In our last article, we talked about cause of allergies and types of allergy divided according to the cause. In this article we will talk about how to protect yourself from allergies and give some treatment guidelines.
Allergy protection and treatment can also be divided according to the cause of such allergy. The normal principles for allergy protection, treatment and how to treat patients with allergies are: 1. Environmental control and allergen control Dust Mites – A survey of Thai patients with allergies found that most patients are allergic to dust mites. It is suggested that we should have a clear and open bedroom without any rugs, dolls and curtains.
We should also wash our bed sheets, pillow cases and blankets in hot water at 60 ° C for 30 minutes at least once a week. Also, cover our bed, pillow and side pillow with synthetic fabrics. Cockroaches – we can prevent or decrease the chances of having cockroaches in our house by eliminating the food sources of cockroaches by throwing out garbage and food waste in bags or bins with tight lid. Pets – we should avoid having pets with fur such as dog, cat, bird, rabbit, etc. Pollen – we should frequently cut the glasses and weeds around the house to decrease the amount of pollen. We should not put any trees, fresh or dried flowers within our house.
During pollen season, we should do outdoor activities in the morning because there will be more pollen in the air in the evening. In addition to the above, we should also avoid having contact with any irritants that may cause the recurrence of an allergy such as cigarette smoke, exhaust fumes, pungent smell, fragrance, incense smoke and dust from various sources.
It is very important that we exercise frequently and have enough sleep as the symptoms usually get worse when patients are stressed and lack sleep. When asthma symptoms are aggravated from exercise, patients should use the bronchodilator for about 15-30 minutes before the exercise as it can helps prevent the occurrence of asthma during the exercise.
We recommend every patient with the symptom of allergies get a skin test from the lavatory in order to understand more clearly what they are allergic to and avoid such allergens. 2. Medication We can divide the treatment for allergies into 3 different types for better and easier understanding. Medical Relief such as anti-inflammatory or antihistamine and bronchodilator. Anti-Inflammatory Agents such as steroid medicines, or medicine to be inhaled through mouth or nasal cavity.
Immunotherapy Vaccine is the treatment where we inject allergen into the body starting from very small amounts and increase the injection amounts until the body becomes accustomed to such allergen. Treatment with an immunotherapy vaccine is normally used for those whose symptoms does not gets better from medication or have side effect from the medicine. It must be known before the vaccine injection what we are allergic to, so the doctor can use such allergen as the vaccine. This must be provided by medical specialists and patients are required to be treated continuously as doctors recommend for at least 3-5 years.
We hope that the information is useful for those readers who have allergies especially now that it is the turn of the season. Please don’t forget to take care of your health.
