Travel Blog

This is a 3rd post about allergies and asthma. We feel so strongly about this subject that we are devoting four posts to this subject. Our family has to deal with allergies and asthma on a daily basis and spring time is the worst time of year for us. You can also read “Asthma From a Patients Perspective” and “Allergies and Were You Live”, which were our two previous posts. Allergy season is here for us and we are dealing with it the best we can.

There is also a link to diet and allergies. When you are suffering from allergies, there is a tendency to be less active, which means you burn less calories and sit around more leading to weight gain. If we can assist you in managing your allergies, then maybe you will not gain weight.

Allergy Season is Here – Spring can Be Difficult

This post is being made live on our web site at the beginning of March. Which for some people will be in the middle of prime time for their allergies. While for others they will be just starting. People living in Florida for example may be already dealing with severe allergies. While those of you in northern Canada and Alaska, your season may be just beginning as the evergreen trees begin to pollinate. Allergy season is here for many.

We decided to provide a simple list of the things that people can do to make their lives a little more bearable during allergy season. Depending on how severe your reactions are you may want to apply all of them or only a few. It really depends on were you live. It depends how severe your reactions are to the local allergens in the area that you live or spend most of your time. Allergy season is here!

Allergy Season is Here – Here we go:

• Keep your home and office spotlessly clean
• Keep all windows and doors closed.
• Ensure that all furnace filters are changed on a regular basis
• Leave your outdoor clothes in the laundry room
• Avoid taking them into areas were you sleep
• Take a shower before going to bed at night to remove pollen from your hair and skin
• Request that members of your family and especially your spouse follow the same rules about clothing and also taking showers to avoid pollen / dust contamination
• Avoid strong perfumes / cologne / hair spray etc
• Drive to work
• Delegate out door gardening to other members of the family or hire someone
• Take prescribed medication as required and explained by your doctor
• Avoid being around pets and other animals if you are allergic to pet dander
• Install an in-room air purifier or have one on the forced air system
• Ensure there is no mold in your home
• Think about were your allergens might come from and try to avoid them
• In extreme cases
  • keep your bedroom door closed
  • cover your bed with a plastic sheet
  • wipe the plastic sheet off at night and then remove it
  • dress and undress in another room to keep your room clear of pollen
  • keep the windows closed
  • use an in-room air purifier

If  we missed something obvious, please leave a comment and let us know. It will help other readers improve their quality of life as well.

Living inside a Bubble

If it feels like you have to live inside a bubble then you are probably right. Basically you are trying to eliminate all of the possible exposure to the things you are allergic to. This will require some thought on your part and maybe even some work as well depending on what needs to be done. The good news is that you only need to do this when the allergy season is here for you.

It is always a trade off, even with the medication that you may be taking. There are side effects to everything, it just depends on whether the medications benefits are worth more to you that the potential side effects. This is also true when it comes to depriving yourself from going outside or spending money on air purifiers etc Is the expense worth the quality of life improvement that you are going to receive.

Did You Know that Allergens are Additive

What we mean by this is that if you are allergic to let’s say 3 different things and when you are exposed to only one of them, you may not react at all or only in a minor way. If you are exposed to all of them at the same time, you may have a significant reaction due to the cumulative effect of all of these allergens.

Even if you can eliminate one of the allergens from your environment, you may receive a significant improvement in your quality of life. Avoiding newly cut lawns for example might be all that you need to do when you are also allergic to tree pollen and mold.

Everyone has to work this out for themselves and attempt to make their own quality of life improvements. The immune system is very complex and the best way to deal with allergies is to educate your self and also experiment until you find the best approach for your particular situation.

If that does not work, then you may want to consider moving to a climate that is more suitable to your particular health needs. Comments are welcome, especially those that will help our readers deal with allergies and the management of the environment around them. Spam comments will be auto deleted.

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