Archive for December, 2007

There are many indications when there is a change in seasons, but the distinctive indication is allergy cough and of course, many individuals get affected because specific season allergen is linked with allergy cough.

There are many agents that trigger allergy cough such as pollen, dust, mold, food products, and many others. The most common one is pollen that plagues many people.

Viral, nasal and sinus allergy, upper respiratory infection, environmental irritants, and esophageal problems or abdominal related problems are commonly found causes of allergy cough.

Generally, the body brings up the cough to clean itself from allergens and airway secretions and commonly this cough is not constant cough. In that case, the cough is not a problem, instead this cough is beneficial to the body.

However, if the cough persists for more than a week, if the cough is worsening, and if you believe it is related to allergy cough then you must need to make an appointment with your doctor for appropriate diagnosis.

After proper diagnosis, your doctor will determine the exact cause of cough and its treatment because only doctor can treat the allergy cough.

Asthma medication that is commonly prescribed is asthma inhalers.

Some age groups like infants and young children may have a problem with taking asthma medication through inhalers, so when inhalers are not opted, asthma nebulizers will be given to treat the asthma patients.

Asthma nebulizers change the asthma medication from a liquid to a mist. These nebulizers comprise air compressor, nebulizer cup, mouthpiece (mask), medication, and compressor tubing. Doctor’s prescription is must before purchasing an asthma nebulizer.

In order to operate asthma nebulizers, you will need to do following.

• Before taking medication through asthma nebulizers, wash your hands with soap, rinse with water, and dry your hands completely.
• First, carefully measure the medication as instructed and put the medication into the nebulizer cup.
• Close the nebulizer cup and attach the mask or mouthpiece.
• Now, connect the nebulizer cup to the air compressor by using provided tubing.
• After connecting the nebulizer cup, turn on the air compressor to confirm whether it is working by seeing the mist from the back of the tube opposite to mask.

The indoor quality of air plays a vital role for those who are suffering from allergies.

The minute particles present in indoor or outdoor air contains different types of allergens and other particles, which can aggravate allergy symptoms or can cause other health problems.

People who are suffering from allergies can improve the quality of indoor air by using allergy filter in order to reduce the risk of contact with allergens.

Allergy filter works as a cleaning mechanism by keeping out large particles of dust, mold spores, lint, and hair to make the air clean and healthy. To remove the gases and toxins of indoor air, carbon filter will be helpful.

The most recognized and recommended allergy filter is High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filter. It is mainly designed to keep radioactive particles out of the air.

The HEPA filter filters exactly 99.97% (almost 100%) of 0.3 micron particles, which is significantly smaller than the most of bacteria.

That is the reason why HEPA filter is considered to be the most efficient filter today and also believed to be an excellent allergy filter by providing indoor air free of allergens. Consider the genuine brands before buying HEPA filters, as there are many cheaper imitations present in the market.

Among the uncontrolled allergies in American today, food allergy is the top most allergy.

Even though many people will have bad reaction to certain foods, a reaction triggered by immune system is real allergy to food.

However, most of the people misdiagnose the food allergy as food intolerance.

The underlying factors of this bad reaction to food are dietary and lifestyle conditions.

Any food can trigger bad reaction, but in children the common food allergies are eggs, milk, soy, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, and shellfish [Shellfish Allergy].

On the other hand, in adults the most common foods that triggers food allergy are peanuts, tree nuts, eggs, fish, shellfish, and others. They account 90 percent of food allergies in US.

Some more things that lead to the development of food allergies include genetic susceptibility, immunizations, toxic overload, etc.

Generally, you can see the reaction immediately after eating in case of food allergy and in rare cases it can take hours to begin the reaction. If the symptoms are seen immediately after eating the food then you can have food allergy.

It is difficult to manage asthma in infants because no signs and symptoms of asthma are alike for everyone.

As per studies, asthma in infants and children is on the increasing side, but exactly what the reason of this increasing trend is not known.

However, there are various factors that are contributing for this rise, which include air pollution, second hand smoke exposure, and deficiency in nutrition.

Although the asthma is same in infants and adults, asthma in infants triggering factors are freezing air, over stimulation or excitement, rapid changes in temperature, stress, allergens (dander, dust, insect, etc), and many more.

It is predicted that approximately eighty percent of the children are developing their first asthma symptoms before age 5 and it is difficult to diagnose asthma in infants and children below age 5 as the signs of other illnesses are similar.

Other conditions such as pneumonia, cystic fibrosis, bronchitis, cold, gastroesophageal reflux, etc have similar symptoms of wheezing and coughing. So, it is wise of not coming to the conclusion that the child has asthma and going for any long-term asthma treatment.

Since all wheezing and coughing is not caused by asthma, treating infants with asthma medication is not correct.

Bee sting is always dangerous. Those who work with bees are at high risk for developing bee sting allergy.

If a person stung by bee, two types of bee sting reactions take place. One is localized and another is systemic, allergic or life threatening.

Person who has bee sting allergy will have an itchy feeling, hives, difficulty in swallowing, generalized flushing of the skin, increased heart rate, difficulty in breathing, asthma, nausea, abdominal cramps, etc.

In a localized allergic reaction, the skin is reddened and painful, but the pain will evaporate in a few hours.

Sometimes, swelling and itching can also be seen. On the other hand, in systemic allergic reaction, the total body is affected. The person with systemic allergic reaction may experience diarrhea, vomiting, nausea, dizziness, hives, redness, and many more.

In anaphylactic reaction, the sufferer if not treated appropriately may experience wheezing, drop in blood pressure that lead to shock, difficulty breathing, and more.

If there is normal bee sting allergy, the person may experience a little pain in the location of the bee sting, some itching, and swelling.

Itchiness, watery eyes, runny nose, sneezing, and redness are some of the common symptoms that majority of the people experiences as allergy symptoms.

The most effective way to fight against particular allergen is immunotherapy or allergy shot, but some people will get frightened to get allergy shot.

Allergy shots hold a little amount of substance that fights against the particular allergen.

For example, if the person is allergic to pollen, a small amount of substance called pollen will be added to the shot.

A small amount will be given so that the body will get used to fight against the allergen and if the body comes in contact with that substance next time, body will be familiar with that.

Who are not eligible to take allergy shot?

Allergy shots are not safe for everyone. Although most of the people experienced positive results from these shots, they are not suitable for all.

People who are suffering from asthma, heart attack, and respiratory problems, pregnant women, and children under age of five are not recommended to receive allergy shot.

Alternatively, certain individuals are experiencing some side effects such as:

• Feelings of shock when the shot is initially injected

Latex allergy can be mild to severe. The person with latex allergy may experience itchy, red, and watery eyes, sneezing or runny nose, rashes or hives [Hives Treatment], shortness of breath, chest tightness, shock, or cough.

Since latex products can find everywhere, any person can become sensitized to latex.

People who are at high risk for latex allergy are health care workers and rubber industry workers.

Especially, health care workers with hay fever have high chances of having latex allergy.

Also, people with many surgeries especially during their childhood and people with spina bifida and urological problems are at high risk of having latex allergy.

Although there are limited evaluations to confirm latex allergy, it include commercial blood RAST test for IgE and non-approved latex skin tests.

There are some food proteins similar to proteins in rubber such as banana, avocado, tomato, and kiwi fruit. These foods, which contain proteins similar to rubber, can cause allergic reaction in those who are allergic to latex.

Also a recent research examined whether latex allergens can transfer from wrappers of the food into the food and cause allergic reaction.

According to the Harvard Medical School Family Health Guide not less than 35 million Americans are suffering from nasal allergy or allergic rhinitis.

In view of the cause of nasal allergy, white blood cells secrete an antibody called immunoglobulin E as a defense agent.

This antibody fights against virus, bacteria, and other microorganisms that enter the body.

When this immunoglobulin E attaches the mast cell (a connective tissue cell), a chemical compound called histamine will be secreted, which is the main cause of nasal allergy.

Excessive histamine in the blood causes blood vessel in the nose tissue swollen and leaky. This swelling of the blood vessel causes congestion inside the nasal passage and leaky fluid causes runny nose.

When this nasal allergy becomes chronic, mucous membranes develop itching and inflammation.

As the main cause of nasal allergy is histamines, in order to obstruct the reaction of histamines and to reduce the severity of nasal allergy symptoms, researchers developed anti-histamine drugs like loratadine, fexofenadine, terfenadine, diphenhydramine, chlorpheniramine, clemastine, etc.

Currently, there are many over-the-counter drugs that can alleviate the nasal allergy symptoms for short period of time.