What's in the Air? - The Complete Guide to Seasonal and Year-Round Airborne Allergies

Informationen zum Autor Marian Betancourt has written numerous books on health and women's issues. Her most recent books include What's in the Air?, a guide to managing seasonal and year-round allergies; and Playing Like a Girl: Transforming Our Lives Through Team Sports. She has written for the Associated Press, Philadelphia Inquirer Magazine, Sports Illustrated, and other national publications. Klappentext Manage your allergy symptoms year-round with expert advice from board-certified allergist and immunologist Dr. Gillian Shepherd. What's in the air? Pollen, mold spores, dust mites, and pet allergens affect and irritate more than 60 million Americans. That number is increasing every day-and allergies are now the sixth leading cause of chronic illness. But most people don't know a great deal about these airborne allergens-other than how miserable they make them feel. Now, Dr. Gillian Shepherd will bring comfort to sufferers with the latest research on the causes of and available treatments for allergic rhinitis (hay fever) and allergic conjunctivitis (teary eyes). Discover: -how and why your immune system reacts to allergens -the worst pollens: where they are and how far they travel -how to help your child cope with allergies -the truth behind the word “hypoallergenic” -tips for “allergy-proofing” your home, office, and car -the effect that changing weather may have on your symptoms -when allergy shots can help and when they can't -exciting new medical research that will eventually cure allergies. Leseprobe Introduction The Allergy Boom and the Hygiene Hypothesis Not everyone is programmed to develop allergies. You have to inherit the tendency. If you have close family with a history of hay fever, asthma, hives, eczema, or specific food or drug allergies, there is a chance you will develop allergy symptoms. When I was twelve, I baby-sat at a home where there was a cat. Until that time I had very limited exposure to cats, so I happily played with it. After a short time my eyes started to itch, so I rubbed them. Before I knew it, both my eyes were swollen and I could barely see. This was my introduction to allergies. At that time I lived in Rochester, Minnesota. My family had moved there from Belfast, Northern Ireland, when I was ten. Shortly after the baby-sitting incident, I started to develop sneezing and a runny and stuffy nose in the late summer. The Mayo Clinic scratched my back with multiple substances and told me I was allergic to ragweed -- "the king" of the pollens in the Midwest from August 15 to the first frost. There was no ragweed in the United Kingdom and it took me two seasons in Minnesota to develop the allergy. I had lots of company sneezing and sniffling away every September. The main treatment then was Chlor-trimeton, an antihistamine that made me snooze through my classes, so generally I just suffered with my tissue box at hand. My parents then told me that they had had allergy-related problems in the past. My father had hives as a child and my mother had asthma as a teenager. They both "outgrew" their allergies. Meanwhile, I was sneezing and itching and my brother was blissfully unaffected. Why me? Just because my father had hives as a child and my mother had asthma as a teenager did not mean I was programmed to get these specific allergy problems. Instead, I inherited a tendency to get any one of the various types of allergies. In my case, this turned out to be nasal and eye symptoms from cats and ragweed pollen. Your immune system is like your body's homeland defense system. It guards you against foreign invaders such as bacteria or cancer cells. Occasionally it mistakes itself for a foreign invader, reacting against part of your body. This causes autoimmune disease. In the case of allergy, the immune system overreacts to innocent substances such as cats or pollen particles in the air. Normal, nonallergic peopl...

Produktdetails

• Autoren: Marian Betancourt, Gillian Shepherd, Gillian/ Betancourt Shepherd
• Verlag: Pocket Books USA
• Sprache: Englisch
• Produktform: Taschenbuch
• Erschienen: 03.12.2011
• EAN: 9781451646399
• ISBN: 978-1-4516-4639-9
• Seiten: 272
• Serie: Pocket Books
• Themen: Naturwissenschaften, Medizin, Informatik, Technik > Medizin > Klinische Fächer; Ratgeber > Gesundheit