Winter Allergies

Namashkar,

I am Dr. Renu Madan, homeopathy consultant. Its winter time so we’ll talk about the most common and the most nagging issue of the season: winter allergies. These days we come across people saying oh I cannot go out in the smog, I immediately start itching in my eyes and I start sneezing incessantly or they say every day I get up in the morning and start sneezing and coughing or some people may even say I'm so tired of this cough, it's just not going. So the all these are symptoms of allergy. Now what is an allergy? An allergy is an abnormal reaction or hypersensitivity of the body to certain substances present in the environment. What is the difference is if exposed to or when exposed to these substances, an allergic person will produce certain symptoms while the same substances will be harmless to the non-allergic population. Now the main reason for this is that the hypersensitive immune system of allergic people makes a specific type of antibody called immunoglobulin E in response to these substances which reacts with these allergens in a harmful way to produce a substance called histamine in the body which is the cause of this allergic reaction.

Now the seat of action of these allergies can be anywhere in your body most frequently it is your nose or the upper respiratory tract where it can give rise to symptoms of hay fever or allergic bronchitis, allergic rhinitis also. So the symptoms can be sneezing, there could be nasal congestion with a running nose or a stuffed up nose, then there could be irritation or itching in the throat, tonsillitis, adenoids, there could be allergic coughing. If the same reaction goes in the lower respiratory tract it could give you symptoms of allergic bronchitis or asthma which means there is a certain tightness or suffocation in the chest and there is difficulty in breathing and maybe wheezing which is a noise while you are taking the breath.

Then the allergy can manifest in eyes again in the form of itching, irritation, redness and at times the patient could say meri ankh me kuch ridak raha hai. Then in the stomach also it can manifest. At times like certain certain people are allergic to certain fruits, allergic to egg or sea foods like prawn or fish and the symptom would be they would have cramps in the stomach and there could be with that there could be indigestion in terms of either diarrhoea or loose motion. In skin there is hives or urticaria jisko hum Hindi mein chapaki bolte hain. A patient can manifest that symptom of an allergy or maybe there is eczema. In joints also certain people they come with symptom like pain in joints while after eating certain foods jaise bay ka dard hogya, that is also an allergic manifestation. So all these are the allergic manifestations in your body and of course your genes have a definite role to play in your allergies. Winter allergies are seasonal allergies. Allergies can be perennial or all the year round also but winter allergies are seasonal allergy.

The main cause for them is dropping the temperature of course. Then there is pollen because now the now the season is mid spring to early winter, that's a pollen season so because of the pollen in the air you can get allergy. Parthenium or Congress grass we commonly call as the main cause of the respiratory and skin allergy. Then there is smog that is fog plus smoke in the air that can also give you allergy. And interestingly or surprisingly there is one more important cause that is the environment in your home or surroundings. Now seemingly sparklingly clean living room can be having dust in the carpet, the furniture, the walls and then if you have a look at your bathroom if there is little bit of moisture it can harbour mould spores jisko hum hindi me kaee bolte hai, that those brownish or greenish patches in the bathroom. You can be allergic to them and top it all if you have a pet net for, the pet dander we call it which is the dead skin or the hair or the feather of your pet. There's a protein in them and that can also give you allergy.

So now when the temperatures drop and you switch on your heaters or blowers all these dust particles, mites which is dead animal or insect parts small small parts and the pet dander all that gets into, it comes out from the darkest or the corners of your house in to the air and when you inhale this air, it gives an allergic reaction. There is a strong link between allergies are different levels also interestingly like if we as doctors try to treat a skin allergy like eczema or a rash, it might subside from there but it can come back in the form of a respiratory allergy like asthma or bronchitis. If we try to treat asthma or bronchitis maybe it gets better but the allergy then comes in the form of say a stomach disorder or it may go into a joint problem. So allergy can shift from one sphere of the body to another. So it is best not to suppress these allergies. It is best not to just reduce this reduce it at symptom level by giving decongestants or anti-allergics. So, what is the solution in such cases?

Homeopathy offers the best solution because it does not just treat the symptoms of the allergy; it gets into the root cause of the allergy which is hypersensitivity of your immune system. So it corrects the system at back level, so the same substances which you were once allergic to you would start responding to them in a normal way like a person who is not allergic to them. So this way the allergy is corrected and you lead a symptom free life. Now friends you are not alone with these winter allergies. One out of 5 people living in Delhi suffer from one or other form of the allergy. In fact millions of people suffer from allergies even all the year round. Friends if you are not getting any relief in your allergies from the lifestyle modifications or over the counter medicines like decongestants or anti-allergics, maybe it's time for a homeopathy consultation.

Thank you.