How can allergic rhinitis be prevented and treated?

  Allergic rhinitis is divided into perennial and seasonal allergic rhinitis. Seasonal allergic rhinitis has severe symptoms and attacks in fixed seasons every year, often with strange itching in the nose, continuous sneezing, and a large flow of clear water-like nasal discharge; it is also accompanied by nasal congestion, dizziness, decreased concentration, and insomnia. The symptoms of perennial allergic rhinitis are relatively mild and the attack time is variable, mostly intermittent or perennial, often when smelling a certain odor, touching pets and cleaning; children often show up by pushing their nose and making faces because they cannot express themselves.  Although allergic rhinitis is not life-threatening, it can seriously interfere with the patient’s life, affecting work, study, sleep and recreation, and reducing the quality of life. If delayed or improperly treated, it may lead to sinusitis, otitis media, nasal polyps, bronchial asthma and other comorbidities. Almost all patients with allergic rhinitis suffer from conjunctivitis. Moreover, allergic rhinitis is closely related to asthma, and 40%-75% of asthma patients can be accompanied by allergic rhinitis.  There is no cure for allergic rhinitis. Treatment generally starts from three aspects.  1, avoid contact with allergens and enhance physical fitness. Patients should pay attention to what environment they are usually allergic to, what substances they are allergic to, and try not to contact these allergy-causing substances. When symptoms occur mainly outdoors, outdoor activities should be limited as much as possible, especially contact with flowers or decaying leaves, as well as pollen from willow and sycamore trees, and wear a mask when going out, or you can go to a beachfront with fewer allergens. Pay attention to physical exercise during the day, which can increase your physical fitness. Avoid unnecessary socializing, refrain from smoking and drinking, and insist on sports such as walking, swimming, and tai chi, etc. These can significantly improve the body’s physique and reduce the attacks of allergic rhinitis.  2, drug treatment. At present, the main drugs for the treatment of allergic rhinitis are antihistamines, anti-allergy drugs (preferred drugs), nasal local steroids (first-line drugs), mast cell membrane stabilizers (no side effects, for pediatric, mild patients) and decongestants and anticholinergic drugs, but also a combination of drugs. People suffering from allergic rhinitis should take anti-allergic drugs (such as benadryl, paracetamol, keratan, etc.) under the guidance of a specialist, and use an inhalation aerosol with specially made particles, which can spray glucocorticoids under pressure and can quantitatively spray 50μg each time with a small dosage to reduce the effect of hormones on the human body and fully penetrate the nasal mucosa to play an anti-inflammatory, anti-allergic and reduce secretion role. For the conservative treatment is ineffective or the nasal congestion is serious, the doctor can use laser or surgery to remove part of the edematous turbinates, and then use the medicine, which will obviously improve the symptoms and achieve a more satisfactory effect.  3.Desensitization treatment. As early as 1911, two doctors in England found that every year during the pollen spreading season there will be a large number of allergic disease patients attacked, closely related to the appearance of pollen, they made pollen into injections for patients, found that many patients’ symptoms can be relieved, the invention of desensitization treatment method.  In fact, this method has something in common with the familiar measles vaccine, both of which use pathogens to cause the body to react with resistance. Only the measles vaccine has a single pathogen, while people with allergies are often not sensitized to a single allergen, but to multiple factors. The pathogens of desensitization therapy are potentially multiple substances.  Desensitization is the only possible cure for allergic rhinitis, with an efficiency rate of about 85% and a complete cure rate of about 50% or less.  People suffering from allergic rhinitis should first ask a specialist to help you clarify the diagnosis of the disease and find out the allergens. The doctor will use the corresponding allergen solution and start with subcutaneous injections at a very low concentration and gradually increase the dose of allergens (such as pollen) in small amounts for several months – years until the patient’s body produces antibodies, blocking the combination of allergens and antibodies, and achieving the therapeutic effect. If you are allergic to multiple allergens, the efficacy of desensitization therapy will be greatly reduced. Because most patients are clinically allergic to multiple factors, and because allergen safety and standardization issues need to be improved, desensitization is currently only performed in a few tertiary care hospitals. In recent years, a lot of research has been conducted on recombinant allergens, antigenic peptide immunization, allergen DNA vaccines and drug delivery routes, which bring bright prospects for the future treatment of allergic rhinitis.