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Hay Fever, Seasonal Allergic Rhinitis, or What You Will

Doc Gumshoe checks in on the sniffles

By Michael Jorrin, "Doc Gumshoe", August 25, 2014

[ed. note: Michael Jorrin, who I like to call “Doc Gumshoe,” is a longtime medical writer (not a doctor) who shares his non-investing thoughts with us once or twice a month. His words and thoughts are his own. My eyes are red this time of year, so I read this one with interest.]

Just about everybody has sneezing fits from time to time, sometimes accompanied by watery, itchy eyes and other mildly annoying afflictions. And who can get through a season without an occasional stuffed-up nose? Many people regard these symptoms as normal responses to the presence of stuff in the environment to which they are allergic, whatever that means. And lots of people, when that time of year rolls around when whatever they are allergic to – grass and tree pollens, ragweed, goldenrod – is on the upswing, resort to over-the-counter antihistamines to keep the sneezing fits under some sort of control.

If that’s all there was to it, Doc Gumshoe would not be composing this epistle. But, as it happens, seasonal allergic rhinitis is more than a normal vexation, to be weathered with a packet of OTC pills and a big wad of Kleenex. Here are some tidbits of data:

  • Based on a number of different surveys, around 80 million persons in the US have at least 7 days per year of seasonal allergic rhinitis symptoms.
  • A 23,000 person sample found that more than 8% had physician-diagnosed allergic rhinitis.
  • Children and young people have a higher prevalence of allergic rhinitis.
  • Other surveys report that the economic burden of allergic rhinitis (combining seasonal with perennial) comes to $3.4 billion, a good part of which is accounted for by those OTC medications.
  • Absenteeism caused by allergic rhinitis is estimated to cost employers in the US about $250 million per year, and as many as a third of employees missed at least one day of work due to allergic rhinitis.
  • It is estimated that about 3.5 million work days per year are lost because of allergic rhinitis, as well as about 2 million school days.
  • Also, more than 80% of persons surveyed report that when they are affected by allergic rhinitis symptoms they are about one quarter less effective.
  • And finally, some employees surveyed report being affected by allergic symptoms about 70 days per year.

Beyond concluding that hay fever, or allergic rhinitis (whether perennial or seasonal) is definitely more than a trivial bother, I don’t want to make too much of those numbers. Experts like to put numbers to things, but what I want to stress is that allergic rhinitis is common, consequential, and costly.

Seasonal versus perennial allergic rhinitis

The difference between these is the particular allergic trigger. People with seasonal allergic rhinitis (SAR) are allergic to tree pollens, which are prevalent in early to late spring, or also possibly to grass pollens, prevalent in late spring through summer, or also possibly to various weeds (ragweed et al), prevalent in late summer to early fall, or also possibly to outdoor mold spores (late summer until winter).

People with perennial allergic rhinitis (PAR) can be allergic to indoor molds, house dust mites, cockroaches, and some animals, especially cats. As it happens, as more of our population lives in urban environments, PAR is gaining on SAR in prevalence.

Another factor in allergic rhinitis, whether seasonal or perennial, is a vexing phenomenon called “priming.” The way it works is this: a person is initially exposed to a high enough dose of a particular allergic trigger to set off an allergic reaction. It usually takes a fairly high initial concentration of the allergen to trigger the allergic reaction, but once that has taken place, the person is primed, and subsequent exposures to very small concentrations of that allergen may be enough to trigger another allergic reaction. Thus, when ragweed season sets in, the person may go for several days before feeling any of the usual symptoms, but once the first bout of “hay fever” takes place, the symptoms will persist, triggered daily by much smaller amounts of the ragweed pollen, because the person has become primed, or hypersensitive to that particular allergen. The amounts of allergen that can trigger subsequent symptoms may be as small as one one-hundredth as the original trigger.

Also, and perhaps of even greater consequence, once primed, the person can develop sensitivity to other triggers in the environment – not necessarily allergens of any kind – and those triggers can also result in the same symptoms as the allergens to which the person is sensitive. Those non-allergic triggers include such stimuli as tobacco smoke, perfume, air pollution (e.g. car exhaust), hot or cold drinks, exercise, or even strong emotions.

Allergic response and immune response – what’s the difference?

An allergic response is a kind of immune response. In general, any physiologic response to any invader is an immune response. Our bodies learn to recognize harmful invaders, such as pathogenic microbes, and attempt to mount defenses. Part of the immune response consists in identifying the dangerous invaders and calling out a defending army, which can be cells or complex molecules that attack and destroy the enemy.

An autoimmune response is when this process is turned against our own cells, and is the underlying cause of a great many serious diseases.

Allergies are responses to invading substances that are not necessarily harmful. I am fiercely allergic to crabmeat, but not, thank Heaven to any other seafood – and my wife loves crabmeat. What would be harmful to me is not the crabmeat itself, but the reaction that I mount if I should happen, by mistake, to eat crabmeat.

People with allergies appear to be somewhat different from our luckier non-allergic fellow humans. We tend to produce a different variety of immunoglobulins – IgE – when challenged with certain substances, whereas the rest of the population produces IgG.

When an allergic person (sometimes also called an atopic person) is exposed to certain substances, he or she will express IgE molecules, which will coat cells in the throat, nasal passages, eyes, and even the entrance to the GI tract. These cells, called mast cells, then degranulate (break up) and set in motion a great number of different responses. The one most prominent in many allergic reactions is the release of histamine, which cases edema (swelling) of the mucous tissues in the nasal passages and the eyes and itching in various parts of the body. The histamine reaction typically occurs very quickly, usually within 15 minutes.

The allergic response also includes the summoning of other cells – eosinophils, neutrophils, basophils – to the site of the allergic reaction. These cells bring about an inflammatory response, usually about 8 to 12 hours after the initial histamine response. The histamine response is sometimes called the early-phase response, and the inflammatory response is called the late-phase response.

In plain language, that’s why, when hay fever strikes, people first respond with sneezing and itching and watery eyes, and later on they get stuffed-up noses.

But that’s also why, in trying to deal with hay fever (or SAR) the antihistamine pill often doesn’t do the job.

Symptoms of SAR and/or PAR

“What!” you say. “Doc Gumshoe is going to tell me about my symptoms? I know darn well what they are and what they feel like.” Well, maybe so and maybe not.

Starting with the eyes, there’s itching, tearing, puffiness around the eyes, redness in the eyes themselves caused by too much blood in the blood vessels on the surface, and also actual pain. Of course, nasal symptoms are foremost – the nose runs (rhinorrhea) or is stuffed up, and the annoying post-nasal drip is common. And then there are those paroxysmal sneezing fits.

Typically, the parade of symptoms in the course of a day during the time when a person is affected by seasonal allergies is sneezing in the morning, runny nose and more sneezing as the day goes on, and then – perhaps the most bothersome symptom of all – the stuffy nose at bedtime.

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One of the little tricks that folks with hay fever try to stave off a sneezing fit is to put a finger to the tip of the nose and push upward. (Sometimes it does work; I’ve done it during a concert where the sound of a sneeze would be unwelcome.) People sometimes also try to open their nasal passages that way. This is called the “allergic salute.” It may result in a little wrinkle across the bridge of the nose, which some doctors can spot the minute you walk into the consulting room.

And then there are other symptoms. People in the grip of a bout of allergic rhinitis can develop painful sinus headaches or earaches, as well as sore throats (usually mild). And sometimes the whole oral cavity and throat develop persistent itching sensations, which, of course, are almost impossible to alleviate by scratching, although people try to deal with the itch by means of stratagems like clearing the throat or forcing air through a constricted pharynx.

The sense of taste and smell may also be diminished. Or, to be more precise, when for any reason our sense of smell is dialed down, we find that we can’t taste much of anything – that’s because a major part of what we think of as the taste of food is conveyed by the sense of smell.

Finally, some people find that hay fever season leaves them tired and unable to get a good night’s sleep, which is doubtless why those who are most susceptible find that they are less effective at work.

There is also non-allergic rhinitis. Some people can develop similar symptoms from exposure to non-allergens, such as perfumes, some spicy foods, tobacco smoke, and even some bright lights and sudden changes in temperature. Mostly these people don’t itch, but then can certainly have the usual hay fever nasal symptoms. It’s important for those people to understand their condition, because trying to treat the non-allergic variant with anti-allergic remedies like antihistamines has a scant chance of success.

By now surely everybody knows that you have to go easy on nasal decongestant sprays. The temptation, in hay fever season, to deal with the stuffed-up nose with decongestant sprays is hard to resist. A few squirts in each nostril opens the nasal passages just fine. The only problem is that after as few as 4 or 5 doses, the treatment backfires – the nasal passages block up worse than ever. There’s obstruction, inflammation, hyperemia (meaning that the nose is suffused with blood), sometimes breakthrough nosebleeds, and the nose may take on an unattractive purple hue. Some people (certainly not any readers of these sermons) may think that when they get this result from the nasal decongestant it’s because they haven’t used enough, so they redouble the dose, which may work, but just a little bit. Then the congestion comes back with a vengeance. There are unfortunate souls out there who are addicted to nasal decongestants. Most of the time their nasal passages are as though packed with concrete, with only brief periods of respite during which they can breathe through their noses. It can take weeks for addicted persons to get weaned off nasal decongestants.

About one in five persons with allergic rhinitis, whether seasonal or perennial, will also have bronchial symptoms – wheezing, coughing, shortness of breath, chest tightness. These tend not to be part of the early-phase allergic response, but to develop hours or even days after the onset of the usual allergic rhinitis symptoms. Bronchial symptoms are due to an inflammatory response, due not so much to histamine release from mast cells, but to the release of inflammatory cells in the pharynx which travel to the bronchi and cause trouble.

The late-phase allergic response and the possibility of bronchial symptoms are important factors in managing SAR or PAR; in severely-affected individuals, trying to deal with the early-phase response with antihistamines may not be sufficient.

I’m steering clear of asthma in this installment, because it’s a large and very important subject and I don’t want to give it short shrift. Enough to say for now that asthma attacks can certainly be triggered by an allergic response, and are subject to the same priming phenomenon as SAR, meaning that once having manifested an allergic response with an asthma attack, the patient can (and likely will) have repeated asthma attacks in response to a large range of other non-allergenic stimuli. But the management of asthma differs greatly from the management of allergic rhinitis and deserves another epistle.

Now we come to the management of hay fever, or whatever …

People who aren’t susceptible to allergic rhinitis are apt to say, “What’s the big deal?” It’s true that people with mild cases can mostly just ride it out. They sneeze and itch for a few days, then the worst of it passes, and life returns to normal. But there are some people who are made genuinely miserable, for more than just a few days, and it’s not just a small minority (as those pesky statistics I put up at the beginning of this piece attest). A factor in the management of SAR, however, is that there are lots of people who are too embarrassed to seek medical help for a supposedly trivial ailment. Beyond looking for some over-the-counter antihistamines, they grit their teeth and apply tissues to their noses.

The question is, what should they do instead?

A first move is to figure out what it is that they are allergic to, and avoid it if at all possible. This is more crucial in the case of perennial AR, since the culprit is apt to be in the afflicted person’s normal environment – the cat, the carpet, the upholstered furniture, the attic, the cellar, the air conditioner, the humidifier.

It’s a bit easier with seasonal allergies, because we can figure out what’s producing pollens when we’re most affected. For example, if you live in a part of the country where there’s a lot of Russian thistle (aka tumbleweed), and you’re allergic to tumbleweed pollen, of which there are huge quantities, you might keep the windows in your house shut and run the air conditioner when these nasty (although picturesque) weeds are putting out the pollen. Same thing with the car. And, of course, the same thing goes for other common allergens: if you know what your allergens are, try to avoid them.

So how can you be sure what your allergens are?

Well, there are tests. The simplest is the skin prick test. Little sample dabs of the suspected allergens are put on the skin, and the skin is lightly pricked to permit the allergens to penetrate. In about 15 or 20 minutes, the skin will redden and swell in response to the samples to which the person being tested is allergic. Typically, several samples at a time are tested, and the allergist identifies the patches of skin on the patient by writing numbers next to the test patches, so that if number 6 reacts, by golly, the patient is indeed allergic to maple pollen, or ragweed, or whatever.

A variant of skin testing is intradermal testing, in which the suspected allergic trigger is injected more deeply beneath the skin. This is normally reserved to test whether the patient is allergic to a drug.

A potential problem with the skin test is that if the patient is already in the throes of an allergic episode, he or she is likely to respond positively to just about every challenge, so the test doesn’t single out the culprit. Patients are best advised to do their allergy testing not in the season when they are most susceptible to SAR. For PAR patients, that may not be possible, so the allergist may have to resort to other tactics to get the patient to a state where the test will produce useful results.

Some patients cannot take a skin test because the test will not produce reliable results if the patient it taking certain drugs, such as some older antihistamines, OTC drugs for reflux, or some antidepressants. In that case, the allergist may resort to the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) blood test.

Specific SAR/PAR treatment strategies

By now, most people have moved beyond the old first-generation antihistamines such as Benadryl (diphenhydramine), Tavist (clemastine) or Chlor-Trimeton (chlorpheniramine). They had their virtues, one of which was that in addition to quelling the immediate allergic reaction, they had a sedative effect. Thus, if a person developed a fierce allergic itch just before bedtime, a Benadryl might be just the ticket. But they had other effects as well, such as making people very thirsty. And the sedating antihistamines as a class are off limits to airplane pilots, according to Air Traffic Control regulations. They are also strongly not recommended for persons who are going to drive a motor vehicle; in fact, some people involved in accidents while “under the influence” of a non-sedating antihistamine have been charged with DUI.

The new class of non-sedating antihistamines (now about 20 years old) is said by some to have somewhat less potent allergy-quelling effects than the previous, sedating antihistamines. Among the more widely-used are cetirizine (Zyrtec), desloratadine (Clarinex), fexofenadine (Allegra), and loratadine (Claritin). Loratadine was among the first of the non-sedating antihistamines to come on the market and is the only one of that group of three agents to have survived. The other two, astemizole (Hismanal) and terfenadine (Seldane) have been taken off the US market because of a potentially fatal cardiac arrhythmia that can result from their use in combination with certain other quite common drugs, such as antibiotics and antifungals.

A benefit of these non-sedating antihistamines is that they have a longer half-life than the older agents, and therefore can be taken once daily. Physicians who make a specialty of treating allergies recommend that patients who anticipate developing allergies at a certain point in the season start taking their antihistamines a few days in advance of the appearance of the offending pollens.

With all respect to these physicians, Doc Gumshoe’s eyebrows lift at this recommendation. Yes, depending on where you live, the tree pollens begin to blow around in great abundance starting sometime in April or thereabouts, but this year nothing much happened until May, and then they burst out with a vengeance. I suspect that recommendation hasn’t had much takeup. But if people take their antihistamines daily once whichever allergen they’re susceptible to starts to be abundant, chances are the worst of the allergic rhinitis symptoms can be avoided.

However, this does not solve the whole problem. The inflammatory symptoms still need to be dealt with, and the antihistamines do very little to affect those. If people develop inflammatory symptoms of the nasal passages and upper airways, a good option is an intranasal steroid.

A key difference between the intranasal steroids and the antihistamines is that, while antihistamines work fairly quickly, intranasal steroids need to be taken for several days or as long as a week before their effectiveness is felt. Because these drugs are administered very much like the nasal decongestants we discussed earlier, some people get confused and think that they are decongestants, so when they don’t have an immediate effect they conclude that the drug is not working and quit using it. Or they may think that they may experience a rebound effect, as to the decongestants, and refrain from using the steroid.

From whatever data I have seen, intranasal corticosteroids are exceedingly safe. Yes, I know, the word “steroid” sends up red flags in the view of many people. Without going into excess scientific detail, let me say that the category “steroid” covers an immense range of quite distinct substances. There are two reasons why these intranasal steroids are definitely safe drugs: one, only tiny amounts of the drug are absorbed systemically – most of their activity is limited to the nasal passages, where they combat the immune reaction that brings on inflammation. And two, the tiny amounts that are absorbed are very rapidly metabolized in the liver and excreted.

Some of the more widely-used intranasal corticosteroids are beclomethasone dipropionate (Beconase), budesonide (Rhinocort), flunisolide (AeroBid or Nasalide), fluticasone (Flonase), and triamcinolone acetonide (Nasacort). All of these agents are also used in other formulations, under other names, to control other immune responses, including those associated with asthma.

Finally, for some persons with severe allergic responses who don’t respond adequately to medication, and who can’t get away from the allergens that trigger their symptoms, immunotherapy may be appropriate. This consists of inoculating the patient with tiny but increasing amounts of the allergen to which they are sensitive. Experts debate about the exact mechanism that makes immunotherapy work, when it does work. It might be analogous to the gradual decrease over time in the intensity of the allergic reactions that an individual experiences. In other words, a person who is violently allergic to certain tree pollens and has miserable hay fever seasons might find that as time goes on the allergies aren’t as fierce and the symptoms aren’t as potent.

But by and large, allergies as a problem are on the increase

There are theories as to the reason for this, but the most persuasive theory, from where I sit, is that our lives are becoming increasingly sanitized and isolated from the natural world, so that the natural immunotherapy that comes from exposure, in relatively small quantities, to a great variety of potential allergens, simply doesn’t happen as it used to. Evidence supporting this is that children raised in urban environments have a higher incidence of allergies – SAR, PAR, asthma, you name it – than kids raised in rural environments. Of course, the urban environment has its own panoply of potential allergens, but there apparently is such a thing as excessively sanitized child-rearing.

We shouldn’t exaggerate the problem, though. Allergic rhinitis is rarely fatal. I was going to say “never fatal,” but then I remembered that my mother sneezed while driving her car and crashed (not too hard!) into the car ahead. She escaped injury except for a broken finger. But you should never underestimate the consequences of a sneeze.

* * * * * * *

Everyone who isn’t living in a cave is aware of the Ebola virus and the looming disasters in the affected parts of Africa, but perhaps some of you have missed the news that an American manufacturer of supplements, the Natural Solutions Foundation, has been hyping a product called NanoSilver to the health ministers of Ebola-affected states in Africa, claiming that NanoSilver cures Ebola. Needless to say, there is not one microscopic sliver of evidence that NanoSilver does anything of the sort, and the FDA has threatened American companies with severe penalties if they continue making such claims. The president of the Natural Solutions Foundation, Dr Rima E. Laibow, has not commented publicly, but the product continues to be available on their website, along with hemp oil, ear candles, chocolate, and “mental clarity packs.”

Promoting a phony cure for a disease that threatens millions is a far cry from slogans such as “Eat this and never diet again.” We can laugh at the proliferation of phony diet aids and at the suckers that fall for them, but preying on the terror, hopelessness, and ignorance of a huge population threatened by a devastating and deadly disease is deeply shameful and merits severe penalties. And it makes America look bad.

* * * * * * *

Doc Gumshoe is going on vacation to an island off the coast of Maine where he will be entirely out of touch with the rest of the planet for about two weeks. He will catch up on your comments when he returns; in the meantime he thanks you and requests that you keep them coming.

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Jim Turek,MD
Member
Jim Turek,MD
August 25, 2014 8:56 am

As far as allergies, if meds don’t work, there are now 2 oral allergy desensitization pills for grass allergies ( oralair-methinks) . Also they re getting closer to approving other sub lingual allergy treatmenst ( not for food allergies though). Have fun on VayCay. Jim

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Daver
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Daver
August 25, 2014 12:37 pm
Reply to  Jim Turek,MD

Sublingual treatment worked for my son. He had severe runny nose from his birth until 9 years old. He was tested extensively and determined to be allergic to many common substances including many common food products. Dr. Waikeman in Akron formulated a series of liquids to be administered sublingually and after less than a year he was totally cured and could/can enjoy any food. He is now in his thirties.

vivian lewis
August 25, 2014 9:03 am

achooo!

Dave
Member
Dave
August 25, 2014 9:16 am

Nice article. A few are aware of this so I’m sorry if this isn’t new info. The push to Stevia has really gained some momentum. Powerful low cal sweetener with few side effects and you can cook some dishes with it. Well my Son is highly allergic to mold, ragweed etc. He started a new protein mix to supplement on his workout days. After 2 days on this supplement his allergic responses we’re firing everywhere – severe fatigue, constant sneezing – everything else. So doing a few searches on Stevia and there it was smack dab in my face. Stevia is part of the Ragweed family. My son dropped the supplement and was symptom free in 2 days.

Looks like Stevia may need to be sold mixed with Claritin? LOL.

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ed
Member
ed
August 25, 2014 9:54 am

I had awful allergies, (hey fever), spent hundreds of dollars treating the symptoms. Then a chiropractor friend told me to come in for a treatment. That was in 1982 and from that treatment until 1991 I had no future allergic reactions! When I moved from CO to AZ and noticed some slight allergy symptoms, found a Palmer graduate (from palmer in davenport Iowa) I went in for a treatment and since then have had not further symptoms. I’ve told this to many people who just rolled their red eyes and ignored my suggestion to give it a try ($35 typical cost). Only a few actually did take the few minutes to look up a local Palmer grad and to their surprise they had the same results as I did, no further allergic reactions for years. Based on past experience, probably only a few people will actually believe this, but I and a few others have avoided much discomfort, avoided any side effects of symptom treating drugs and saved a ton of money. I have nothing to gain or loose personally if anyone does or doesn’t believe this can help them. I’ve taken the time to write about this only because I hate seeing so many people suffering from allergies while base only on my personal experience there seems to be an easy solution at hand.

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xcernfsi
Irregular
xcernfsi
August 25, 2014 10:04 am

As a long time SAR sufferer (tree & grass pollen, mold), I’ve found that a saline flush in the AM, PM, and immediately following extended exposure to an allergan has made things much more manageable.

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aterosin
aterosin
August 25, 2014 9:42 pm
Reply to  xcernfsi

Neti pot flush is very common in India and part of the yogic traditional health regimen.

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Ray Z.
Member
Ray Z.
August 25, 2014 10:47 am

Perhaps an article as to tie-in to Nasal Polyps and allergies is due. Yep do have them along with chronic Asthma. So far only a special low dosage does anything to control them.
Thanks……..
Always remember that you are absolutely unique. Just like everyone else.
Margaret Mead

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Iris P.
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Iris P.
August 28, 2014 2:39 pm
Reply to  Ray Z.

Ray,
Please get checked for aspirin triad (allergic reaction to aspirin). One can get anaphylactic shock and die from this. DO NOT TAKE ASPIRIN IN ANY FORM UNTIL YOU HAVE THIS CHECKED OUT. There is aspirin in Phillips milk of magnesia and other over the counter medicines. The triad includes allergy to aspirin, asthma and nasal polyps – all of which you probably have. There was a government study on this prior to cost cutting measure. You have several options. The foremost sinus doctor, Winston Vaughan, is located in Atherton California, 650-399-4630. He has trained many sinus doctors in the surgery required to remove the polyps but you need to follow this up with either being desensitized to aspirin and/or other methods, i.e. NeilMed twice daily and other things. If he is not in your area, perhaps he has trained someone within close proximity to you and can direct you to them.
Hope this helps you.

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John Harris
Member
John Harris
September 17, 2014 6:04 pm
Reply to  Ray Z.

Because I have had asthma and nasal polyps I was told never to take aspirin, but had many times before the polyps and so don’t think the aspirin sensitivity is always part of that (and while I don’t take aspirin I don’t avoid it or worry one wit about it either should it be in some other over the counter medication). But I used to suffer with allergies terribly as a child with near total blockage of the nose many times of the year. My snoring drove my brother crazy as we shared the bedroom. The local family doc was giving me diathermy treatments to my face sometime back in high school when on a visit looking at my throat he said oh my god (yeah nice) as he finally had spotted a nasal polyp about the size of a golf ball hanging from a sinus clear down to the uvula in the back of your mouth/throat. A specialist soon after removed the polyp. Well that helped my breathing but I still had allergies and lots of colds and took antihistimines like dimatab frequently in cold season. Well shortly into college with more stuffiness they found I had developed multiple smaller polyps on one side. The first large one had deviated my septum (divides the two sides of your nose) and they thought that now with one side getting far more air (and allergens) going through it that this had triggered the multiple small ones on that side. So they removed them and surgically straightened out the septum (submucous resection). That helped for a while but I still had the allergies and those pesky polyps came back again later in my undergrad days and were removed again. Then I went to grad school and again they came back and a great ENT (ear, nose and throat) doctor looked at my history and said we were spinning our wheels just taking out the polyps. He saw that my sinuses were not draining, were almost constantly inflamed and infected because they did not drain normally and so the sinus lining would get fluid under it and that would accumulate and bulge out forming a polyp that would continue to fill with fluid until it was like a balloon hanging down from the sinus into the nasal cavity. So he did surgery and opened up the drainage, literally drilling out the sinus drains and opening them up larger (nasal antral windows and ethmoidectomies). Wow it was like a new life. My allergies in large part went away. I hardly got colds anymore, I could breath through my nose most of the time instead of rarely. And the polyps never came back. As to asthma, that developed later in my life, not in childhood, so the triad with aspirin is likely is not an issue. My asthma was my own doing because I started smoking in grad school, and not just a pack a day of cigarettes, but bongs and anything anyone passed my way (it was the 70’s and yeah I was an idiot). After a decade of that my perfectly good lungs objected and I became asthmatic but I did not really get the message for a few more years when after 14 years of smoking I quit in 1985. My asthma continued into the early 90’s but then began to lessen and slowly improved from needing daily drugs iike theodur and steroid inhalers and provental inhalers daily to only rare use of just the provental inhalers that I only ever use now when I actually do get a cold, or happen to jump in cold water. The lungs evidently do gradually heal themselves. Anyway I do recommend anyone try chiropractic first as I too have heard from others it helped, but if you get no help see an ENT and have your sinus drainage checked out, and oh yes, don’t smoke.

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Bryan
Member
Bryan
August 25, 2014 10:57 am

Ed: Can you please tell me more about the chiropractic treatment that you received from a “Palmer graduate”. If I was to talk to my chiropractor (here in Canada), would he be likely to know what this treatment is and be able to provide it? If not where can he obtain information about it?
Thanks,
Bryan

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jjk108
Member
jjk108
August 25, 2014 10:59 am

For many yeas I was seemingly cursd with allergies. My first seeking help started with a MD specialist in allergies. My treatment started with shots given to me every week for a year. The treament consisted of many shots with a needle. There were many and after receiving them for at least a year I still had to purchase Kleenex large and pocket sizes almost at wholesale.
The problem after the treatment there was absolutely no change. I still had the allergies.
It was affecting my work and of course was a concern.
I began reading health books and began research on my own. Luckily I discovered that most people are allergic to milk. The second discovery was that white bread products contained very little Vitamin B5 also called Panthothenic Acid. Suddenly my allergies started to disappear, after changing my foods.
My further research began with a trip to a Chiropractor. He discovered I had a whip lash years ago and this had been effecting me .
After a short period of treatment all the allergies and headaches have disappeared.
Today in the month before March starts with the winds and tree pollen I take extra B5 an Lo and Behold have never had symptoms like again, if they appear they soon disappear.
I have since learned that creatijng health can never be done with allopathic medicines. Why? Allopathic are poisons and never are able to make you healthy. The side effects scare me worst than the symptoms.
I have almost eliminated ice cream and white flour products from my diet.

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Myron Martin
Irregular
August 26, 2014 1:36 pm
Reply to  jjk108

JOHN: Your wisdom is all to rare. It is really those who are willing to “think outside the box” who are likely to discover the simple truth that most common diseases can be avoided by adopting a natural whole food diet and avoiding denatured processed foods with their additives of artificial colours, flavours and preservatives, many of which are known carcinogens. You mention getting off of white flour products, a wise decision from which approx. 80% of naturally occurring essential nutrients are removed in the devitalization process of separating out the germ where most of the nutrients reside. In our grandfathers day when farmers took their home grown wheat to the millers to be ground into flour the average diet provided about 100 IU (Int. units) of Natural Vit E. complex with all 8 tocopherols, while to-days average of Vit. E in the daily diet had been reduced to about 10 Intl units. If you recognize that deficiency and decide to add a Vit E. supplement to your daily intake, the chances are, unless you are very well educated by sources outside the medical establishment you will be sold a further refined product containing only ONE isolated tocopherol (Alpha) and if the label says dl alpha tocopherol then even worse, you are getting a synthetic product that the bodies receptors reject, the absorption is very poor and you are being cheated by an industry that cares only about profits, not your health. A very wise man once said, “eat natural foods that will spoil, just eat them before they do” and you can test that quite easily. We bake our own bread from freshly stone ground flour and if it is not consumed within a week, it will start to mold, white bread by contrast may last for months without spoiling. It is essentially a “dead” product that can not sustain life.

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William
August 25, 2014 12:07 pm

DOC GUMSHOE—-Thank you for a great article.

Ray E.
Member
Ray E.
August 25, 2014 1:33 pm

In early 2012, after 20 years of weekly allergy shots and getting ill from Diphenhydramine, my NMD said she had a fix for my problem (a story often told!); but when she said it would be sub-lingual and the same antigen used for my shots, I became interested. With a six month trip coming up the following month, I purchased my first bottles of “SLIT” from a compounding lab in Phoenix. Within several days, I knew I had a fix for my airborne enemies. Before this, I had tried every pill and trick on the market, but I finally had a method that works. The overall cost is the same as the shots, but the two sprays under the tongue every morning means I don’t have to find an emergency room when I am in any city or country, as the managed shots require. The skin tests are suggested every several years to validate the antigen, but with nearly three years of freedom, I doubt I need to do it, unless I move into another environment. Because it works so fast, I can skip up to a week, and they tell me many using the product have been able to quit it completely. Life is good!
Ray

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lynnegaudette
August 25, 2014 1:35 pm

I have avoided all kinds of sinus problems by using “Simply Saline” in the morning and evening. (I couldn’t seem to get the right combination/water temperature when I mixed it myself.) I had a serious sinus infection that put me in the hospital years ago and an ENT told me to do this. I work with medically fragile children who are always coming up with some illness and so far I am good. I also gargle with salt water (1 tsp to 8 oz. warm water) when I am exposed to someone with an illness. I’m not saying it’s true, but I read an article by a doctor when the avian flu was going around, and he said to do the saline spray up your nose and gargle to avoid catching it and other types of flu. My philosophy is, “it couldn’t hurt”!

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bfchmv
Member
August 25, 2014 4:01 pm

This is a recent teaser request for the mighty thinkolator to reveal:: Chris Mayer of Agora Financial is teasing us to buy his newsletter in order to find the “Executive DividendCodes” that will make us all super-wealthy in both bull and bear markets…..with very little effort on our part. Now that sounds too good to pass up for a mere $ 49.00, but I will force myself to do so, with your help, Travis. So please help. . MS

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DrKSSMDPhD
August 25, 2014 4:13 pm

There have been some comments here and in my present thread about nasal sprays, so I’d like to make a couple of fine points about them. Afrin is oxymetazoline. It works by causing intracellular granules in the nasal mucosa to release norepinephrine, which then clamps vessels down and causes the membrane to shrink. If people use it precisely as per directions, no “addiction” should result. It is not addiction we are discussing, it is rebound mucosal edema. After three days of use, the granules are depleted of norepinephrine and need a day or two to recharge.

Phenylephrine nasal spray is quite different. It is itself a direct adrenergic agonist. People do not and cannot become tachyphylactic to it. There is no “addiction.” There is no rebound hyperemia and swelling. I never recommend Afrin or oxymetazoline, but routinely recommend phenylephrine.

Most things people call allergies aren’t. They are pure vasomotor instability in response to changes in dust, temperature, light and humidity.

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Robert Fain
Guest
August 26, 2014 9:43 am

I was prescribed Flonase many years ago and used it 9-10 months a year to control my symptoms which it handled effectively. About 2 years ago I started developing a cataract in my left eye. It rapidly progressed so I made an appointment with a well respected Ophthalmologist. After a brief examination she asked me if I took Flonase. Why? Because a side effect of taking Flonase is to develop a cataract on the inner eye lens. Surgery corrected my vision and I have since gone back to using Allegra, though much more sparingly, with no side effects so far.

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Rich Sanders
Guest
August 26, 2014 10:40 am

Though I would normally discount any ‘other’ products, advice, or profit motive from any ‘natural’ products suppliers, I would also note that it doesn’t take a genius to wonder why the LONG known anti-viral properties of nano-scale molecular Silver have not been widely used to combat outbreaks like the current deadly Ebola event.
I have to wonder why, having long ago proven that it ‘works’ to kill or inhibit or by some other action block the ability of a virus to spread, that none of the government agencies that have previously arranged for our embassies, military leadership, emergency shelters, and fluid-based anti-biological-warfare air filtration for command centers, etc….
but never released an ‘approved’ treatment or method of taking a nano-Silver based product for at least slowing down, if not killing off, a viral infection in the populace.
I know they stock it, because I’ve been there, seen it, knew what “10umAg @xxx ppm” means.
Not to say that Ebola is going to be stopped by some yahoo selling hemp oil on the side, but it does make me wonder why the ‘real’ people like the CDC and WHO, who have both documented successful studies in-house on their own, keep looking instead for a patented strain of Ebola, a vaccine, or synthetic drug-treatment answer.
Perhaps there is some problem with delivery, or dosing, or something else?
Would nano-Silver solution be dangerous intravenously? or ineffective if given oral?
I would anticipate at least ‘some’ reporting on what actually happens, or the survival rate effect, once some of these ‘experimental’ subjects are given Silver, even if it was donated by a company suspected of being a snake-oil salesman.

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ELISSA JUNG
Member
ELISSA JUNG
August 26, 2014 1:50 pm

ALLERGY? CALL IT WHAT YOU MAY. MY BODY RESPONSES TO MILK,WHEAT,SHELLFISH,WOOL,CAT,HORSE,RAGWEED,DUST,MOLD,ALLERGY TESTS, ALL ANTIBIOTICS,BEE/WASP AND PROBABLY MY OWN DANDRUFF PUTS ME AT GREAT RISK.
BESIDES THE ITCHY, NOSE STUFFED OR DRIPPING,RASHES,DIFFICULTY BREATHING, TEARY EYES,HEADACHES,DASHES TO THE BATHROOM,HEART PALPITATIONS,TEMPERATURE AND DOCTORS WHO DON’T LISTEN TO ME AND WIND UP SENDING ME TO THE HOSPITAL. I HAVE DISCOVERED, ON MY OWN, AFTER AN ATTACK I MAKE A LIST OF EVERYTHING AND I MEAN EVERYTHING INCLUDING PEOPLE/TIMES/PLACES GOING BACK 3 OR 4 DAYS BEFORE MY NASTY RESPONSE. IT IS AMAZING THAT LOOKING BACK OVER SEVERAL TIMES YOU CAN PICK OUT THE IRRITANT. THEN STAY AWAY FROM THEM. I ONLY DRINK WINE DURING RAGWEED TIME, FOR STUFFY NOSE I HUM, OUT LOUD W/MOUTH OPEN.NOSE SPRAYS GIVE ME NOSE BLEEDS. I KEEP SUN GLASSES ON FOR POLLEN REDUCTION. RINSING OFF EYES SEVERAL TIMES A DAY HELPS WITH ITCHING. NO DRY CLEANING…AIR IT OUT. ALL
NEW CLOTHES/BEDDING WASHED BEFORE WEARING. IN POLLEN FREE TIME WASH WINDOW SCREENS AND DON’T FORGET TO CHANGE A/C FILTERS MORE OFTEN. USE 1/3
AMMONIA TO 2/3 WATER FOR ALL CLEANING INSTEAD OF EXPENSIVE CHEMICAL CRAP. OH YES, BUY KIMBERLY CLARK STOCK…THEY PRODUCE PAPER PRODUCTS!

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Jeni
Member
Jeni
September 1, 2014 10:00 pm

My son was 18 months old when we left an ENT doctor who was to put tubes in his ears within weeks, this was due to allergies and constant ear infections. On the way home we had to stop at my chiropractor for my adjustment, the doctor was interested in our son. He suggested my husband hold our son up-side down by the ankles, saying if he hung straight, his neck and spine were OK. If he hung in a “C”, he could use an adjustment. Free of charge, he gave him an adjustment. His ears cleared, we never again had to have him on antibiotics for ear infections. The ear tubes were canceled. One adjustment is all it took. The doctor said his sinuses couldn’t drain properly while he was out of alignment, probably since birth. He is now age 30, still with allergies but never again had an ear infection. Good article and good comments!

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