What is the sign that spring has arrived? Du Fu said, “The tender pistil discusses the fine opening”, and Su Shi said, “The duck is the first to know when the water in the spring river is warm”, but if a doctor says so, the way to judge the arrival of spring is that there are more patients with itchy faces, and many of them are old acquaintances who have an annual “date” in spring.
It is reasonable to say that there are patients with itchy skin all year round, but these “old acquaintances” have some common features: 1.
1, usually spring comes and suddenly attacks.
2. The itchy areas are mostly on the face and neck, or on the bare arms. Li Yunchuan, Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Beijing Tongren Hospital
3. The rash looks red and a little swollen from a distance, and up close you may find some sesame-sized red bumps and/or some increased skin flakes.
4. It is easy to have red eyes, itchy eyes, and sneezing.
Why does this happen? The arrival of spring not only revives plants and animals that have been sleeping for a winter, but also causes the air to be filled with mold, dust mites, pollen, animal dander and other pollutants, which are common allergens that can induce inflammatory symptoms or allergic reactions in the contact areas of sensitive people.
As with many other allergic diseases, the ideal approach is to identify the allergens and then avoid contact with them. This is easier said than done. Allergies to pollen or mold, for example, are widely present in the air, especially outdoors, every season; even if you stay indoors and take great care of your hygiene, you cannot completely avoid other indoor allergens, such as dust mites and mold.
What are the useful preventive measures?
Allergy is a very important thing that affects the quality of life.
1. Take a shower and change your clothes and shoes when you get home from the outdoors. If you have a history of eczema, which worsens in the spring, consider using 0.005 percent bleach bath in the early stages of eczema deterioration, apply cream as soon as possible after the bath, and then apply moisturizer 15 minutes after applying the medicine, and pay sufficient attention to moisturizing the skin on a daily basis.
2, clothing and bedding washed and dried using a clothes dryer rather than hanging out.
3, pay attention to the mattress, bed bottom, quilt, pillow, sofa, carpet, curtains, fluffy toys, etc., all easy to accumulate dust in the place of regular vacuum cleaning.
4.It is best to use cotton high-count bedding or special anti-mite bedding. Attention! Removing dust is not the same as removing dust mites and mold. The protein in dust mite feces is very common over, prevent it from coming over and hide.
5.Close windows and doors and turn on the air conditioner or air purifier.
6, try to record each allergy attack within half an hour before the exposure to substances, the environment and the intake of food and drugs. Symptoms of allergic reactions caused by food usually appear very quickly, on average in about 15 minutes. Experiments have shown that all symptoms of severe allergic reactions appear within 30 minutes of exposure, with the majority of symptoms appearing within the first 5 minutes.
If the above methods do not reduce the symptoms of allergy, it is time to seek help from a doctor. Given the wide range of hospital standards and even physician standards in China, it is recommended that the nearest teaching hospital to your home or workplace be the first choice for allergic reactions, as they usually have a higher level of care and a better understanding of common local allergens for targeted testing.
Here are some questions that are often asked by allergic patients, see if you have such doubts.
What are the common examination methods used in hospitals?
There are three main types: intradermal prick test, patch test, and serum-specific IgE test. In common skin allergies in spring, intradermal prick test is usually sufficient to find allergens; if food allergy is considered, do not use patch test casually unless combined with eosinophilic esophagitis is considered; serum specific IgE test can only detect allergens of rapid allergic reactions, but not allergens of other types of allergic reactions, and the positive allergens detected should be analyzed for clinical correlation, when The positive allergens detected should be analyzed for clinical relevance, and only those allergens that reduce or disappear after avoiding the allergens and have a positive excitation test may be related to the disease.
What medications can be used when allergies appear?
For skin manifestations alone, a short-term topical hormone cream is sufficient, and soft hormones are preferred. Soft hormones are hormones that are absorbed little systemically or can be rapidly broken down into inactive products after being absorbed in the skin. The advantage of soft hormones is that they are absorbed little and retain high activity only locally, so the adverse reactions are greatly reduced and the therapeutic index is greatly improved. Soft hormones are suitable for the elderly, infants and children and for use in larger areas. The existing soft hormones in China are mometasone furoate and fluticasone propionate.
If there are also frequent episodes of sneezing, red and itchy eyes and asthma, then you may also need to add antihistamines (chlorpheniramine, loratadine, cetirizine, etc.). Read the instructions in detail before taking them to understand clearly the relevant contraindications and precautions, especially for infants and young children and pregnant and nursing women. If you have frequent sneezing, you can wash your nose with saline. If your eyes are red and itchy, it is recommended that you visit an ophthalmologist because red eyes and itchy eyes are not necessarily allergies, but may also be springtime katydiditis or atopic keratitis, or even bacterial or viral infections, which should be identified first.
Can a mother restrict certain diets to prevent allergies in her baby?
The American Academy of Pediatrics, the Canadian Paediatric Society, and the Australian Infant Feeding Guidelines all clearly state that there is no evidence that restricting specific foods during pregnancy or breastfeeding is beneficial in preventing allergies in babies. What is more important should be to quit smoking and to avoid mothers and babies in the environment contaminated by second-hand and third-hand smoke; secondly, to avoid the abuse of antibiotics, which move to kill all bacteria, the immune system does not have the normal slow exposure to microbial antigens, and later, once stronger several exposures, it is easy to become allergic to common bacteria and microorganisms.
Do I have to abstain from spicy food for allergy?
Exogenous capsaicin can activate a type of receptor in the sensory nerves of the skin, triggering itching, and it is best not to eat if you have itchy skin. However, some studies have shown that capsaicin can reduce cough sensitivity, so those with chronic coughs can try it instead.
Can I prevent my child from having allergies if I don’t have a dog after pregnancy and childbirth?
As long as the dogs are properly quarantined, the dogs themselves do not increase the risk of infectious diseases and allergies to the pregnant woman and her fetus, unless the mother is already allergic to them. Even after the baby is born, dogs do not increase the risk of allergies and eczema in babies; on the contrary, numerous experiments have proven that dogs can also reduce the risk of allergic diseases.
Can allergies become chronic if left untreated?
Yes. Improper treatment, especially scalding and scratching, can make symptoms worse and chronic. Although scalding and scratching can temporarily stop the itch by producing pain, they can also cause the brain to release analgesic substances that activate itch-specific neurons and exacerbate the itch, making it more itchy and scratching more itchy, creating a vicious cycle.
Can allergies be fatal?
Severe allergic reactions can lead to shock, cardiac arrest and even death. This is due to the increased vasodilation and capillary permeability during allergy. The heart cannot adapt to this sudden change, resulting in cardiovascular failure (coronary artery spasm, myocardial ischemia or infarction, malignant arrhythmia) or even cardiac arrest. The response is timely injection of adrenaline and hormones.
Take the relevant precautions and I hope you can enjoy the great spring every year and don’t let allergies become an obstacle to your date with spring.