Monthly Archives: July 2021

What Should An Asthma Patient Avoid?

Do you suffer from asthma and wondering what should an asthma patient avoid? Well, to avoid having to visit your asthma doctor now and then for treatment, there are several things you should avoid. These things include:

Dust

Unless you live in rural areas where there is dirt everywhere, you should strive to stay away from dirt as much as possible. And you should start with your home.

At least once a week, give your house a thorough cleaning. You should clean every corner of the house, including the corners of the house and beddings.

Pollen

It’s not a coincidence that asthma and allergy symptoms increase when there is a high pollen count in the atmosphere.

To protect yourself, stay away from flower and tree pollen. This calls for you to avoid going outdoor during the day when the pollen count is high. If you have pollinating plants and trees in the house, get them outside.

Even if your indoor plants don’t have pollen, you should take good care of them so that they don’t form mold. This calls for you to avoid overwatering the plants. You also should keep them in a sunny area and remove as many dead plants as possible.

Pets

Pets are soothing and comforting. Unfortunately, they can be harmful to asthmatics. The reason for this is because the small fur pieces, hair particles, saliva, and skin are known to trigger asthma.

As an animal lover, it can be difficult to stay away from your dog or cat but to reduce your asthma severity, you have to keep a distance. You can give the pet to a friend or take them to a shelter. It will be difficult, but you have to do it for your health.

Wine

A glass of wine is said to be good for a healthy heart, but it can be harmful to those who have asthma. Whether it’s red, white, black, pink, or purple, wine will cause more harm than good so stay away from it.

Any type of wine is harmful because it contains sulfites, a type of preservative you find in various foods and beverages. These sulfites are known to cause asthma, so you are better off staying away from them.

Getting worked up

We are emotional beings, and it can be hard to tell someone not to be angry, frightened, or anxious, but as an asthmatic, you have no way out, other than to try to control your emotions as much as you can.

You should restrain yourself from getting worked up because by doing so, you alter your breathing, which significantly contributes to an asthmatic attack.

Smoke and kitchen aromas

These two are serious irritants to people living with asthma, so you should avoid them. An ideal situation is to stay out of the kitchen, but if you can’t, ensure the kitchen is properly ventilated.

If you don’t have the money to install a chimney or exhaust fan, install a large window that will allow the kitchen smells to escape outside.

Asthma triggering foods

Did you know there are some foods that can trigger your allergies? The common ones are eggs, soy, milk, peanuts, shrimp, fish, and others. Allergist specialist Manassas VA also report that food preservatives such as potassium bisulfate, sodium bisulfate, potassium metabisulfite and sodium sulfite can also trigger asthma.

Cold

You should stay away from the cold weather and the normal common cold. This calls for you to stay indoors during the cold season. You also should stay away from people suffering from a cold or flu. When you come into contact with anyone with flu or cold-like symptoms, wash your hands as soon as possible.

How Do Allergists Test For Allergies?

Are you thinking about visiting an allergy center for an allergy test and wondering how do allergists test for allergies? There are plenty of ways they go about it with the common ones being:

Skin prick test (SPT)

It’s probably the most popular test you can have when you visit an allergy clinic. And the doctors love them for a reason—they are accurate and affordable.

Popularly known as SPT, the skin prick test is often carried out on the inner forearm but in some circumstances, it can be carried out on the other parts of the body such as at the back.

When you visit the clinic, the doctor places a small drop of allergen on your skin then pricks the skin with a lancet through the drop. If you are allergic to the allergens placed on your skin, you develop localized allergic response characterized by swelling, redness, and itching.

In most cases, the larger the wheal, the more likely you will be allergic to the allergen.

Intradermal skin test

This is a close cousin of the skin prick test and it consists of injecting a small amount of the allergen extract into your skin using a syringe and needle.

Doctors use this test when they suspect that you might be having allergies even after showing negative skin prick test results.

Allergy patch test

Also known as the epicutaneous test, this test is done to determine the allergen causing contact dermatitis and it’s performed by placing patches with different substances such as metals, foods, rubber chemicals and others on the skin of the back.

The doctor can place many patches depending on the substances that the doctor suspects you might be allergic to.

After the doctor has placed the patches on your back, he removes them after 48 hours then makes the reading after 72-96 hours.

If you are allergic to the substance placed on your back, you should develop a local rash.

You should note that immunomodulators and systemic corticosteroids can interfere with the results so always tell the doctor if using them.

Blood tests

There are two main types of blood tests that your doctor can undertake: total serum IgE or specific IgE.

The total IgE test measures all the IgE in the blood and it’s not often accurate as the IgE levels can be driven up by various factors such as skin diseases, virus infections, fungi, malignancies, and others.

The specific IgE test on the other hand is more accurate as it focuses on one individual allergen. The test is commonly used in children that are intolerant to skin allergies.

Here the doctor takes a blood sample and sends it to the laboratory. The lab then adds the allergen to the blood then measures the number of antibodies the blood produces to attack the allergens.

Oral food challenge test

This is a highly accurate diagnostic test for food allergies and doctors will undertake it after they have failed to get a definitive diagnosis even after performing the skin prick and blood tests.

During the test, the doctor feeds you the food he suspects you might be allergic to and observes you for a period. If there is a reaction such as flushing or hives, the allergy doctor Manassas VA will stop the test.

If there are no reactions after you have taken all the food, the doctor rules out food allergies.

If there is a reaction and the doctor confirms you are allergic to food, he will advise you on the foods to avoid and even prescribe the appropriate medications, often antihistamines to relieve the reactions.

How Do You Fend Off Allergies?

Do you regularly get sick in spring due to seasonal allergies, and you don’t want it to be the case this year? According to allergy specialist doctors, there are plenty of ways you can protect yourself.

How do you fend off allergies? Here are some of the ways to go about it:

Stay indoors

Seasonal allergies come about due to exposure to pollen and other allergy-causing materials, and one of the best ways to stay away from them is to stay indoors.

Since you will be spending a lot of time in the house during the allergy season, you should ensure that the surface is clean and allergy-proof. Some of the things you can do to make the house allergy-proof include:

Remove the carpets and rugs and leave the floor bare. When you do this, you remove the areas that the allergy-causing pollen can adhere to and bring about allergies.

Clean the house regularly and keep the knickknacks and houseplants to a minimum. This is to remove any pollen that might have entered the house.  Removing the plants gets rid of surfaces the pollen can adhere to and worsen your allergies.

Keep the pets in the house and prevent them from going outside as much as possible. When the pets are indoors, keep them off the furniture and bedroom. This is because they might have collected allergy-causing materials.

Clean your bedding and clothing with hot water at least once a week.

For the pillows and mattresses, go with anti-allergen covers.

Eat the right foods

The reason you are getting sick is that your immune system is misbehaving. The good news is you can correct it by taking the right foods that will strengthen it.

As a rule of thumb, avoid excess sugars as they can take a toll on your system and weaken you.

Some of the best foods to take are foods rich in vitamin C. These include: oranges, carrots, broccoli, and leaf vegetables.

Sometimes allergies come about due to inflammation in the body, and you can correct it by maintaining a healthy gut by eating anti-inflammatory foods and probiotics. You can also add ginger and turmeric to the foods and drinks to boost your immunity.

Raw, local honey has also been found to be highly effective at fighting off allergies, so you should find it and take it. Local honey is an effective antidote because it contains pollen that the bees have been pollinating, and by  introducing it into the body, you train the immune system on how to fight the symptoms.

Adjust your home humidity

Mold is a known leading cause of indoor allergies, so if you have been indoors all the time and you are having allergy symptoms, this is most likely due to mold. Mold thrives in moisture, so to control it, you need to reduce the moisture levels in the house.

Two of the best ways to go about it is to use an air conditioner or dehumidifier. For the best outcome, keep the home humidity levels close to 50%. To ensure that you are maintaining the right moisture levels, use a hygrometer.

Besides using the dehumidifier and air conditioner, clean the water spills promptly, replace the air filters, and fix any leaks as soon as you notice them.

Get rid of rats and cockroaches.

Allergy doctor Manassas VA reports that cockroaches are a common cause of allergies and asthma especially in children so if you have roaches in your house, you should strive to get rid of them as much as possible. You can try getting rid of water and food sources for the roaches or seek professional services to get rid of them.