Allergic Rhinitis

The nose is a component of the respiratory tract, the first location through which the air passes until it reaches the lungs. Among other duties, is responsible for cleaning, heating and humidification of inspired air.
To perform this function properly, the nose has a complex defense mechanism, which, upon contact with a toxic substance triggers a response that will prevent this substance from reaching the lungs. Through the emergence of nasal obstruction will block the passage of the offending agent, and sneezing and runny removal of this substance. This is normal and all people to come in contact with some toxic substances exhibit these symptoms.
When a person gets the flu presents nasal obstruction, sneezing and runny nose, because your body is trying to protect her, preventing the virus from reaching their lungs through the air.
Allergy, in reality, not a lack of defense of the body, but on the contrary, is an exaggerated defense against agents that are not potentially harmful to humans. That is, a person is allergic to that particular substance is hyperreactive to that for a normal person does not arouse any response. The immune system of allergic individuals, by genetic characteristics, interprets that particular substance is toxic, and that he needs to protect the body of your entry. This is why some people live normally with factors that cause allergy, such as house dust, without symptoms, while other people to come in contact with this same dust may have rhinitis and asthma.
The patient is not born allergic hiperreativo (with allergies), but with the ability to sensitize themselves to a particular factor. Become a sensitive means to have a pass defense response to a substance that was previously tolerated. This means that we can live with a substance for many years, and may develop symptoms only belatedly.
This characteristic is inherited from parents. When a man and a woman have a child allergic, the chance of this child is allergic is about 50%. Moreover, even if no parental allergy present, the child may still have.
This type of allergy may present as rhinitis, conjunctivitis, asthma and some types of skin allergy. But the most common form is allergic rhinitis. About 10 to 25% of people suffer from allergic rhinitis.
Treatment
The treatment of patients with allergic rhinitis consists of three fundamental points:
A-Environmental Hygiene
B-drug treatment
C-Vaccine-allergic
A-Environmental Hygiene
The simplest way to treat allergies is to avoid contact with the substance that triggers the symptoms. For example, if the patient has nasal obstruction, rhinorrhea and sneezing when they eat certain food, the easiest to do is to simply not eat it. Unfortunately, the leading cause of allergic rhinitis is the mite, and it is not easy to avoid contact with him.
Some simple measures can be taken, and will decrease the amount of these insects. The house and especially the room where the patient sleeps should be cleaned often enough. Unfortunately the broom and feather duster just spread the dust in the environment. The vacuum cleaners are able to retain some dirt, but not usually sue filter is designed to clean the air completely, and so often what he does is a spray of dust in the environment. Vacuum cleaners with special filters and high efficiency exist but has a very high cost. In case there is no carpet or rugs on the floor, using damp cloth when cleaning is a very effective way to remove dust.
An important point to be considered is that there is good ventilation in the house and in the bedroom, sunny environments and if possible, to avoid the appearance of mold (fungi).
Moreover, the ideal is that there are no carpets, rugs, curtains, stuffed animals or other furniture or fixtures that may collect dust. Still, one should avoid using and contact with pillows and feather pillows or other material that may cause allergy. The use of protecting covers mattresses and pillows as well as substances to remove dust mites from Environment exhibit efficacy when applied correctly.
These hygiene measures do not end with mites and other allergens, but reduce its amount.
Besides these mediated environmental hygiene, where the goal is to reduce the amount of allergens, it is very important that patients stay away from other substances that can irritate the nose. Smells of perfumes, cleaning products, products to leave the environments with pleasant smell, cigarette smoke, paints, pesticides and pollution, are examples of substances that can irritate the nose and trigger symptoms. Other nonspecific factors such as changes in temperature, humidity and cold air are also harmful to patients.
B-drug treatment
The medical criteria, if these measures fail to control the patient's symptoms, medications may be prescribed.
There are two main groups of drugs may be used. One type works preventively and another only relieves symptoms.
From the pharmacological point of view, we have decongestants, antihistamines, membrane stabilizers, and corticosteroids. Each of these drugs act differently, and none is free of side effects that can sometimes be severe. Therefore, the ideal is not to perform self medication and seek medical advice.
C-Vaccine-allergic
When the processing done under such conditions (environmental hygiene and medicines) fails, can involve the use of anti-allergy vaccine. This treatment is long, but when done correctly, decrease the patient's sensitivity to that substance to which he was allergic. Often we come to the point where there is no more need of medication.
Prevention
The best way to treat allergic rhinitis is to prevention, with measures to reduce the presence of allergens in your home agents. You must always avoid the substances that trigger rhinitis episodes.