Archive for March, 2007

Various factors inside your home can cause asthma.

These causes trigger your asthma leading to asthma attack.

Identify the triggers for the asthma cause and avoid them.

Asthma cause with house dust mites:

House dust mites are the asthma cause if you are sensitive to the droppings of house dust mites. These dust mites may be tiny insects that live in the dust around your house such as in carpets, soft toys, bedding and soft furniture.

If you suspect that dust mites are the asthma cause, then you have to reduce the symptoms by following some steps:

• Use complete covering system on your mattresses, pillows and beddings
• Replace with hard flooring by removing all carpets if you have asthma
• Use a vacuum cleaner and clean all areas regularly. Using an attachment to the vacuum cleaner, damp dust all surfaces
• Do not keep soft toys on bed. Remove them from the bed and keep them in the freezer by keeping all the toys in a bag for minimum six hours every one or two weeks to kill the dust mites
• Use a dehumidifier to dry the air as it makes it more difficult for the house dust mites to survive

Today there are many people suffering with some kind of allergy.

These allergies can be seasonal or year round allergies.

Every day you will face some kind of allergens that cause allergic reactions.

You often fail to see from which type of allergies you are suffering.

Most of the allergies you are suffering are seasonal allergies, yet the symptoms could continue year round depending on the area you live.

Some people are allergic to lots of things and some others to very few things. These are environment, genetics, and the immune system all plays an important role in getting allergic symptoms.

Allergy cause:

• Environmental changes act as allergy cause.
• If it is hot outside, your immune system may respond producing allergy symptoms.
• In humid climatic conditions, you may experience mild allergy symptoms.
• In rainy season also you may experience allergy symptoms.
• Moisture is one of the leading allergy causes. Therefore the changes in the climatic conditions can make you very miserable.
• Hereditary is also considered as one of the allergy causes.
• The main allergy causes are some foods, medicines, airborne substances, insect bytes and stings, and some cleaning supplies and chemicals.

Asthma is a chronic lung condition that is characterized by difficulty in breathing as the airways become irritated and narrow.

Asthma diagnosis is the first step in keeping asthma under control.

Warning signs of asthma:

1. Wheezing
2. Difficulty in breathing
3. Coughing
4. Fatigue
5. Tightness in the chest
6. Runny nose and itchy throat

If you have these signs of asthma, you should consult doctor as soon as possible.

The earlier the asthma diagnosis is done, the earlier condition can be controlled and the treatment can be more successful.

Before asthma diagnosis, doctor will ask about:

• If you have continuous cough, shortness of breath, tightness in the chest and wheezing that occur often
• If you have cold for more than ten days
• If your family history has asthma
• Triggers that cause asthma symptoms or make asthma worse
• Medications which you have used to help breathing

Your doctor listens with stethoscope your breathing and find out for signs of asthma. Your doctor will use a device called spirometer to check airways for asthma diagnosis.

This is used to measure how much air and how fast you can blow air out of your lungs after taking a deep breath.

Allergy control is essential for those who are suffering with allergic symptoms.

Respiratory system plays the main role in allergy control.

To get allergy control you need to avoid triggers that cause allergy attacks.

Avoiding allergy triggers for allergy control includes smoking and airborne substances such as pollen, mold, dust mites, pet dander, and mildew.

Steps for allergy control:

• Find your allergy symptoms that cause allergies
• Change your environment i.e. acquire allergy free environment
• Use allergy control products such as humidifiers, dehumidifiers, air conditioners, plastic, and so on
• Use corticosteroid sprays
• Choose the latest treatment to get permanent allergy relief

Regular doctor follow-up for allergy control:

When you go through your doctor’s instructions you can get relief from allergic symptoms. To get relief, you will need to visit doctor when you find infections.

Be aware of people who have allergic infections.

Avoid infection for allergy control:

If you notice any respiratory problems and infections, you need to take medical treatment. Use prescribed antibiotics to control the infections and upper respiratory condition.

Weight maintenance for allergy control:

By controlling your weight you can find allergy relief. Exercise is the good way to keep weight down.

Most of the people are irritated with frequent allergy attacks.

These allergy sufferers want to get long-term allergy relief.

Allergies are the common disorders caused by pollen and mold in the air.

When trees start growing and the flowers start to bloom then pollen and mold rates increases in the air.

People of all ages can have allergic reactions due to pollution in the air. Allergy shots help to get long-tern relief from allergic reactions.

Allergy shots are also called as immunotherapy. Allergy shots are a series of injections that can help to desensitize your body to specific allergens.

Allergy shots help to reduce respiratory or eye symptoms caused by specific airborne substance to which you are sensitive. This treatment will take some months to years to complete.

Working of allergy shots:

Allergy shots consist of injecting a small amount of substance into your skin that you are allergic to with increasing the dose as time goes on. Eventually, your body begins to tolerate the substance by reducing or disappearing the symptoms.

Immunotherapy is based on a time schedule. Usually you will receive a shot once or twice a week for about 3-6 months. After that you will receive a shot about once a month for 3-5 years.

Man’s best friend may often be his worst enemy.

Dog allergy can strike anyone at any age in their life.

Most of the people who suffer from pet allergies often have other symptoms of mild and moderate allergies to mold and pollen.

Dog allergy is less common than cat allergy.

Cause of dog allergy:

• Dog’s hair is not only the cause of allergic symptom but its dander is the most important factor that can also cause allergies.
• For some allergy sufferers, a dog’s lick may also cause an allergic reaction.Dogs tend to scratch themselves more than cats so that the dog allergen can be more easily introduced into the air.The main reason for excessive scratching is the dog itself is allergic to something in your home. The most common allergen is mold.

Symptoms of dog allergy:

• Runny nose
• Asthma symptoms
• Red and itchy skin or rashes
• Red, itchy or swollen eyes
• Sneezing
• Nasal congestion
• Itching and soar throat
• Frequent bronchitis
• Post nasal drip
• Headaches
• Fatigue
• Voice loss
• Difficulty in sleeping and insomnia
• Ear infection

Do you face symptoms like watery and red eyes when you have contact with your cat?

They are the cat allergy symptoms and are very common.

Between six and ten million people in the US are suffering from cat allergy symptoms.

Cause of cat allergy:

• Invisible flakes of animal dander are the most common cause of cat allergy symptoms.
• Cat allergen is not only the cat hair but in some people allergy symptoms also occur due to pet saliva and sweat.Cat allergen is particularly sticky and is carried on your clothing.
• The other cause for cat allergy symptoms is a tiny protein with a carbohydrate structure present in the dander and cat skin flakes, called “Fel d 1” allergen. It very small when compared to mold and pollen spores.Cat comes in contact with this allergen when it floats in the air. This allergen is deposited on its fur. Once it gets deposited, dried specks of saliva can float off and spreads around your home.
• This allergen can spread everywhere like walls, windows and furniture. This allergen lives for several years though the cat leaves your home.

Peanut allergy is a type of food allergy. Peanuts are one of the world’s most allergenic foods.

More than 1.5 million people in the US are affected with peanut allergy.

A peanut allergy is an allergy that is caused by the body’s reaction to particular substances. This is a life threatening allergy reaction.

Cause of peanut allergy:

• The most common cause of peanut allergy is direct contact with peanuts. This means while eating or touching peanuts can cause allergies.
• The other cause of peanut allergy is, when you inhale dust containing peanuts.
• The rarest case in which you can acquire peanut allergy is, during processing or handling of a food product which consists of peanuts.
• Peanut allergy is caused by the overreaction of the immune system. Immune system considers peanuts as the harmful substances and leads to the production of immunoglobulin E antibodies. These antibodies produce histamines which causes allergic reactions to occur.

Common food sources which contain peanut proteins include:

• Salad dressing
• Cereals and granola
• Almonds
• Pecans and walnuts
• Soy products
• Ground nuts
• Frozen desserts
• Peanut butter
• Baked food such as pastries
• Artificial tree nuts

You may know that high pollen levels occur in spring season.

Many of us will face the symptoms of pollen allergy when exposed to pollen.

Some tiny particles are released from tress, grass, and weeds in each season like winter, summer and fall.

These tiny particles are called as pollen and the allergic reaction due to these particles is known as pollen allergy.

Plants use the pollen from its own flowers to fertilize it self.

Some times pollen enters into the human nose along with breathing air and triggers some allergic rhinitis called pollen allergy. Most of the people know this pollen allergy as hey fever or rose fever.

Most of the allergy producing pollen comes from plants. A single ragweed plant produces a million grains of pollen a day. Grass and tress are also main sources of pollen.

There are few people who have little contact with the large, heavy, waxy pollen grains of many flowering plants, because this type of pollen will not be carried by wind but by some insects like butterflies and bees.

The trees that produce allergic pollen are oak, ash, pecan, and mountain cedar. Pine pollen is less allergic than other types of pollens.

People who suffer from mold allergy will exhibit the same symptoms as normal allergy sufferers.

These symptoms are sneezing, irritation, itchiness and so on.

Mold particles are the main cause for mold allergy symptoms.

Mold can be appearing anywhere including inside your home as well as outside.

Most of them are allergic to mold. Mold loves to develop in damp areas.

Mold develops in all kinds of weathers. Mold allergy does not have a defined season like pollen allergy does. Mold allergy can attack in any seasons.

Mold spores are an important cause of seasonal allergic rhinitis. Mold allergy symptoms appears from spring to late fall.

You can find various types of molds in the air and every kind can affect you in negative way. Mold is an airborne substance so it can be hard to find in your home.

Mold sources causing mold allergies:

• Mold is normally found in damp areas which includes shower stand, your basement or a closet and in the refrigerator.
• Mold can also develop in waste basket or even in the laundry room. Mold is all from dampness outside.
• Mold grows on trees even on the ground and sometimes in your home.