asthma and allergy awareness month

Allergies are defined as abnormal reactions to normally harmless substances. Whether the allergens enter the body by being inhaled, swallowed or coming in contact with the skin does not matter. Symptoms of allergies include running nose, itchy eyes, watery eyes, sneezing, itchy skin and more. 
Some of the most common allergies include pollen, mold, dust, foods, animal dander, insect bites, insect spores, viruses and bacteria.

Many including my own children and I suffer from what is considered season allergies. Hay fever that brings on itchy, watery eyes, runny nose and sneezing seem to accompany allergy reactions. While these can be intolerable at times there are more serious allergy reactions as well. Allergies can bring on symptoms such as absent mindedness, dizziness, trouble swallowing, nausea, constipation, diarrhea, skin rashes, vertigo, vomiting and serious health issues.

The human body is strong and often learns to adapt to its environment and defend itself. The human body creates antibodies that help the body. Histamines is a well known antibody that the body creates to protect itself. However, if the bodies immune system mistakenly recognizes a foreign substance to be harmful when in reality it is not then the body can overproduce the histamine which leads to other problems. This overproduction leads to sneezing, stuffy head, sniffing, stuffed up head, red and watery eyes all symptoms that many with seasonal allergies develop. Our family develops these symptoms and because many members also have eczema the little red itchy rash will develop around this same time as well.


Many allergy sufferers use prescriptions or over the counter medications to help control these symptoms. The problem with these medications is that while they control the allergy symptoms they do not control the source of allergy. There are many products on the market to help you protect yourself and family from allergies that are in the environment.

other ways to help protect yourself from allergies
saline nose spray helps clean out your nostrils in the morning and night. Help clear out any allergens that might be in your nostril. Taking your allergy medication is important but it often wears off over night and the pollen spores are out and about and interrupt your allergy symptoms over the night.

keep in mind that the highest pollen count occurs between 5 am and 10 am. If you suffer from seasonal allergies these are peak hours where you should try to stay indoors. Mid afternoon is the best time to go out and about in peak season.

For those who suffer from allergies may not want to open the windows during warm weather but turn on a fan or the a/c.

keep the carpet clean  allergens can be tracked in and stored in the carpet in the form of spores. When these spores are disturbed they can be breathed in.

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