Hay fever is an allergy to pollen that affects around one in four people. An expert explains how it’s diagnosed, symptoms and treatment
for more information on hay fever go to http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/Hay-fever/Pages/Introduction.aspx
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Hay fever is an annoying condition that nearly 30% of Americans suffer from. It’s not serious but its symptoms can cause plenty of discomfort and inconvenience. It’s also not something you should treat on your own, especially if you’re basing your self-diagnosis on perceived symptoms alone. You’ll need a good hay fever doctor to help you manage and treat this condition. Here are ways on how to find one:
Look for a specialist
Hay fever is actually a type of rhinitis that results from an allergic reaction to pollens. It’s seasonal, which means you will suffer from it only on certain times of the year and usually during the same season. The allergic reaction comes as a result of inhaling airborne pollens. It then causes symptoms such as wheezing, coughing and runny nose.
If you have been referring your medical problems to a general practitioner, then you might want to find a doctor who specializes in allergies. These doctors are referred to as allergists and they are better trained than a general practitioner in diagnosing and treating your hay fever. Do this if your symptoms are especially bad.
A GP will probably be able to help you with your condition but it will still be a good idea to talk to an allergist. Allergists are specialists who have trained for at least two years in the understanding and treatment of allergies. They are more likely to have a better grip on what your problem is and can guide you on what to do.
Ask for a referral from your GP
Your family doctor can help you locate a good allergist. Allergies are quite common and your GP probably has a list of fellow doctors who specialize in their diagnosis and treatment.
Ask friends and family for referrals
If you have any relatives or friends who also have problems with hay fever, ask who their doctor is. It’s likely you’ll find someone who can help you with your condition if he or she is a doctor trusted by a close family member or friend.
Look for hay fever doctors in your area
Not every allergist will advertise on the Yellow Pages but it won’t hurt if you checked the listings. You could also find hay fever doctors in trade journals or through local medical clubs or associations.
If you want to check your hay fever doctor’s credentials, you might also try www.aaaai.org, the website of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology. This site has a listing of practicing allergists whom you could get in touch with in your area.
Raily Arena
http://www.articlesbase.com/alternative-medicine-articles/hay-fever-doctor-finding-the-best-in-your-area-728087.html
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A very effective and natural way to deal with hay fever without medication is presented. I hope this will help many people who suffers from this seasonal problem like me. More information may be found at www.hayfeverok.com
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Allergy is the most common illness in the world. It is characterized by the immune system’s reaction to substances that are viewed by the body as potentially harmful. The body launches an attack on these substances which is manifested by the symptoms experienced in an allergy attack. There are many substances that can cause an allergic reaction. Among them are peanuts, shellfish, eggs, milk, dust, insect bites and pollen.
Also known as allergic rhinitis, hay fever is usually characterized by an allergic reaction to pollen. The illness is named after the “haying season” when pollen grains in the air are in abundance. Since pollen carried by the wind is the more popular culprit, you should be aware of the most common plants releasing these pollen grains in the air. Trees including birch, alder, hazel, hornbeam, horse chestnut, willow, poplar, plane, lime and olive cause hay fever. Among these, birch and olive pollen are the most dominant. On the other hand, grass pollen from rye and timothy are responsible for about 90% of the total hay fever cases.
Effects of hay fever vary form person to person. Some experience mild reactions while others suffer severe reactions. Symptoms of the illness include coughing, headache, itching nose, runny nose and sneezing. You might also experience impaired smelling functions and sensitivity to flavors. Your eyes will water from the irritation in your nose. Sore throat, wheezing and conjunctivitis are also common reactions.
Hay fever is usually diagnosed by determining the patient’s history of symptoms. Your doctor will ask you the frequency of your symptoms, severity and onset. Changes in your diet, exposure to pets and allergens as well as weather conditions will all be considered in the evaluation for hay fever. Skin testing is also performed to determine specific sensitivity to particular allergens. Since cross-reactivity is normal, your doctor will naturally check you for reactions to cross-reacting substances.
To prevent hay fever, you should avoid being exposed to pollen. If you must go outdoors, try to wear a protective face mask for filtering pollen. You should also avoid going out during the early mornings and evenings when pollen levels are high. When drying your clothes, never put them outside where they can be exposed to pollen. The pollen will attach to the clothes you placed outside for longer than a moment and if you wear these clothes it’s possible that you could have an allergic reaction. Another activity you should avoid is mowing your lawn. This activity will disperse pollen in the air, increasing your chances for a hay fever attack. Some doctors recommend putting little cream on the nostrils and around the eyes to prevent pollen from entering these areas.
There are currently several available medications for treating symptoms of hay fever. These include fast-acting antihistamines, short-acting antihistamines, longer-acting antihistamines, leukotriene receptor antagonists, corticosteroid nasal sprays, topical decongestants, cromolyn sodium, allergy shots and herbal remedies. Any of these medications can relieve symptoms of hay fever effectively. You should make sure that when taking these medications, you will not be driving or operating heavy machineries since drowsiness can be experienced when taking medication like antihistamines.
Sven Ullmann
http://www.articlesbase.com/diseases-and-conditions-articles/hay-fever-allergy-113758.html
hay fever, also known as allergic rhinitis, can cause cold-like symptoms such as a runny nose, congestion, sneezing or sinus pressure. However, unlike a cold, hay fever isn’t caused by a virus. It’s caused by an allergic response to specific substances in your environment. Learn about the different causes, symptoms, and treatments for hay fever in this health video.
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Hay fever or allergic rhinitis is a common allergic response to specific substances in your environment. Hay fever is one of the most common allergic conditions in the United States.
Seasonal hay fever is triggered by tree pollen, grasses or weeds and other plants. Year-round symptoms can occur if you have indoor allergy to dust mites, cockroaches, mold or pet dander.
Mild hay fever symptoms can be managed effectively with over-the-counter medications. Year-round symptoms or severe seasonal hay fever symptoms may require an allergy specialist for appropriate evaluation and treatment. My year-round allergy symptoms are managed effectively by an internist. An internist is a physician who specializes in adult diseases.
Without proper treatment of hay fever symptoms there can be an increase of more allergic conditions such as asthma or eczema. Uncontrolled hay fever symptoms will impair the quality of your everyday life.
Hay fever symptoms include:
Runny nose
Watery nose
Congestion
Frequent sneezing
Itchy eyes, nose, roof of mouth or throat
Swollen, blue-colored skin under eyes
Postnasal drip
Cough
Sleeplessness
Fatigue
Irritability
Facial pressure and pain
Hay fever symptoms are similar to the symptoms of a common cold, however, there are differences. Hay fever does not mean you are allergic to hay and is not triggered by hay. It does not cause a fever. The probable cause is an allergic reaction to pollen or mold. Heredity plays a role in determining who becomes allergic including hay fever. If allergies or asthma runs in your family, you may be more likely to develop hay fever.
You are most likely to develop hay fever during childhood or early adulthood, but it can begin at any age. As you get older, symptoms may worsen or improve. I have noticed my hay fever seems to be diminishing; however, this could also be due to better allergy medication.
Treatment for hay fever symptoms:
Your doctor will identify what allergy triggers your symptoms and then develop a plan to avoid and/or cope with those substances. Review the following treatment options:
Nasal corticosteroids sprays
Antihistamines relieve itching, sneezing and runny nose. Common antihistamines include Benadryl, Chlor-Trimeton, Tavist, Claritin
Decongestants are often used in combination with antihistamines and include Sudafed, Actifed
Cromolyn sodium helps relieve hay fever symptoms by preventing the release of histamine.
Leukotriene modifier: A prescription tablet taken to block the action of leukotrienes
Nasal atropine helps relieve a severe runny nose
It is important to talk to your doctor before taking any over-the-counter medications for hay fever especially if you have a chronic health condition that requires you to take other prescription drugs. You will need to know whether or not there could be a drug interaction or other adverse effect.
I will never forget the time I was seeing an internist for an upper respiratory problem, who prescribed a medication that if taken with other medications I was on could have caused an instant fatal heart attack. The pharmacist is the one who warned me of this. It is important to stay alert when taking several different kinds of medications. It is not always the doctor who can give or who gives you all the medicine’s side effects. A good pharmacist has a wealth of knowledge about drugs and their interactions with each other. Make it a practice to always ask your pharmacist about side effects and interactions as well as your doctor. I did change internist after that incident and was then diagnosed correctly and given the appropriate medications for my hay fever symptoms.
If medications do not relieve your hay fever symptoms, your doctor may recommend allergy shot therapy. The goal of immunotherapy or desensitization therapy is to desensitize you to specific allergens, reduce your signs and symptoms, and decrease your need for medications. Allergy shots are usually given over a period of three to five years to reach this goal.
Source: Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research
Disclaimer: *This article is not meant to diagnose, treat or cure any kind of a health problem. These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. Always consult with your health care provider about any kind of a health problem and especially before beginning any kind of an exercise routine.
This article is FREE to publish with the resource box. Article written 4-2007.
Connie Limon
http://www.articlesbase.com/medicine-articles/hay-fever-symptoms-and-treatment-139492.html
An allergy specialist explains who’s most likely to be affected by hay fever and how you can prevent and relieve the symptoms.
For more information on hay fever go to http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/Hay-fever/Pages/Introduction.aspx
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Atopic dermatitis or atopic eczema can be caused by more than one allergen. Allergens may be food, pollen, dust mites, perfume or drugs. As such, eczema is a condition that has close ties with another allergy oriented problem, hay fever. Approximately forty five million American citizens suffer from one allergy or another.
Hay fever is also known as allergic rhinitis. The name hay fever came about because many people who worked with hay in farms years ago often develop respiratory symptoms such as sneezing as well as sinus and nasal congestion afterwards. The three most popular symptoms of an allergic reaction are asthma, eczema and hay fever.
Hence, those with eczema may also get hay fever as well. Their risks to developing allergic rhinitis rise lie in the fact of how their bodies treat allergens that get into the body. Allergens are considered as foreign invaders, triggering a chain of events that ultimately results in an inflammatory response. Antibodies are sent to protect the body from this intruder and a fight ensues between antibodies and allergens. Your body then brings on the release of histamine, which floods your bloodstream. Histamine sets off the allergic symptoms that you observe in your body as it tries to ward off its attackers.
If you get hay fever, you can experience several symptoms which include itchy, watery eyes, nasal congestion, nasal congestion and headaches. Other symptoms can also include sore throats, problems with their hearing, coughing problems and hoarseness. Symptoms that are less common are problems with balance, irritation of the skin surface, inflammation that erupts in the face or tissues of the throat and sometimes respiratory problems such as asthma.
Hay fever is triggered by pollens in the air. In the United States the most common pollen to start hay fevers is the ragweed. Pollination season of ragweed starts in late summer, sometime in late August and ends when winter appears. The pollens that come from the grass in the latter half of the spring season include orchard, red top, timothy, Bermuda, Johnson, a variety of bluegrasses and sweet vernal. The pollen that shows up in the early start of spring comes from a multitude of trees. These tree pollens include alder, ash, beech, birch, cottonwood, cypress, elm, hickory, maple, oak, pecan, poplar, sycamore and walnut.
Mold is another common allergen that can cause serious threats to hay fever and eczema sufferers. Mold spores are believed to be the cause of just as many allergic reactions as are pollens. These allergens tend to affect sufferers more adversely in the colder months due to indoor heating and the fact that fresh air is not as plentiful.
Understanding about how your body reacts to the different allergens is important whether you suffer from eczema or hay fever or both. With no clear understanding, it will not be easy to look for the best treatment option for yourself.
Evelyn Lim
http://www.articlesbase.com/non-fiction-articles/hay-fever-risks-increases-in-eczema-patients-200187.html
