Yes. While allergies and asthma are often related to each other, they are two separate conditions.  An allergy is an abnormal reaction to a generally benign substance. Asthma is a breathing condition in which the airways become constricted.

In some cases, the allergic reaction may result in your airways becoming constricted as part of your body’s reaction to antihistamine. So, while many people with allergies are also asthmatic, you can have asthma and have no allergy of any kind and yet still have the problematic breathing condition. As a result, asthma is divided into two types: allergic and non-allergic.

As we’ve stated, asthma as a disease is characterized by breathing difficulties in which the airways of the lungs become blocked or narrowed. In allergic asthma, those breathing difficulties are triggered by the individual’s allergic reaction. In non-allergic asthma, breathing problems are triggered differently and by other factors.

Non-allergic asthmatics will experience problems due to emotional and environmental irritants. Typically, this asthma will flare up from stress, exercise, anxiety, viruses, cold or dry air, smoke or other airborne irritants.  However, the immune system is not involved in non-allergic asthma.

So, we can definitively answer yes to the question of whether you can have asthma without allergies.