Allergic Rhinitis

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• Rhinitis means “inflammation of the nose.” It is caused by the body’s reaction to airborne allergens, irritants or viruses. 

• The nose produces mucus to trap dust, viruses or allergens and prevents them from entering into the lungs. These particles drain down your throat instead of going into your lungs.
• Infections and allergies can both cause rhinitis, but the time frame differs. Rhinitis from a cold is temporary, gets well in a few days or a week. 
• Individuals with allergies can have chronic rhinitis lasting weeks or months at a time. Chronic rhinitis may even be present year-round if your allergy triggers are present perennial in your environment.  
• For details kindly read A simple guide to allergic rhinitis diagnosis and management

Allergic Rhinitis symptoms are similar cold or any other allergies, including: 

• itching in the nose and eyes. 
• excessive sneezing.
• stuffy or blocked nose.
• congestion.
• runny watery nose. 
• postnasal drip. 

Your doctor will :

• Ask in detail about your medical history, including the frequency and severity of symptoms
• Perform a thorough physical examination.

Your doctor will then look for clues to identify your allergies. Do you spend a lot of time outdoors? You might be allergic to pollen or mold. Are you living with a pet? It can be an animal dander. Do you wake up at late night or in the early morning with an itchy nose and eyes? Likely dust mites. 

For confirming the diagnosis, your doctor may advise an allergy skin prick or blood test. A positive test may suggest sensitivity to a particular allergen. Diagnosis occurs when the history of symptoms, clinical features matches the allergy test result.  For detail reading kindly click here

 Managing clinical manifestations and avoiding triggers is the best way to keep rhinitis under control. Of course, these days now allergy immunotherapy is available to take control. Diagnosing what triggers your rhinitis and avoiding them is the first step.

For Snoring or sleep apneas subject guidance and treatment click here

These steps may include: 

• Avoiding smoke from tobacco or chulhas, aggarbattis, dhoop, etc. So use smokeless chulhas, low smoke, or charcoal-free agarbattis
• Avoiding perfumes, hair spray, or other strong scents (you may need to discuss with family, friends, and coworkers if they use products that trigger rhinitis) 
• Avoid scented cleaning agents, you can use alternative options of  orderless cleaning agents

If avoidance isn’t enough and clinical symptoms arise, you can manage them with:

• over-the-counter (OTC) and prescription antihistamine medication 
• nasal irrigation by saline
• nasal sprays, either OTC or prescription 
• correction and treatment of nasal polyps or deviated septum to improve breathing .

Lifestyle management strategies for allergy include:   

     Diagnosis of allergy, with skin prick test like dustmite, pollen, fungus, etc and avoidance of their contact with body by following measures.

• keep windows and doors shut down to keep pollen out. How? can use this tools, click here for details
• avoid stuffed toys, Bedding, mattresses, carpets, etc from the accumulation of dust mite antigen by sunlight, warm wash, dustmite mattresses, air purifiers, or Hepa filter vaccuum cleaners. You can access our allergy store products from here
• limiting outdoor activities when pollen levels in atmosphere are high — usually in the morning till the late afternoon; if you want to go outside, consider wearing an anti pollen face mask  
• cleaning or replacing the filters in your home once a month, specially during your allergy season is very beneficial.
• Bathing before going to bed to remove pollen from your body; be sure to wash your hair along with it, to remove deposited pollens there.   
• For preventing and treatment of sleep apneas and snoring click here