What is Allergic Rhinitis?
Allergic Rhinitis is a hyperimmune response to various allergens. Heredity and environment both play a considerable role in the progression of the disease. The main problem with the condition is that it affects the quality of life in a major way.
The constant sneezing, an itchy sensation of the nose, nasal stuffiness, watery discharge from nose, headache, all pose serious irritation and difficulty in day to day functioning.
What causes allergic Rhinitis?
People are genetically susceptible to certain things a.k.a allergens: dust mites, pollens, animal furs, dander etc. Allergy is basically a hyperimmune response to allergens.
Lifestyle prevention tips for preventing exacerbations
This is where the answer gets tricky. Lifestyle changes play a big role in long-term disease-free status.
- Strict avoidance of allergens and smoking helps in decreasing the exposure to disease-causing factors.
- Use of plain water steam twice a day daily helps to clean the nasal airways and is a great way to decrease the disease burden.
Patience and disciplined lifestyle choices go a long way in keeping you disease free and helps to decrease drug dosage.
The main problem is of compliance with the regimen. For this, you really need to be motivated and keep that motivation throughout the course of your initial treatment and maintenance phase.
Complications of Allergic Rhinitis
- Nasal polyp
- Sinusitis
- Otitis media (ear infections)
- Allergic Pharyngitis
- Allergic Laryngitis
- Bronchial asthma, as one airway, one disease!
Checklist to avoid problems of Allergic Rhinitis
- Cleaning air conditioners dust trapper every 2 weeks.
- Avoiding pets which have excessive shedding cycle
- Avoid dust accumulation in the house as far as practical.
- Dusting vacuuming etc should be done with windows open and wear a face mask.
- Cleaning Air conditioner dust filters every two weeks with soap and water(just servicing every 3/6 months is inadequate to deal with the dust build up.
- Change pillow covers and other bedding materials regularly. Give them for airing.
- Steam inhalation regularly (for adults and older children ) even during the asymptomatic period.
- Indoor plants to purify indoor air
- Indoor air purifiers
- Car air purifiers
These small changes go a long way in keeping us allergy free. Heredity plays a big role but so does environment, so changing environment keeps the power in your hand to change your life and that of your children.
ALLERGIC RHINITIS: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW (Part 1)
Test and Treatment for Allergic Rhinitis (Part 2)
6 Things you can do to Fight Indoor Allergy
Functional Endoscopic Sinus Surgery in Polyps: Breath Easy!
Everyday practices to prevent Swine Flu
Disclaimer: This is information for awareness. As healthcare information is constantly updated, the blog post is not meant to be a replacement for a doctor consultation, nor is it a medical recommendation or treatments.Any reader of this blog, with problems, should specifically consult his/her doctor for medical conditions and follow the suggested course of treatment’.
Informative. Once I was inflicted with it in 90’s and doctor had recommended nasal spray. I used nasal spray before the arrival of winters and after winters for two consecutive years and after that it never reoccurred
This is really informative. Often due to the lack of information we do not take allergies seriously, it should be shared with all the new parents and soon to be parents.
Thanks Kavita
Allergic Rhinitis is very common these days. Thanks for sharing useful preventive measures would definitely help to tackle this condition in long way
Thank you Dr.bushra for apprecaition.
Wow, didnt know the medical term for allergies is Rhinitis. This is also called Hay fever here in Australia. I loved the tips to prevent the allergic rhinitis.
A very important topic… So many suffer from this and so many still have yet to be diagnosed. This helps both in diagnosis and in management
Allergic rhinitis is very common these days with so many pollutants around. This is a detailed information about it and surely helpful.
Thank you Deepa.
Very informative post. In the current times we are hearing about many new allergies that people are suffering from.
hey thats a very informative post, thanks for sharing!!! would love to read more about it!!!
Thanks for sharing the useful info. I will fwd this to my friends as well.
I am Allergic to various allergens. I am going to make changes based on Your How to beat it and Checklist to avoid problems of Allergic Rhinitis, these are really good pieces of advise, Thank you so much!
Thanks for sharing this info about Allergic rhinitis, which I didnt know much about and I hope someone sufferig from this finds this info and gets the help they need!