Duration : 0:2:3

Technorati Tags: Allergy, skin, testing

Learn more about allergy and immunology services at Penn Medicine: http://www.pennmedicine.org/lung/services/allergy.html

View Dr. Mildred Kwan’s profile: http://www.pennmedicine.org/wagform/mainpage.aspx?config=provider&p=pp&id=12752

This presentation was recorded as part of the Mainly Your Health speaker series at Penn Medicine Valley Forge on April 8, 2011.

Duration : 0:33:53

Technorati Tags: Allergies, Allergy, Food, immunology, lung, mainly your health, mildred kwan, penn medicine, valley forge

This new series explores the conditions and ailments that leave many of us a little red-faced and aims to de-stigmatise common complaints.

Duration : 0:2:47

Technorati Tags: advice, bodies, brighton, c4, care, channel, checkup, doctor, dr, educational, embarrassing, good, gp, heal, Health, hul, illnesses, london, maverick, nhs, pain, physical, recovery, surgery, unusual

Duration : 0:3:4

Technorati Tags: Allergies, hay fever, hayfever, Health, nhs, pollen

Duration : 0:1:54

Technorati Tags: acaai, allergist, allergy diagnosis, specialization, stanley fineman

Duration : 0:8:3

Technorati Tags: Allergies, Animals, Dr. Dixon, Dr. Kirk Dixon, Hilton Head, pet health, pets, veterinary

There are several different types of flea, but by far the most common is Ctenocephalides felis felis, also known as the cat flea. Though it is called the cat flea, it is the species most often found on dogs as well. Unless your pet has a severe infestation, he/she is probably not bothered by the odd flea, unless he/she has a flea allergy. However, since these unpleasant insects also bite humans we are, not surprisingly, somewhat intolerant of them. This article discusses how to tell whether your pet has fleas and, if they do, how to eliminate them from your house.

It is not always obvious when your pet has a flea problem. You may see an adult flea crawling around on your pets skin, especially if they have a pale coat. However, the easiest way to check for the presence of these pesky critters is to look for flea dirt. This is actually flea feces, and appears as tiny black specs near the base of hairs on certain parts of your pets coat, particularly around the rump (on the back, in front of the tail). Since fleas feed on blood, their feces is basically dried blood. When these little black specs come into contact with water, they turn reddish brown. So, try this: moisten a piece of white paper kitchen roll thoroughly and place it on a hard surface. Then, lift your pet above the paper and vigorously rub and scratch his/her back, going against the direction of hair growth, so that as much scurf and debris falls off you pet as possible. Afterwards, examine the wet paper closely. If your pet has fleas, the dried black flea dirt will have fallen onto the wet paper and turned into little red spots.

If you have seen a flea on your pet, or have found flea dirt as described above, then you have a flea infestation to deal with. Do not fear, the problem can be easily resolved by following these simple steps.

1. All pets in the house must be treated with an effective flea treatment.
2. The house must be sprayed to kill any fleas and flea eggs in the environment.

It sounds simple. However, I have lost count of the number of times clients say to me that they have done that already, when in fact they did not do it quite properly and so their flea infestation continued.

1. If one of your pets has fleas, you need to treat them all simultaneously. Your goal is to wipe out every flea in the house, so make sure there is no safe host for them to live on. Remember dogs and cats require different doses of flea treatment products.

Many owners believe that applying a flea product they have bought in a pet shop or supermarket will kill all the fleas in their house, or that a flea collar will provide adequate protection for their pet. Wrong. Purchasing these products is certainly better than doing nothing, but they are nowhere near 100% effective. They are comparatively weak compared to the products you can get from your veterinarian. There are many veterinary recommended products, here is a list of some of the best: Frontline®, Advantage®, Advocate®, K9 Advantix®, Program®, Revolution®, Stronghold®. Most of these are prescription only medicines, meaning they can only be obtained from your veterinarian or with a prescription from your veterinarian. However, Frontline® has recently been granted a general sales license and so can be bought over the counter, or ordered via an internet store.

Once you have purchased one of these recommended products, it is important to apply it correctly. Part the fur on the back of your pets neck and empty the contents of the pipette onto the skin, to form a small puddle of liquid. Applying it to the back of the neck prevents your pet from ingesting it as this is the one place they cannot lick at whilst grooming themselves. Once it is applied, do not wash or bathe your pet for several days and do not let your pet go out in the rain or go swimming, or the product will wash off and be wasted. The liquid is absorbed through the skin and distributed around the body.

Generally these products provide protection for 1 month from the time of application. Frontline® for cats provides 1 month protection vs fleas whilst Frontline® for dogs provides 2 months protection vs fleas, but only 1 month protection vs ticks and so is often applied monthly nevertheless.

2. Spraying the house. This is equally as important as treating your pet, as the major part of the flea life cycle develops off the host, in the environment. Though adult fleas will spend most of their time on your pet, the flea eggs and flea larvae live in the environment, often being concentrated in or near pet sleeping areas. To eliminate the next generation of fleas, the environment must be sprayed thoroughly with an effective spray.

The commercial introduction of Insect Growth Regulators (IGRs) represented a major breakthrough in flea control. These chemicals are highly effective at destroying flea eggs and larvae, and so complement the spot on treatments very well. They are readily available over the counter in many forms, and do not wash off the floor with water so have considerable residual activity; application is required only once every 6-12 months.

So, where and how should you use this household flea spray? The various stages of the flea life cycle are not found on tiled floors, or floors covered with linoleum. They are mainly found in carpets and in cracks of wooden floors. First of all, shut all of the windows in the house. Make sure the house is empty, if this is difficult then shut all of the pets in a room where they seldom go, which you can spray separately later. If you have an aquarium, move it outside or make it airtight as the flea spray can get into the water and kill the fish. Then, go round the whole house spraying anywhere where your pet(s) spend time, concentrating on where they sleep and their favorite lying spots. Remember to move furniture and spray underneath too. Hold the aerosol about 30cm from the surface you are spraying. Once you have sprayed everywhere, leave the house, with the windows closed, for 3 hours. On your return, open all the windows and leave again for a further 30 minutes. Then go back and vacuum clean the entire house thoroughly. Remove the vacuum cleaner bag or empty the container immediately.

Following this technique will ensure swift eradiation of the fleas both on your pet and in your house. Good luck!

Matthew Homfray
http://www.articlesbase.com/pets-articles/fleas-how-to-rid-your-pet-of-them-71639.html

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

Food allergy is easy to cure when on talks about psychological methods. But it is advisable to practice other types of methods which are available. This is because one type of treatment might suit a person but not others. From psychologists’ point of view, food allergy is something associated with illness or emotional experiences. But many people are unaware of it.

For example when you were young you would have had nausea or headaches from bugs and you would normally associate that with the food which you have consumed at that time. It could upset you emotionally and reminds you of the symptoms of the disease when you experience the same thing repeatedly in the following days.

If you want to eliminate the allergy in psychological origins, you must successfully transmit the message to the subconscious mind so that you are not affected emotionally. You could get assisted by any hypnotist or your friend about this process.

You need to go in detail so that you get to know the cause of the food allergy it is important to connect food allergy and your first incident into your life. You will surely know what had happened at the time when you had consumed food. But you needn’t be upset; your thinking gets better as you mature from the young age. Discard all your emotions which have been going through your mind because of the allergy caused by food. Think positive to recover from the distressful situation.

Often it could be caused by what your doctors, parents, teachers have said or may be what your have seen in connection to the allergy. What ever it may be, there existed something which was imprinted subconsciously. So you never want those kinds of conditions to prevail. If you know how food allergy was caused then it is simple to figure out the cure.

Talking to the subconscious mind and just leaving it free to do what the therapist had advised needs an initiative and a command. Your therapist could ask it to disconnect everything that is associated to the food allergy in every level of your subconscious mind, so that you will never be bothered by that condition.

Any of your friends can do it. For example, let your friend begin the procedure by clapping her/his hands or snapping her/his fingers. You could close your eyes and start to imagine eating the food that caused the allergy. Now you will know how you feel. This could sound a bit ridiculous for non therapists but it does a lot of good for the sufferers.
It actually helps you to discover the allergy in a simpler way for the sufferers.

Your subconscious mind is something which follows order and not regarded a reasonable mind. Once again try to get a picture of the foods which you are allergic from, imagine until the allergy food symptoms appear. You can now observe your feelings. Incase the symptoms are being felt by you; it means that it is still ringing in your mind. The procedure is repeated till your yield positive results.

This method could make a difference but it doesn’t provide any guarantee. During emotional upset Food allergies could be recurrent. You must repeat the procedure again until you are relieved and no more upset. Allergies caused by food with psychological origin are treated in this manner. But, it is always advisable to visit the doctor for consultation.

Abhishek Agarwal
http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/food-allergy-treatment-curing-it-psychologically-708837.html

A person can be very fond of an egg and on the other hand another person is allergic to egg. An egg is not at all bad but if a person is allergic to an egg, it means that the body’s immune system overreacts to proteins in the egg. Living with an egg allergy means you have to be aware of what you’re eating and read food labels carefully when you buy stuffs from shops. This label requirement makes things a little easier than reading the ingredients list — instead of needing to know that the ingredient “ovoglobulin” comes from egg protein, you should be able to tell at a glance which foods to avoid.  Every time something made with eggs enters the digestive system of a person with an egg allergy, the body thinks that these proteins are harmful invaders. The immune system responds by creating specific antibodies to that food, which are designed to fight off the “invader”. These antibodies — called immunoglobulin E (IgE) — triggers the release of certain chemicals into the body, one of which is histamine. So when a person with an egg allergy eats a food that contains eggs, the immune system unleashes an army of chemicals to protect the body. The release of these chemicals can affect the respiratory system, gastrointestinal tract, skin, and the cardiovascular system — causing allergy symptoms like wheezing, nausea, headache, stomachache, and itchy hives.

Egg allergy usually first appears when kids are very young, and most kids outgrow it by the time they’re 5 years old. It usually happens within minutes to hours after eating eggs. Most reactions last less than a day and may affect any of three body systems: -

Skin – in the form of red, bumpy rashes (hives), eczema, or redness and swelling around the mouth;

Gastrointestinal tract – in the form of belly cramps, diarrhea, nausea, or vomiting;

Respiratory tract – symptoms can range from a runny nose, itchy, watery eyes, and sneezing to the triggering of asthma with coughing and wheezing.

A few people may have a very strong reaction called anaphylaxis. This severe allergic reaction causes swelling of the mouth, throat, and airways leading to the lungs, resulting in breathing difficulty. In addition, there is a dangerous drop in blood pressure, which can make someone dizzy or may quickly lead to shock.

With severe allergic conditions its better to consult an allergist. Allergists diagnose, monitor, and treat allergies and related conditions like asthma, eczema and hay fever. You may need to find an allergist if you’ve experienced food allergy symptoms, if your allergy specialist or general practitioner wants to refer you for further allergy testing, or if you’ve moved and need an already diagnosed allergy monitored or treated. In some cases, you may be limited by a scarcity of allergists in your geographic area or by your health insurance. Much of the time, however, you’ll have a choice of allergists in your geographic area. You’ll want to look for many of the same things you’d look for in any medical practitioner: an organized and well-run practice, willingness to answer your questions, and an appropriate background with respect to credentials, certifications, and continuing education. The best place to find allergists are through your general practitioner and through family, friends, or other acquaintances that are currently seeing, or have previously seen, an allergist. Your may have a list of allergists, online resources can also help you make a decision, allows you to search allergists in a given geographic area and will provide you with free reports on board certifications, disciplinary actions, hospital affiliation, and education — all things you’ll want to know about before you settle on a practice.

The allergy specialist will want to know —how often you have the reaction, the time it takes between eating a particular food and the start of the symptoms, and whether any family members have allergies or conditions like eczema and asthma. The allergy specialist may perform a skin test on you. This test involves placing liquid extracts of egg protein on a person’s forearm or back, pricking the skin a tiny bit, and waiting to see if reddish raised spot forms, indicating an allergic reaction. Some doctors may also take a blood sample and send it to a lab where it will be mixed with some of the suspected allergen and checked for IgE antibodies. Treating egg allergy might seem simple — you just don’t eat eggs. But so many foods are made with eggs and egg products that it can be really hard to know. If you have a severe egg allergy — or any kind of serious allergy — your doctor may want you to carry a shot of epinephrine with you in case of an emergency.

Bryan Morris
http://www.articlesbase.com/diseases-and-conditions-articles/egg-allergy-causes-cure-689166.html