What are the common symptoms of ENT allergies?

Allergy is essentially your body's immune system overreacting to a substance that isn't actually harmful. These trigger substances are called allergens, and since the nose, throat, and ears are all connected, allergies often affect all three areas together, though the symptoms in each area look a bit different.

In the nose, common symptoms include excessive sneezing, a runny or stuffy nose, itching inside the nose, and itchy, watery eyes that often accompany nasal symptoms.

In the throat, allergies commonly cause postnasal drip, where mucus drips down from the nose into the throat, along with a dry cough, throat irritation, and frequent throat clearing as the body tries to deal with that drip.

In the ears, allergies can cause a sense of fullness or blockage, along with dryness or itching, and sometimes fluid buildup behind the eardrum if the allergy affects the ear's ventilation tube.

Diagnosis is usually made based on clinical history, meaning the doctor's assessment of your symptoms and pattern of triggers, but a blood test showing raised serum IgE levels can support the presence of allergic disease. For pinpointing the exact substance you're allergic to, Skin Prick Allergy Testing is generally the most useful, since it identifies specific allergens rather than just confirming that allergies are present.