Natural Allergies Relief Tips are being discussed in this article.Wheezing, sneezing, and mattress vacuuming Asthma, bronchitis, other allergic respiratory ailments often are traceable to house dust mites—and mattress vacuuming may work as well as an antihistamine.
Studying microscopic mites a University of California, Riverside, researcher has shown that the organisms prefer to live at the head of human mattresses, feeding on skin scales deposited there. They’re much less numerous on other home furnishings. His study indicates that twice-a-week mattress vacuuming can reduce mite populations by 60 to 80 percent.
A dozen other helps for house dust allergies Nylon carpeting (low pile) is okay, but be wary of
shags and any carpets with jute or kapok-containing pads.
How To Stop Allergies Immediately And Allergies Relief Tips
Best bet: hardwood, vinyl, or tile flooring.
• Use zipper covers on all mattresses.
• Use polyester fiberfill rather than foam pillows (they can absorb moisture and moids).
• Avoid Venetian blinds in favor of window shades.
• No draperies. Use washable cotton-polyester cuitains.
• Monthly, in season, change furnace and air-conditioner filters.•
It may help to increase a filter’s capacity. For this, suggests the medical journal Consultant, you can use a temporary filter made of two or three layers of cheesecloth soaked with mineral oil. changing it when it becomes discolored.
• Regularly clean a fireplace and chimney flue-—and woodstove if you use one.
• Avoid carpet “ fresheners” and other scented agents.
• Don’t keep unused clothing in the closet; store it away from the bedroom, preferably in sealed boxes.
• Keep upholstered furniture out of the bedroom.
Elsewhere in the house, polyester- or foam-filled cushions arepreferable to down- or kapok-filled ones.
If you use a quilt or comforter, it should be filled only with polyester.Detecting your food allergies (if any) for yourself There are other possible causes but food allergies can sometimes produce varied symptoms: crampy pain, diarrhea, hives, constipation, anal itching—even, possibly, headache, vertigo, seizurelikc attacks, anxiety, depression, and mental dulling.
When other causes cannot be found, you can try an elimination and challenge” strategy devised by a Kansas
allergist, Dr. Frederic Speer. In his experience, chief food offenders are cow’s milk, chocolate, cola, corn, eggs, the pea family (chiefly peanutv which is not a nut), citrus fruits, tomatoes, wheat and other small grains, cinnamon, and artificial food colors.
To find out which may be responsible: If two or morefoods are suspect, remove them from the diet for three
weeks. Return one and. at two-day intervals, reintroducethe others, one at a time. If only a single food is suspect,
similarly remove it for three weeks, then reintroduce. If symptoms improve when a suspected food is out of the diet
only to reappear when the food is reintroduced, the blame is clear.
Hay fever—one physician’s effective personal strategy You’ll need a doctor’s prescription to try this strategy
worked out by a distinguished neurologist, Dr. Donald J. Dalessio of the Scripps Clinic and Research Foundation,
LaJolla, California, for his own hay fever problem, and used successfully by several other physicians for themselves.
Because he disliked consuming large amounts of antihistamines, which lulled him, and anticongestants, which
made him anxious, on waking each morning during his hay fever season Dalessio tried applying a small amount of a
potent corticosteroid cream—either flumethasone 0.03 percent or fluocinonide 0.05 percent—to the nasal mucous
membranes, using his little finger. Only a small amount, he emphasizes.
The cream causes a slight irritation, and he sniffs vigorously to inhale it to the upper reaches. At night
he repeats the process and at bedtime takes a six-milligram dose of Pola amine, which provides antihistamine effects (at night pollen counts rise and the drug’s sedative effect is no
bother). The strategy works, he finds, leaving just an occasional sneeze (virtually no paroxysmal sneezing), with nasal discharge much reduced.
Four other helps for hay fever
• In pollen seasons, keep clear, if possible, of grassy
areas, woods, and fields; they are apt to have high pollen
concentrations.
• If ragweed is your problem, keep such ragweed-related plants as daisies, dahlias, and chrysanthemums out of
the house.
• Because pollen counts are likely to be particularly
high on hot, sunny, windy days, stay in an air-conditioned
.’oom as much as possible at these times. It may help, too,
to keep the air conditioner’s fresh-air vent closed on such
days.
• Pollen allergy sufferers are often sensitive to dust as
well. Keep your bedroom as free of dust as possible (see
previous A Dozen Other Helps for House Dust Allergies).
Humidification for year-round nasal stuffiness.
Adding moisture to winter air in the home—with a room humidifier
or a device attachable to the hot-air system—can be surprisingly helpful for perennial or year-round allergic rhinitis. In a three-winter study covering more than eight hundred sufferers, humidification was found to reduce, markedly, previous winter-long symptoms of dryness in the nose, throat, and deep chest ; improve breathing; allow more restful sleep; and lessen the need to clear mucus from breathing passages in the morning. Significantly, too. 83 percent of patients were free of respiratory infections during the winters for the first time in years.
Avoiding mold allergy Sensitivity to molds in itself can sometimes cause nasal congestion, stuffiness, and other an
noying symptoms. Mold sensitivity also tends to occur along with other sensitivities, such as to pollen. The following are useful measures for avoiding molds:
Keep dust accumulations to a minimum
A Dozen Helps for House Dust Allergies).
• Keep mold-collecting sites such as bathroom walls and discarded furniture in a damp basement scrupulously
clean.
• Dry damp clothing, shoes, and boots quickly.
• Be sure your clothes dryer vents to the outdoors.
• If your basement is very damp, a dehumidifier can help combat mold growth.
Allergy shots during pregnancy A woman who, after being immunized against allergy, continues her maintenance
injections during pregnancy, may do more than protect h e r self. Her child, loo, may be protected against allergy, possibly for life. Kaiser-Permanente Medical Group physicians in Los Angeles did a study of twelve mothers who received standard maintenance doses of allergen extracts by injection at three-to-four-month intervals during pregnancy.
They did well. Their children were checked, first between the ages of three and eleven years, then later as well. The youngsters had lower frequencies of hay fever, asthma, and skin-test sensitivity to rye, Bermuda grass, Chinese elm pollen, house dust, and dust mite than genetics would predict and than siblings from earlier untreated pregnancies.
Alfalfa pills and allergy
The alfalfa pills being used by some allergy victims may be hazardous, according to an
American Medical Association report. Actually, alfalfa, a grass, may intensify symptoms caused by grass pollen sen
sitivity. Alfalfa also may cause flatulence and diarrhea. In addition, while there have been no medical reports of effi
cacy, there is some indication that alfalfa seeds may contain a high concentration of a potentially poisonous substance, canavanine, which may have been responsible for a blood cell disorder n at least one patient reported in the medical literature. ‘It would seem prudent to avoid use of alfalfa in the treatment of allergies.” advises an American Medical Association expert.
