10 Facts You Must Know About Allergies
6. Changing locations in vain
Imagine someone with an environmental allergy moving one home from the other to get rid of the pollens entering his/her body? Sounds quite funny, but there are people who do that. People who have pollen allergy think that by moving to lesser green areas, they will be able to get rid of the allergy but that’s doesn’t work, unfortunately. The wind will make the pollens follow you to your new home too. If you have indoor allergies, this technique might just work, though. For pollen, dust or mold allergies, you have to stick to your basic preventions such as wearing a cloth over your nose and mouth, sunglasses for protection and taking mild anti-histamines if required.
7. Remedial choice
Have you been in a situation where a friend tells you to use natural therapy to alleviate allergy while an aunt of yours tells you to pop a pill? Well, there are always going to be multiple schools of thought in this regard. I personally think that it’s best to try out natural remedies if your condition is not too severe. My condition used to be mid-severe due to which I used to choose from anti-histamines (after consultation with my GP). For those of you who have excessive allergy issues that don’t allow you to function normally, then you may pursue ‘Desensitization’ which is like a vaccination given to allergies’ victims to increase their tolerance to allergens. They don’t cure allergies, of course. Consult your doctor before administering anything. Don’t take allergy very lightly, treating as a non-medical situation, and trying out random remedies!
8. New developments
I found this to be very interesting. If you have heard of nicotine patches before, you might want to try this – a skin patch allergy test is simply placing a patch of the suspected allergen on your skin, then the GP or the allergist reads the results. This helps in diagnosing allergy conditions. Unfortunately, this technique is not yet fool proof for detecting environmental or food allergies but it detects some skin allergies. Who knows, in the next 5 years, there will be patches detecting pollens too!
9. Don’t settle for the quick fix
Okay, so now you’re on level three, where you even know about the various control remedial methods for allergy. And you have that packet of anti-histamine pills in your medicine closet. But be careful – if you start getting into the habit of popping pills, one day, your body will start to getting used to it and the effectiveness of the pill will go down the drain. On the more perilous side, too much of anti-allergic drugs may interfere with mental functioning and motor skills. It’s your choice – would you rather end up in the hospital later on or take observational and preventive natural care from the beginning?
10. Nutty problems
If you love nuts, almonds and raisins to no end, then it’s very obvious that you wouldn’t be able to resist putting your hands into that bowl whilst watching TV. But if you’re feeling uncomfortable after eating them, then take that as an indication to start observing the effects they have on you. Is it giving you a sore throat? Rashes on the skin? Sometimes, allergic problems appear not due to the nut itself, but due to the wrong method and oils in which it is roasted. So the next time someone offers you this delicious nut, you’ll have to say No!
Just like any other medical problem, it is important to understand the nature of allergy and then see how you can get rid of it. Now armed with all this knowledge, you’re going to be in a way better position to combat alergens.
