ALLERGIES: SOME ANSWERED QUESTIONSIf I move from one area of the country to another, how long will it take me to become allergic to the pollens in the new area?General wisdom suggests that it takes two to three seasons of exposure for you to become allergic to the agents in the new area that were not present in your former area. Of course, if there are allergens common to both areas, as there frequently are, you may continue to have allergic symptoms as before, only, perhaps, at slightly different times of the year.
Is it true that people outgrow nasal allergies?No, it isn’t. In fact, there is data to suggest that although a small percentage of people get better, a larger percentage worsen. The most likely explanation for the myth about outgrowing nasal allergies is that the symptoms that were diagnosed as “allergy” and subsequently “outgrown” were not actually caused by an allergy but by non-allergic factors such as irritants or infection.
My son’s nose bleeds frequently. His pediatrician says that this is common in allergic children. Is it really common, and how do those things he’s allergic to make his nose bleed?Bleeding from the nose is common in children with allergic rhinitis, either seasonal or chronic. It generally happens only occasionally and is almost always mild and readily stopped.The agents to which your son is allergic don’t actually cause the bleeding, they just trigger an allergic reaction that swells the nasal membrane, making it vulnerable to injury. Additionally, the lining of the nose is only a few cells thick near the openings of the nose and is easily cut. As mucus and trapped particles are swept toward the front of the nose, they dry and form crusts. When a child wipes or rubs a drippy or itchy nose, these dried, encrusted particles are scraped across the nasal mucous membrane, cutting it and making it bleed.
What is “Rose Fever”?This is a term that has been used to describe late spring seasonal allergic rhinitis. Its name derives from the fact that roses are in bloom at that time. However, the allergic symptoms are not due to rose pollen but to the pollen of the trees and grasses that are pollenating at the same time.*5/322/5*

A normal reaction consists of the formation of a wheal, irritation, itching, and local heat.

The reaction disappears without treatment three or four hours after the sting.

An exaggerated reaction consists of an intense local redness that lasts for one or two days and disappears with cold compresses and an antihistamine.

A toxic reaction is brought about by multiple bee stings which cause poisoning and not allergy. Symptoms are diarrhea, vomiting, fainting, and possibly death (although some children are known to have survived as many as a thousand bee stings).

A serum-sickness-like reaction consisting of generalized hives and inflammation in some joints may appear one or two weeks after a sting.

Anaphylactic shock, which occurs two or three minutes after the sting, may consist of a dry cough, a sense of constriction in the throat, a massive eruption of hives, a drop in blood pressure, and a constellation of other symptoms (vomiting, chills, involuntary bowel movements, confusion, collapse, and death).

*39/99/5*

Eventually Ken was referred to a doctor who had an interest in dietary factors in disease, and asked him about his diet. It emerged that Ken drank 20 cups of tea or coffee, both very strong, in the course of the average day. He was told to gradually cut these out, along with all other drinks containing caffeine. Within a few weeks he began to feel better, and his depression, anxiety, tiredness, panic attacks, fainting and sweating are now a thing of the past. Problems due to too much caffeine are fairly common, but not everyone has the sort of symptoms that Ken experienced. Some suffer severe headaches, others abdominal pain or vomiting, or a variety of other symptoms).

*212\180\8*