Allergic rhinitis is quite common, with a high prevalence rate among ear, nose, and throat diseases in Vietnam. This condition is related to the immune system and often occurs seasonally. So, how can we recognize early signs of allergic rhinitis and avoid the impacts of this condition on health and work? Let’s follow the article below with Thu Cuc TCI to understand more about the disease and find ways to avoid its effects on health and work.
1. Understanding Allergic Rhinitis
One of the ideal conditions for allergic rhinitis is the transitional period between seasons. With the climate characteristics of Northern Vietnam and the common environmental pollution, it’s not difficult to explain why allergic rhinitis is prevalent in our country. However, in reality, not many people understand correctly and pay attention to prevention of this disease.
Allergic rhinitis is your body’s response to specific allergens, presenting with symptoms of sneezing, nasal congestion, clear rhinorrhea, and nasal pruritis.
1.1. What is Allergic Rhinitis?
Allergic rhinitis is defined as inflammation and infection of the nose caused by environmental factors. Common environmental factors causing this nasal inflammation may include animal dander, pollen, dust, house dust mites, etc. The two common forms of the disease include seasonal and perennial rhinitis, often caused by different groups of allergens.
1.2. Causes of Allergic Rhinitis
There are many causes of allergic rhinitis, but mainly related to allergic predisposition.
– Allergic predisposition: This is an innate issue, closely related to genetic factors.
– Exposure to allergens – These are substances that cause allergic reactions in the body. Each person may have different allergens, which could be environmental factors such as pollen, dust, animal dander, etc.; food items such as seafood, eggs, spices, etc.; or chemicals/biological products such as oral medications, etc.
– The body’s imbalance when exposed to various allergens, polluted environments, various bacteria, viruses, stress, women’s hormonal imbalances (menstruation, contraceptive use, premenopausal, etc.)
The cause of allergic rhinitis comes from many factors surrounding our lives
1.3. Consequences of Allergic Rhinitis
Allergic rhinitis causes prolonged fatigue, affecting work and life. In addition, when not treated early and properly, the disease can cause complications, exacerbate other allergic diseases such as asthma, allergic conjunctivitis,… This disease makes the nasal mucosa swell, polyps degenerate, causing prenasal ulceration, chronic rhinitis, nasal polyps, bronchitis, bronchial asthma,… The disease is also related to other respiratory diseases such as pharyngitis, sinusitis, otitis media,… affecting general health.
2. Early Signs of Allergic Rhinitis
Recognizing early signs of allergic rhinitis is essential to avoid the problems caused by it. We need to pay attention to warning signs such as:
– Frequent sneezing: We often sneeze when the weather changes, when exposed to pollen, when going out in dust, etc. Sneezing is a natural body reaction when it detects unfamiliar substances. Frequent sneezing warns of allergic infiltration. This is also the basic cause of allergic rhinitis.
– Runny nose, nasal congestion: Accompanied by sneezing, the condition of a runny nose, nasal congestion is an early warning sign of allergic rhinitis. This is a reaction from the swollen nasal mucosa when exposed to allergens. This runny nose and nasal congestion often lasts and can cause nasal congestion and difficulty breathing, making patients uncomfortable, tired, and sleepless.
– Itchy eyes, watery eyes: This is also the body’s reaction when exposed to allergens. When exposed to allergens, our eyes are prone to itching, redness, swelling, and watery eyes. Dark circles are also common when this happens.
– Feeling tired: Fatigue may come from many reasons. However, when suffering from inflammation, patients often feel tired, uncomfortable. This feeling increases due to continuous discomfort symptoms caused by allergic inflammation.
Allergic rhinitis need to be detected and treated early
3. Other Diagnostic Symptoms
Over time, allergic rhinitis can cause typical symptoms of other upper respiratory diseases such as itching in the throat, dry cough, headache, snoring, tinnitus, loss of smell,… Due to having to breathe through the mouth, patients are prone to diseases such as pharyngitis, laryngitis,…
When examining the nose, ear, throat, doctors may observe pale mucosa, swollen nasal concha, clear and abundant nasal mucus. Besides, investigating medical history, occupation, work environment, weather,… is necessary when diagnosing rhinitis caused by allergies.
In some necessary cases, doctors may recommend tests such as skin prick testing, blood tests, or radioactive absorption tests to detect IgE antibodies, measure IgE immunoglobulin levels for diagnosis.
4. Principles in Treatment
For allergic rhinitis, avoiding allergens is the basic treatment. Along with that are methods of reducing specific sensitivity, symptomatic treatment drugs, enhancing immunity,… depending on the disease and the patient’s condition. Therefore, when suspecting the disease, we should carefully examine to get the right diagnosis, from which to have appropriate treatment protocols according to the patient’s condition.
In general, allergic rhinitis is a disease that can be detected and treated early, avoiding severe complications later. However, the symptoms of the disease are quite similar to other upper respiratory diseases. Therefore, patients need to be diagnosed correctly to identify the disease, and then treat it properly to protect their health. Avoid self-diagnosis, incorrect treatment, adversely affecting health and future treatment efforts.
