

I'm allergic to animal fur, that's really horrible because I have to take a tablet before I can hold my pets and other animals. And even then I have to be really careful or I come up with puffy eyes.
Sophie, 11, Gosport

I'm really allergic to wasps and bees. It's horrible in the summer because I have to take disgusting medicine and eye drops because my eyes swell.
Fran, 14, Cramlington

Being allergic is horrible and it affects me really bad. I'm allergic to animal fur so I can't go near any animals or go to people's houses cos of their pets. The only animals I can have are things like fish and tortoises.
Gemma, 12, Devon

The only allergy I have is nuts which give me a rash - and so does hair spray but it isn't that effective.
Roxy, 13, Southend on Sea

I'm allergic to penicillin, which means if I get an ear infection or something, I've got to take ordinary anti-biotics, whereas penicillin could cure it much quicker.
Hazel, 12, Cambridge

I am allergic to cats, and one day my friend had cat hair on her jumper, and my eyes swelled up so I couldn't see out of them for three days.Hannah, 11, Aberdeen

I have really bad hayfever in the summer. I end up having to blow my nose so much it goes all red and sore. I take tablets, but they're sooo expensive.
Laura, 11, Cardiff