ALLERGIC NOSES
April 2nd, 2009 | Posted by admin | Category: General healthNo Comments
To identify the triggering substance responsible for allergic nasal symptoms (such as stuffiness, itching, redness, and watering), it is most helpful to ask about both the season and the times of day when attacks occur.
Thus, Emergency Medicine (16#10:20) reports, summertime attacks that begin about mid-morning are probably due to pollen and do not occur earlier in the day because the morning dew dampens the pollen dust and keeps it out of the air. Attacks that occur indoors year round are more likely due to house dust or pet dander. Mold sensitivity is at its worst during damp, rainy weather, but attacks can be triggered by air blown into the face from a car’s air conditioner or room humidifier (both offer dark, damp, favorable habitats for mold growth).
The best treatment is to avoid exposure to the trigger substance and to reduce its concentration in one’s surroundings as much as possible. In the case of molds, this involves drying up damp basements, etc., changing filters, cleaning humidifiers regularly, spraying with Lysol, and keeping closets dry with a constantly lit bulb. Getting mold out of a car’s air conditioner can be difficult and usually requires a mechanic’s help.
When measures such as these fail to provide relief, help can be obtained from antihistamine pills and, if necessary, desensitization shots as well. Antihistamines work best when they are taken around the clock to prevent allergic attacks and are not so effective when begun after an attack has already occurred. A common mistake is to take an antihistamine, get better, and then stop taking it. For more difficult cases, the allergist may need to prescribe other drugs in addition.
One type of allergy that has often been overlooked, the American Family Physician (29#5:408) reports, is triggered by grass pollen and is usually brought on by mowing the lawn. In the past, this allergy has generally been assumed to be caused by the leaves (blades) of grass, weeds, or the molds deposited on them, but, understandably, it has not been too responsive to desensitization shots aimed specifically at those causes.
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