Allergy Tips for the Halloween Season
Halloween and allergies are not something you necessarily think about but whether you are talking about candy or possible face paint there are many opportunities to be exposed to allergens and their awful consequences on Halloween. Food allergies continue to be more common but it is hard to deny your children the childhood pleasure of the full Halloween experience.
We have gathered a few articles from around the web to help decipher what not only parents of allergy sufferers should know but also Halloween party hosts. Recently we attended a Halloween party for my son’s school and we were asked to bring in “Allergy Free” desserts. I was surprised at how hard this ended up being because I went to 2 well known “healthy” supermarkets and neither could guarantee their cookies or cakes were free of possible allergens. This is because typically those products are packaged and produced at plants that share equipment with products that may have some form of tree nuts (a big allergen for some). Read More…
Natural Allergy Relief – Looking for Safer Alternatives
Do you feel you are taking your allergy medicine all year long? With the rise in allergy medicines it is hard to avoid some prescription to steroidal medicines and antihistamines when you complain about seasonal allergies. Natural allergy relief is being looked at for providing safer alternatives to all those drugs. The search for natural allergy relief options usually kicks into high gear when allergy sufferers realize that the side effects and long term negative impacts of using their allergy medicine may not be worth it.
Last year I had a bad spell of what appeared to be a case of seasonal allergies. I am pretty used to this by now so I implemented my usual routine of my prescription nasal spray and antihistamines. I also have a daily routine of nasal cleansing as part of this too. After a couple of weeks I still didn’t have any relief and I was so congested I was having hearing problems which led to what I now know is tinnitus.
I was so alarmed I stopped my allergy relief routine completely and began treating Read More…
Anti Allergy Mattress Cover
In the past we have written about how allergies can affect your sleep. The problem is you may be “Sleeping with the Enemy” to borrow the title from an old Julia Roberts movie. An anti allergy mattress cover can alleviate nasal allergy symptoms that you experience at night. Managing your allergies involves more than just allergy medicines. Many times it involves examining your daily habits for clues and then making the effort to change them. Dust mite allergies affect many people who sleep on uncovered mattresses and an anti allergy mattress cover is a relatively easy thing to buy to decrease your exposure.
I don’t know of many people who attempt to really clean their mattress though vacuuming it with an allergy friendly vacuum cleaner may be helpful if you do it Read More…
Allergies to What?
Allergies seem to be everywhere nowadays? From respiratory allergies to food allergies it seems everyone is somehow affected. Do you think you suffer from allergies? In order to start to figure that out you need to understand what allergies are in the first place.
Allergies are the reactions to certain things that you either get exposed to or ingest like in the case of food. These “things” are called allergens. Since so many of these allergens have been identified allergies are usually broken down into categories based on either the allergen or the allergy symptoms involved. The one that seems more prevalent nowadays are seasonal allergies or what I would call nasal allergies since the biggest symptom affects your nose and your breathing. Sneezing and congestion are one of the cornerstones of seasonal allergies. The main allergen in this case is pollen. Read More…
Food Allergies – Adults Suffer Too
Food allergies have gotten a lot of attention in the last 10 to 15 years. The rise in those suffering from food allergies has caused the media to focus more attention on the various kinds of food allergies but it seems most of the coverage is going to the children. Of course this isn’t a bad thing. Who wants a child to die from an anaphylactic reaction to peanut butter. We do need to consider though that many adults also still suffer from some form of food allergy or food intolerance.
My older sister still suffers from her egg allergy and she is in her mid-40s. She has been allergic to eggs since she was a child. Her reactions can range from a rash to itching in her throat. I happened to be present when she actually got exposed to eggs at a Chinese food restaurant. I innocently asked her to try my Read More…
Treating Allergy with Acupuncture Is a Possibility
For those who are tired of the side effects of traditional allergy treatments treating allergy with acupuncture is more than a possibility it is a reality for many folks. In related studies acupuncture looks promising as alternative allergy treatment. Most of us are trained to seek traditional medical treatments for allergy with most of them involving medications that of course come with side effects. Acupuncture has no known side effects so for those sick of dealing with drowsiness, dry mouth, dizziness and nausea this alternative allergy treatment is definitely worth a try.
So for those not familiar with acupuncture what is it? Acupuncture attempts to treat and even cure diseases, ailments and pain with the use of needles inserted into specific pressure points in the body. It is based on an ancient Chinese approach that attempts to not only treat the symptoms of a “disease” like allergies but also strives to get the body to cure itself. Nowadays some modern approaches to acupuncture involve the use of lasers to trigger the body’s functions instead of with just the needles. Neither of which includes the use of medicines though some practitioners also advocate the use Read More…
