Wednesday 11 November 2009

The Hay Fever

Thought might write something about this.
With the hot and dry spell hitting victoria in recent weeks, hayfever is the common sickness among Victorians. A quick trip to the pharmacy yesterday to get anti-histamine tablets and eye drops to surpress my reactions to the pollen and a small chat with the pharmacist made me realise that this year is one of the worse among all years for people catching the hayfever.

Hayfever or also known as Rhinitis in medical term describing irritation and inflammation of some internal areas of the nose. 3 most common parts of our body that will feel this are our throat, eyes, and nose.

So why the pollen?
It is because the pollens inhaled into our system will trigger the release of Histamine in our body which causes itching and swelling in our body.

The cure?
Anti-Histamine pills is the way to go if you want to be immortal to hayfever. BUT our body will get immune to this drug over time (usually 3 months) and will make these pills useless if kept using. So we should rotate different types of remedy to keep the effects going. BUT 3 months is roughly the duration of hayfever season each year. So you most likely will not need to rotate.

Why is it bad?
This is only my opinion. Our body excretes Histamine as a reaction to fight these external substance that gets into our system. By taking anti-histamines, we are preventing our body from defending itself. Yes we eliminate the itch but! that does not make our body any stronger. If anything, we are left with no antibody to protect our system. So should we take it? I say NO! I bought 1 strip last night and took 1 pill. only to come across THIS article this morning and after reading it, no way am I gonna put harm to my system.

It is not like other medicine where we take to prevent/eliminate virus or germs. This thing STOPS our body from its natural immunal system. So..........that box will be only for emergency. My say is...if you can still bare with the itchiness, don't take. If eyes are itchy, get eye drops...or just scratch it!

Reason for spike in hayfever cases this year?
Hypothesis:
  • Because it is spring season now….and because we received heavy rainfall for the past month
  • We get more plants growing as compared to the past few years
  • This means there are more plants ready for breeding with pollens
  • And now with the dry/hot spell, plus windy conditions the pollen count has increased

 Don't know how much sense this theory makes, but I think it will be it!
 
Disclaimer: I don't know how much is true in this post. I do not hold any responsibility in any form of injury from the result of this post. All action taken by anyone is at their discretion.

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