Are You Tortured by Hay Fever?
Hay fever is an awful illness to deal with. Sometimes referred to as "allergic
rhinitis", hay fever is a name given to an annoying collection of symptoms.
These symptoms are the result of the body's overreaction to a substance it reads
as poisonous. The symptoms associated with hay fever are nasal stuffiness, congestion,
sneezing, runny nose, itchy and watery eyes, fatigue, difficulty sleeping, scratchy
throat, irritating cough, and postnasal drip. Often, hay fever strikes people
at different seasons of the year, but the result is the same. For the estimated
one in ten who suffer from it, hay fever is torture.
Though genetics may play a part in allergies, there are other factors involved.
Studies done on identical twins, which have the exact same genes, reveal that
one twin may be allergic and the other not. If genetics were the only issue,
all twins would react the same.
Different substances in the air are the usual triggers for hay fever. Normally
innocent things that really aren't poisonous register in an allergic person's
body as poisonous. Airborne triggers include mold, grass and tree pollen, different
kinds of smoke including wood and cigarette, mites, and animal dander.
The health body normally doesn't react at all to any of these substances. With
an allergic person, though, the body's immune system goes into overdrive and
produces antibodies to defend against these supposed "poisonous" intruders.
This unnecessary production of antibodies can affect the ability to breathe,
the skin may itch, and the eyes and nose may over secrete.
Normally, we count on the immune system to protect us from microbes that inhabit
our environment. In the case of hay fever, however, the immune system is "shooting
the sweater around your neck because it things the sweater is trying to strangle
you". Obviously, there is a breakdown in the immune system of hay fever sufferers.
Controlling everything in the environment may be an obvious protection, but
not an easy one. The conferment necessary to protect from allergies is to torture
as much as hay fever is torture. Medications are available but they have their
own set of drawbacks and, really, are only for temporary relief.
One important factor in helping sufferers is realized by looking at the health
of the immune system, again. We in chiropractic know that building up the immune
system, using the body's own healing ability, is the best idea. People under
regular chiropractic care appear to have a higher immune system ability that
people judged as basically healthy.
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