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Allergies
Get Treatment for Your Allergies at Our Clinic in Idaho Falls, ID
There are many types of Allergies. One of the most common is Seasonal Allergic rhinitis, which is commonly referred to as “Hay Fever.” This is a seasonal worsening of symptoms such as: runny nose, sneezing, stuffy nose, Post-nasal drip, watery eyes, itchy eyes, sinusitis sinus pressure, worsening of asthma. One of the main ways to combat this is knowledge. If you can get confirmation of what you are allergic to then you can avoid your triggers or get the proper medications and treatments to control them. Our office offers Idaho Falls’ only Board-Certified Allergy and Asthma specialists.
Some of the common medications used to treat Hay fever include antihistamines. There are two main Classes of antihistamines Sedating or 1st generation antihistamines like Benadryl. Just like the name implies, these medications commonly make people sleepy. They usually only last a few hours. Second generation antihistamines such as Claritin, Zyrtec and Allegra are common non-sedating antihistamines. These medications usually last 24 hours.
Another common prescription medication used for allergies is Montelukast. This affects a chemical pathway different from the histamine pathway. This medication works with Leukotrienes. This is another mediator of inflammation and this medication can work well for some patients to control their nasal allergies as well as helping to control Asthma.
One of the most effective classes of medications to control Hay Fever is nasal steroids. Many of these have gone over the counter: Flonase or its generic fluticasone, Flonase Sensimist, Nasacort, Rhinocort as well as some that are still prescriptions such as Nasonex, dymista or Qnasl. These medications have to be used regularly to be the most effective. Also, if you have seasonal symptoms it can be of great value to start using your allergy medications prior to your season starting.
Sinus rinsing can also be very effective. Two major devices for this are the Netti Pot and the Neil Med Sinus rinse. Some important tips with this device are to use either distilled water or if you are going to use tap water to boil the water and then let it cool down so your water source is as clean as it can be prior to using this device.
The Asthma and allergy foundation of America (AAFA) has some great statistics on Allergies.
Asthma and Allergies affect over 50 million people are the 6th leading cause of chronic illness. It can cost upwards of $18 Billion dollars to treat allergies. These statistics are nothing to sneeze at. (http://www.aafa.org/page/allergy-facts.aspx).
Food Allergies
Food allergies are another common condition in America. The AAFA reports that in 2015 4.2 million children in the united states had food allergies. They have been becoming more common over the last few decades. Food allergies can manifest in many ways. It can cause a mild reaction such as a rash like as hives or eczema, but can be life threatening with a systemic reaction called anaphylaxis. It is crucial to identify what you are allergic to so you can avoid it. Avoidance has been the main therapy for years. And if your reaction is life threatening then carrying around an Epineprhine Auto-injector is also critical.
There is a lot of research going into food allergies and even some treatments working towards desensitization that are in later stages of research and hopefully will be available soon.
Some great resources for food allergy include:
- https://www.foodallergy.org which is a great overall trusted website for food allergies. One thing I love about this website is their ability to help people read labels. Different highly allergenic foods can have many different names and may be missed if one does not know what to look for when reading labels.
- https://www.allergyeats.com is a web site (also an app) that rates restaurants by their food allergy friendliness. (How well are they willing to truly make your meal allergen free and have a separate food preparation station etc.)
- https://snacksafely.com is a website that helps you find brands of foods that are free of allergens when you are looking for foods that are safe for food allergic patients.
Drug Allergies
Allergic reactions to medications are common. Symptoms occurring from a drug allergy can vary. People frequently break out in a rash from drug allergies but it can also cause anaphylaxis. Sometimes people can have an adverse reaction to medications and this reaction can be confused with a drug allergy. The blood pressure medicine Linsinopril for example can commonly cause either a dry cough or swelling episodes (angioedema).
Penicillin is one of the most common drug allergies.
How Common Are Drug Allergies?
- Penicillin is the most common allergy trigger for those with drug allergies. Up to 10 percent of people report being allergic to this common antibiotic.
- Bad drug reactions may affect 10 percent of the world’s population. These reactions affect up to 20 percent of all hospital patients.
Latex Allergy?
- About 1 to 6 percent of people in the U.S. have a latex allergy.
- Health care workers are becoming more concerned about latex allergies. About 8-12 percent of health care workers will get a latex allergy. Avoidance is the main treatment for this condition. Testing for this condition in the United states is limited. There is an approved blood test but this is not a great test. There are some skin testing procedures available but nothing is standardized in the united states.
Insect Allergy?
- People who have insect allergies are often allergic to bee and wasp stings and poisonous ant bites. Cockroaches and dust mites may also cause nasal or skin allergy symptoms.
- Insect sting allergies affect 5 percent of the population.9
- At least 90-100 deaths occur each year in the United States due to insect sting anaphylaxis.
- If you have an insect sting allergy this is important to discuss with your allergist. Your risk of a future reaction in the next 10 years is over 60%. But if you go on allergy immunotherapy it can decrease down to 5%.
You can rely on the doctors at
Idaho Allergy And Asthma Clinic in Idaho Falls, ID to
treat your asthma and allergy symptoms. Our clinic assists both adults and children. Give us a call at
208-529-9292 to get more information or to schedule your appointment. Please click and download our patient forms below to bring to your appointment.
Click below to download the patient forms. You can send the completed forms to iaac100@gmail.com or carry a print-out of the completed forms to your appointment.
