How to break allergic rhinitis in winter?

■ News background

After the heavy snow, it began to get very cold all over the country. Cold air and dust in the air constantly stimulate the human nasal mucosa, and nasal congestion, runny nose and headache have become the daily life of many rhinitis patients. Take anti-inflammatory drugs, smoke garlic, all the tricks have been done, but it still doesn't work. What should I do if my nose hasn't healed yet?

■ Visiting experts:

Xie Zhihai: Associate Professor of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University.

After heavy snow, the temperature plummeted, the air quality was poor, and allergens such as dust mites increased. Many rhinitis patients suffer from allergic rhinitis, repeated sneezing, stuffy nose, itchy nose, runny nose, unable to sleep at night and listless during the day. The whole person looks sloppy. ...

The high incidence of rhinitis in winter is related to air quality and environment.

Why autumn has passed, not the season of pollen, and allergic rhinitis has not improved, but has become more serious? In fact, winter is the high incidence of allergic rhinitis. Every winter is a high incidence of rhinitis, which is related to the air quality and environment in winter. In winter, PM2.5 in the air will increase obviously, and the environmental quality will also decrease. In addition, when the temperature drops and is stimulated by cold air, rhinitis will be obviously aggravated.

Most people with high incidence of allergic rhinitis are allergic to allergens such as pollen, chemicals, dust mites and animal dander. Although winter is not the pollen season, due to some modern diseases such as cold, lack of sleep, fatigue and virus infection, human immunity is reduced. In addition, due to the cold weather, the chance of indoor ventilation is reduced, which leads to the increase of indoor allergen concentration and easy to cause allergic rhinitis, so we should pay more attention to allergic rhinitis in winter.

Two cognitive misunderstandings of rhinitis: "don't care" and "disorderly treatment"

Many patients suffer from rhinitis for a long time, largely because they have not been treated with a scientific attitude. Many patients will get some knowledge about rhinitis from books and the Internet. In our daily patients, there are two cognitive misunderstandings: one is indifference, and the other is indiscriminate treatment. Rhinitis can't be ignored, but don't rush to see a doctor.

Patients who don't care think that rhinitis is a minor illness, and if they don't pay attention, it will affect the treatment of the disease. The other is that network knowledge misleads patients, and various factors will make it very serious. Some people even exaggerate that rhinitis is related to tumors or other diseases. In particular, children's rhinitis will affect sleep and study, parents will be particularly nervous, and it is easy to go to the hospital in a hurry.

It is understandable to search for remedies or find other treatments to solve the problem of rhinitis online, but after all, many of these materials searched online are not very formal treatments. If not handled well, these remedies may bring adverse consequences to patients with rhinitis. It is suggested that patients and their families go to professional hospitals to find formal treatment methods.

Some symptoms of rhinitis may be mistaken for a cold.

With the arrival of the heavy snow season, it has entered the coldest time of the year. Many people not only feel cold, but also feel itchy nose and sneezing and runny nose. At this time, don't assume that you have a cold. If there are symptoms such as sneezing and runny nose, it may not be a cold, or it may be seasonal allergic rhinitis.

How to distinguish rhinitis from cold? What rhinitis symptoms may be mistaken for a cold?

The symptoms of rhinitis are very similar to those of a cold, accompanied by itchy nose, sneezing, runny nose and stuffy nose, but as long as it is carefully distinguished, rhinitis and a cold can still be distinguished.

Generally speaking, patients with allergic rhinitis have the same symptoms as patients with colds, including nasal congestion and runny nose, and some patients may also have paroxysmal sneezing symptoms. Cold patients have a history of catching cold or getting angry (wind-heat type cold), while allergic rhinitis patients have no clear history of catching cold, but most of them can be related to seasonal and environmental changes.

Colds are mostly acute, caused by virus infection, and usually heal themselves within 7 days. A cold is usually accompanied by some systemic symptoms, such as sore throat, cough and general weakness. In severe cases, there will be fever, headache, body aches, even nausea and diarrhea, while allergic rhinitis will not.

The main symptoms of allergic rhinitis are stuffy nose, itchy nose, continuous sneezing and runny nose, which is caused by human body's allergy to allergens (mainly dust mites and pollen) in the air. Nasal congestion is the main symptom of common chronic rhinitis, which is related to air pollution, poor physique and frequent colds. If you sneeze many times a day, more than three times each time, or even more than 10 or dozens of times in a row, you often start sneezing in the morning, at night or immediately after contacting allergens, and there are a lot of clear water-like snot, sometimes dripping unconsciously from your nostrils, so you should be alert to allergic rhinitis.

A large number of patients with allergic rhinitis have their own experience in treating colds or taking cold medicine. Some patients with allergic rhinitis will get better temporarily after taking cold medicine. This is because some cold medicines have anti-allergic effects. But there are some antipyretic and analgesic drugs in cold medicine, which have great side effects after long-term use. In addition, many people treat it as a cold at the early stage of the disease, which leads to the delay of the course of the disease and eventually leads to a state of perennial nasal congestion and runny nose.

It is very important to find the root of rhinitis treatment.

In fact, finding the root of rhinitis is the most critical thing. Especially allergic rhinitis, doctors need to find allergens after definite diagnosis experiments, and then carry out related desensitization treatment. In addition to desensitization treatment, nasal spray drugs and antiallergic drugs will be used. How to relieve allergic rhinitis? The treatment of allergic rhinitis can be divided into symptom control and desensitization treatment. The former is mainly a palliative method, and the latter is the only treatment method recognized at home and abroad that is likely to cure allergic rhinitis radically.

Control of symptoms: Treatment measures are generally divided into nasal administration and oral administration, and the curative effect varies among individuals. Nasal administration (nasal spray) directly acts on nasal mucosa, which has the advantages of high local drug concentration and few systemic side effects. However, for patients with allergic symptoms of other organs (such as allergic conjunctivitis, asthma, etc. ), oral anti-allergic drugs can improve the curative effect. Of course, for pregnant patients, drugs should be used with caution, especially drugs that act on the whole body orally.

Nasal sprays can be divided into two categories: one is local application of glucocorticoid, and the other is intranasal decongestant. The former can effectively relieve the symptoms of nasal congestion and runny nose; The latter can quickly relieve the symptoms of nasal congestion, which is more suitable for patients with severe nasal congestion, but the course of treatment must be strictly controlled within 7 days.

In addition, oral drugs include anti-leukotrienes and antihistamines, which are usually used in combination with nasal sprays.

As a possible method to cure allergic rhinitis, desensitization therapy has two methods, one is sublingual desensitization therapy, and the other is subcutaneous desensitization therapy. The treatment time of both drugs is more than three years, which requires long-term uninterrupted administration and is expensive.

Air is the key to prevent allergic rhinitis.

To prevent allergic rhinitis, we must first deal with the air, pay attention to purifying the air and indoor ventilation. We can take many measures to prevent the small environment of daily life, such as properly handling family hygiene; Open the indoor air purifier; Open more windows on weekdays to keep air convection, don't stay indoors, and close doors and windows for a long time. Indoor pollution will aggravate rhinitis.

Secondly, the key to prevent allergic rhinitis is to avoid contact with allergens. When allergies are uncomfortable indoors, indoor ventilation should be carried out in time to reduce the concentration of allergens. In addition, patients with allergic rhinitis need to improve their living environment. For example, people who are allergic to mites should keep their houses clean and ventilated for a long time and dry more bedding. People who are allergic to animal fur should ban small animals with fur, replace carpets and feather mattresses, ventilate indoors and reduce diseases such as dust.

In addition, we should pay attention to eating less cold, spicy and irritating foods, and eat more foods rich in vitamins such as fruits and vegetables. For some foods that are easy to cause allergies, it is best to taste them before eating. When the weather is good, we should also strengthen outdoor exercise properly, adjust the body's immunity, increase the resistance to allergens, and reduce the chances of virus infection, such as climbing mountains, playing Tai Chi, jogging and so on. Regular massage of nasal cavity can also enhance the function of nasal cavity to resist allergens.

Editor: Sha Qiong