Archive for August, 2007

You or your child suffering with food intolerance! For some foods the body’s immune system reacts differently and cause serious illness and sometimes leads to death.

Food allergies affect 2 percent of the children and about 5-8 percentage of the younger children.

During the first year of life, food allergies are the common health problems in your child.

Symptoms of food allergies in your child:

Usually you can observe the symptoms of food allergies after your child ingest the food, often within minutes to hours. The symptoms can be mild or severe and they depend on how much of the food your child is ingested and how allergic he is to the food.

• Abdominal pain
• Allergic shiners
• Difficulty breathing
• Diarrhea
• Eczema
• Flushing of the cheeks and ears
• Hives
• Itchy skin
• Nausea
• Nose congestion
• Respiratory infections
• Swelling around the mouth and in the throat
• Vomiting
• Wheezing

A severe reaction to food allergies can include anaphylaxis. This reaction includes symptoms like difficulty breathing, swelling of the mouth and throat, decreased blood pressure, shock and even death.

Asthma steroids are inflammatory drugs. Asthma steroids prevent swelling of air passages in your lungs which allows more air get into your lungs.

Asthma steroids which are used to treat asthma are called corticosteroids.

If your asthma symptoms become severe, your doctor prescribes asthma steroids for a short period. [Asthma Drugs]

Asthma steroids work quickly and help to calm your inflamed airways.

Short courses of steroids are used to treat acute asthma attacks and are also used for emergency treatment of asthma attacks.

There are three ways you can take asthma steroids: by breathing, by injection and by tablets.

By breathing: Breathing is the safest way of taking steroids. The drug goes directly to the lungs where it is needed. There could not be many side effects. You can also take steroids using inhaler.

By injection: Injection cause pain and also need to be given by doctor or nurse. You get a bigger dose of steroids in your body with an injection. You may get more side effects than breathing.

By tablets: Tablets are easy to take. When you take the tablet, the drug gets to the whole body. So you can get extra side effects by tablet form.

Mold is an important cause of seasonal allergic rhinitis. You may know that molds are a type of primitive plant also called as fungus.

Unlike plants they can not produce food from air and sunlight.

They get food by dissolving organic matter by secreting digestive enzymes. They require a highly humid environment to grow on.

Mold allergy symptoms are sometimes mild or sometimes severe.

Since the mold spores are smaller they may evade the protective mechanisms of the nose and upper respiratory tract to reach the lungs.

For some of you mold allergy symptoms may be brought or worsen by eating some foods like cheese, processed with fungi.

There is an increased chance for your body to develop mold allergy symptoms if any of your family members are allergic to substances such as pollen or animal dander.

Mold allergy symptoms:

• Most of the mold allergy symptoms are caused by mold spores. If you are sensitive to mold and whenever you come in contact with mold spores they cause an allergic reaction. Due to these reactions histamines are released. [Source of mold allergy]
• Mold spores can also acts as triggers for asthma attacks.

Do you love to keep cats? Then it is extremely common to acquire cat allergies.

Allergic to cat can also leave you feeling miserable. It is very immediate reaction if you already suffer from another type of allergy.

Most of you can not realize that you have cat allergies, so there is a greater chance to ignore taking the treatment and precautions.

The symptoms of cat allergy are often very similar to those of other allergies.

There is a greater possibility to say that the allergen is not cat because you still have the symptoms when you go to work.

What cause cat allergies?

The major cat allergen is fel d 1 which is found in cat saliva, dander from sebaceous glands in the skin, fur, and anal sebaceous glands. Some other cat allergens include albumin found in urine, blood and saliva.

How common are the cat allergies?

Cat allergies are very common and occur in up to 25 percent of people with allergies. According to the recent studies, between six and ten million people in the United States are allergic to cats or exhibit symptoms of cat allergies. Allergy to cats is more common than other pet allergies. [Treating Pet Allergy]

Have you tried all the medications to relieve from allergies? Then try for zyrtec allergy medication.

You can get an effective allergy relief with zyrtec allergy. It is a prescription medicine designed to prove strong allergy relief.

Zyrtec allergy medication is the only principal antihistamine that is accepted as a treatment for both year round indoor allergies like pet dander and dust and outdoor allergies like trees and ragweed.

Only one dose of zyrtec allergy medication can give you 24-hours relief and keeps your symptoms under control.

The reason for prescribing zyrtec allergy medicine:

Doctors recommend zyrtec allergy relief medicine to treat the following symptoms:

Chronic utricaria:

It is suggested for the treatment of the uncomplicated skin manifestations of chronic idiopathic utricaria in adults and children 6 months of age and older. Zyrtec allergy medicine significantly reduces the occurrences, severity and duration of hives and also reduces itching.

Perennial allergic rhinitis:

Zyrtec allergy relief medicine is indicated for the relief of symptoms related to perennial allergic rhinitis due to allergens such as dust mites, animal dander and molds in adults and children of age 6 months and older.

If you are an asthma patient or if your family member is suffering from asthma, then having an asthma air purifier is vital.

An asthma air purifier can be very helpful in preventing attacks from happening.

Allergies are the main cause for asthma attack and asthma air purifier can help in getting rid of unwanted particles that can trigger allergies.

Unwanted air particles which we cannot see enter your lungs and irritate the airways. The airways become inflamed and make breathing difficult. Therefore, it results in weakening of lungs and other health related issues appear.

An asthma air purifier filters the oxygen you breathe and eliminate the unwanted particles before you breathe them in. It is designed to draw air into its filtering system.

Decide in which room you and your family members spend most of the time so that you can fix the air purifier in that room. If you spend lot of time in cooking, you need to keep an air purifier in your kitchen which can absorb chemicals.

Every asthma air purifier is not same, so depending on the filtering system and how it works, you have to change the filters once in a while or you have to wipe off the plate that the particles are trapped on.

A cheap source of dietary protein that is available in large amounts is peanuts.

They can be ingested as peanut butter. Peanuts are one of the world’s most allergenic foods.

Peanut allergies affect 7 percent of brothers and sisters of persons with the allergy.

These allergies affect approximately 3 million Americans or 1.1 percent of the population. Peanuts are the primary cause of severe allergic reactions, followed by shellfish, fish, tree nuts, and eggs.

Don’t confuse tree nut and peanut allergies. They are completely different. Tree nut allergy is less common than peanut allergies. If you are allergic to peanuts you will also allergic to another type of tree nuts.

Effects of peanut allergies:

The effects of peanut allergies can be characterized into 3 severe reactions such as gastrointestinal, skin, and respiratory symptoms.

If you are sensitive to peanuts you may also experience potentially life-threatening anaphylactic shock in response to ingestion of peanuts.

In this reaction the release of histamines can cause difficulty breathing, circulatory collapse, heart failure, swelling, and sometimes lead to death.

Therapies for peanut allergies:

There is no cure for peanut allergies and no therapies that eliminate or reduce the severity of allergic symptoms.

It is a fact that people with asthma tend to be overweight.

Doctors believe that obesity occurs because people suffering with asthma avoid exercise as physical activity can trigger asthma symptoms.

You have to maintain ideal weight and good fitness to avoid asthma obesity.

But nowadays, doctors are recommending people with asthma to exercise to improve their health and to provide relief from asthma. Exercise is not only good for health but it also reduces asthma obesity.

If you have asthma obesity, your breathing becomes more difficult and some people even find that their ability to breathe is worsened. Being overweight causes gastro esophageal reflux disease, which can trigger asthma in some people.

Overweight increases the risk of asthma in women and children. Obese people are two to three times more likely to have asthma than normal people.

Regular exercise keeps you strong and energetic. If you are healthy, you have few attacks and need less medication.

Foods that cause asthma obesity:

There are some foods that can lead to obesity. Saturated foods, dairy products and processed foods can cause obesity. Obesity can worsen asthma. Staying fit and healthy is important for controlling your asthma.

Mold, pollen and dust are the leading causes of allergies.

When you think about allergens, mold may creep to your mind more slowly than others.

Mold is one of the most common and insidious allergens [Mold Allergy Sources].

Mold allergies symptoms may present from spring to late fall.

You may be surprised by hearing the fact that more than 100,000 different species of mold can cause your allergic reactions. The species which cause mold allergies can live anywhere dark, damp or humid, including wood, fabric, tile paper and foods.

The areas where mold grows inside your house include air conditioners, attic, bathroom, basements, garage, heating vents and filters, and refrigerators. Outside places which stimulate mold growth are damp, shady areas, such as piles of wood, leaves and compost.

Mold can also grow in foam pillows, refrigerator cooling coils, washing machines, under sink cabinets, carpets, dryer vents, etc.

Mold allergies are not only due to mold, but also to mold spores. Mold which is considered as fungi can release millions of microscopic spores into the air. If the spore can settle into the place where conditions are right then it will grow into mold.

Bronchodilators relieve asthma symptoms by relaxing the muscle bands that tighten around the airways.

This action opens the airways, allowing more air come in and out of the lungs. Therefore, breathing improves.

Bronchodilators are most extensively used medications for treating asthma attacks brought on by physical activity or exercise [Exercise Induced Asthma].

Bronchodilators help in clearing the mucus from the lungs.

As the airways open, the mucus moves more freely and can be coughed out more easily. Theophylline is a bronchodilator used for asthma treatment, which relaxes the muscles surrounding the airways.

Bronchodilators are rescue medications and are used when needed and rarely on regular basis. These medications provide quick relief and relax the muscles of the airways. These are useful with exercise induced broncho-spasm and are usually in blue devices.

Bronchodilators for treating asthma:

• Theophilline
• Beta 2 agonists
• Anticholinergic inhaler

Theophilline:

Theophilline is another type of bronchodilator that is used for treating asthma. Brand names include theodur, uniphyll, phyllocontin and theolair. It is an oral medication which works directly to relax the airway muscles.