Allergic diseases can occur at all ages from newborns to the elderly, and often have a clear genetic predisposition. Among allergic diseases, rapid-onset allergic reactions are more common, and their main types are skin allergic reactions, respiratory allergic reactions, digestive allergic reactions and anaphylaxis, etc. The common diseases are as follows.
Allergic dermatitis
(1) Drug rash: Some drugs can cause skin allergic reactions, mainly manifested as skin erythema, purpura, blisters and epidermal sloughing, itching and pain, sometimes accompanied by hypothermia. After the rash subsides, there is mostly no hyperpigmentation.
(2) Contact dermatitis: localized erythema, edema, itching and pain after skin contact with certain substances (e.g. jewelry, watch chain, sandals, cosmetics, etc.), and in severe cases, blistering and peeling may occur.
(3) Eczema: local or generalized erythema, papules, blisters, vesicles, exudation, crusting, flaking, pigmentation; intense itching; significant exudation.
(4) Urticaria (wind mass, rubella): sudden and intense itching or burning sensation of the skin; rapid appearance of a confined mass of puffy wind masses of varying sizes, ranging from small grains of rice to the size of the palm of the hand, commonly the size of a fingernail to a coin, slightly above the surrounding skin.
(5) Itchy skin itchy skin: scratching with the hands results in a strip of scars.
(6) Food allergy: milk, flour, corn, eggs, sugar, tomatoes, potatoes, chocolate, fruits, beef, pork and other foods may cause allergy, food allergy can be a variety of manifestations, rash is the most common, mostly occurring on the face, erythema around the mouth, trunk is also more common, itching and flaking, and may have pigmentation, there is also nausea, diarrhea, abdominal pain.
(7) Environmental factors cause allergies: pollen, mold, dust, trees, tobacco, smoke, perfume, gasoline, paint, pesticides, cleaning agents, drugs, pets, carpets, etc. can cause allergies.
Allergic rhinitis
The typical symptoms of allergic rhinitis are: firstly, paroxysmal continuous sneezing, generally not less than five per episode, and even up to a dozen or dozens in many cases, the time of sneezing is often aggravated by early rising, sleeping at night or changing with the seasons, and in severe cases, almost several times a day; secondly, a large amount of clear water-like nasal discharge after the sneezing process; thirdly, blockage of the nasal cavity, the severity of each episode varies and can last The severity of each attack varies and can last for ten minutes or several minutes.
Allergic asthma
Allergic asthma mostly develops at a young age, and patients often have atopic allergies to certain substances, such as inhalation of cold air, pollen, dust mites, etc.; eating fish, shrimp, milk, etc.; and exposure to certain drugs, such as penicillin. When these allergens enter the patient’s body, they cause mast cells or basophils to release allergenic active substances through a series of reactions, which act on the bronchial tubes, causing extensive small airway narrowing and wheezing symptoms, and if left untreated, asthma can be fatal.
Allergic purpura
There is often a history of upper respiratory tract infection 1-3 weeks before the onset of the disease and general malaise, fatigue, fever and loss of appetite, followed by purpura of the skin with arthralgia, abdominal pain, hematuria or black stool, which are often easily misdiagnosed.
Anaphylaxis
Anaphylaxis (anaphylactic shock) is an intense multi-organ involvement that occurs within a short period of time through the immune mechanism after some external antigenic substances enter the sensitized organism. The manifestation and degree of anaphylactic shock varies greatly depending on the reactivity of the body, the amount and route of antigen entry. It usually occurs suddenly and violently, and can be life-threatening if not treated promptly.
Detailed medical history for the diagnosis of allergic diseases
Include the time, place, season, periodicity, triggering cause, living and living environment, food habits, work environment, family history of heredity, history of drug allergy, past physical condition, menstruation and childbirth, ongoing treatment and medication, etc., to initially determine whether it is an allergic disease and what kind of allergic disease it is.
Laboratory tests
The corresponding tests are done for allergens to determine which substances the patient is allergic to, which is called specific allergen diagnosis of allergic diseases. Specific allergen diagnosis is at the heart of allergology.
Patient education for the treatment of allergic diseases
Through patient education, knowledge of allergic diseases is disseminated so that patients can understand allergic diseases, and timely prevention and treatment can be provided.
Avoidance of allergen exposure
Allergens are accurately found through advanced detection technology, and after clarifying the allergens, contact is actively avoided in daily life. Allergens are necessary for the occurrence of allergies, and leaving the allergen to avoid the occurrence of allergies is an effective approach, but it is not useful for all allergy patients. Some people are allergic to one allergen and some may have several allergens; some allergens can be avoided, but some are difficult to avoid; and many allergens are still unknown, so staying away from allergens is a good approach, but it is not useful for all patients.
Desensitization therapy
Specific immunotherapy (desensitization therapy)
After the allergen is clearly identified, the patient is exposed to the allergen starting with a small dose, and the dose is gradually increased to a maintenance dose, and the treatment continues for a sufficient duration so that the immune system of the patient’s organism develops immune tolerance and the allergic symptoms are significantly reduced or no longer occur when the patient is exposed to the allergen again. This treatment is an allopathic treatment, a method that can interrupt the natural course of allergic diseases. Sublingual desensitization therapy uses extracts of allergens dropped under the tongue to produce tolerance in the respiratory mucosa, thereby reducing or controlling allergic symptoms and reaching the goal of desensitization therapy. Its clinical features are.
The world’s fastest growing method of desensitization (i.e., specific immunotherapy or immunotherapy), in line with the World Health Organization’s recommended symptomatic + cause-specific rationalized treatment program.
It overcomes the limitation that traditional hormonal chemical drugs only treat the symptoms of the disease at the onset and treat the symptoms but not the root cause, and with the prolongation of taking them, there are different degrees of adverse reactions that may produce a certain degree of drug resistance.
High safety: Globally, no serious side effects have occurred after 30 years of use, which maximizes the safety of long-term medication of desensitization therapy; avoiding the serious systemic adverse reactions (including anaphylaxis and even death) that may be caused by injectable desensitization therapy, thus reducing the psychological burden of health care workers and patients.
There are also changes in immunological indicators in vivo before and after sublingual dust mite immunotherapy in patients with dust mite induced allergic rhinitis. Due to the thin sublingual mucosal tissue, these Langerhans cells located on the mucosal surface will trap the signal of the presence of allergens when they come in contact with antigens, and the allergen vaccine can be rapidly absorbed, thus initiating the desensitization reaction. This includes an increase in serum IgG4 levels and an improvement in the Th2/Th1 cell ratio. Because it is administered sublingually, it usually does not produce serious adverse reactions such as anaphylaxis. Very few patients occasionally have a mild rash or mild diarrhea, which can be recovered by stopping treatment or reducing the dose. The mechanism of sublingual desensitization is due to the fact that the sublingual mucosa has a very large number of Langerhans cells, which process and convert dust mite allergens into mite peptide information by absorbing minute amounts of dust mite allergens and then presenting them to Th0 cells to convert Th0 cells to Th1 cells and prevent the occurrence of allergic reactions.
Drug therapy (symptomatic treatment)
It is a symptomatic treatment that can control clinical symptoms relatively quickly but cannot change the natural course of the disease. The following two types of drugs are commonly used.
1. For the regulation of allergic constitution (idiosyncratic constitution), western anti-allergic medicine only controls the symptoms, while Chinese medicine is to improve the allergic constitution and play the effect of both the symptoms and the root cause. It is effective for allergic rhinitis, asthma, hives, etc. Chinese medicine combined with antihistamines, Yu Ping Feng granules are the preferred Chinese medicine formula for allergic diseases, combined with antihistamines such as paracetamol, Xismin, Mink, Kerratan, etc. Antihistamines all have side effects, and long-term use will make people drowsy, tired and brain sluggish.
2. Hormonal drugs, which are very effective in the treatment of allergic diseases, have too many side effects and cannot be commonly used; therefore, they can only be used temporarily to control the condition when it is serious. Common use of hormones can seriously damage internal organs such as the liver and kidneys, and can also affect the growth and development of children.