过敏季节的真相

It’s that time of year you always dread: You’ve wok­en up with a scratchy throat, 顽固的咳嗽, 还有很多交通堵塞.

If you have sea­son­al aller­gies — also called aller­gic rhini­tis or hay fever — you’re not alone. Mil­lions of Amer­i­cans have aller­gies that come 和 go with the seasons.

Despite how com­mon aller­gies are, there are many mis­con­cep­tions about them. 以下是一些最常见的过敏神话背后的真相:

Myth: Peo­ple with sea­son­al aller­gies should be most­ly con­cerned about flowers.

The most com­mon trig­ger of sea­son­al aller­gies is a yel­low­ish pow­dery sub­stance called pollen. 花粉颗粒可以进入你的肺部, 鼻子, 或眼睛, 如果你对花粉过敏，它们会在哪里引起症状.

Flow­ers are well-known pro­duc­ers of pollen, but pollen can be cre­at­ed by many types of plants. Sea­son­al aller­gies tend to be caused by the pollen made from trees, grass, or weeds.

误解:春天是过敏最严重的季节.

没有一个 ​“最糟糕的“sea-son. It’s true that many peo­ple expe­ri­ence their worst aller­gies dur­ing the spring, 但也有人认为夏天和秋天是最不舒服的. 这是因为每个季节都有不同的镜头:

也没有 ​“每个季节里最糟糕的一个月, since the exact tim­ing of an aller­gy sea­son varies across the country.

Myth: If you have sea­son­al aller­gies, you’re basi­cal­ly stuck inside until the sea­son is over.

有些时候最好还是呆在家里, 但这并不意味着你永远不能享受户外活动.

Some peo­ple find it help­ful to check the day’s pollen count before decid­ing whether or not to go out­doors for a long peri­od of time. 这是对空气中花粉含量的测量. 你可以在上面找到每天的十大正规赌博平台大全 十大正规赌博平台大全的主页. Addi-tion-al-ly, there are sev­er­al web­sites where you can find both cur­rent 和 fore­cast­ed pollen counts, 比如 国家过敏症局 和 花粉.com. Some smart­phone weath­er apps also include infor­ma­tion about pollen counts. 

如果你确实需要在花粉高的日子花时间在户外, there are sev­er­al pre­cau­tions you can take to min­i­mize your symptoms:

• 戴口罩
• Keep your grass short — but try to leave the actu­al gar­den­ing to some­one who doesn’t have allergies
• 进屋后要冲洗干净
• 宠物出门后给它们刷牙

It’s also a good idea to keep short-term symp­tom relief med­ica­tions like decon­ges­tants on h和.

Myth: You don’t need to start aller­gy med­ica­tions until you start hav­ing symptoms.

Aller­gy med­ica­tions don’t just treat symp­toms — they can pre­vent them, too. 

关键是要尽早开始服用. 如果你已经知道你有过敏症, 在你预计症状开始前两周开始服用. This allows your body to get used to the med­ica­tion so you can get the most ben­e­fits out of it. 

要了解更多关于缓解过敏症状的信息， make an appoint­ment with a South Bend Clin­ic aller­gy spe­cial­ist.

误解:过敏药物总是让你感到疲倦

Anti­his­t­a­mines — med­ica­tions that block a symp­tom-caus­ing chem­i­cal called his­t­a­mine that your body releas­es when hav­ing an aller­gic reac­tion — are among the most effec­tive aller­gy med­ica­tions. They have a rep­u­ta­tion for mak­ing you sleepy, but that’s not always the case. 有一些不会让人昏昏欲睡的反他的地雷, 如菲诺-纳-丁(Alle-gra®), lorata-dine (Clar-itin®), et - i - rizine (Zyrtec), 这样就不太可能让你感到疲惫.

此外，并不是所有的过敏药物都是抗过敏的. 许多其他类型的咖啡因并不会导致嗜睡, such as cor­ti­cos­teroids that block inflam­ma­tion relat­ed to aller­gies, immunother­a­py shots that train your immune sys­tem not to respond to aller­gens, 而decon - ges - ants提供快速, 暂时缓解鼻窦充血. 

Myth: Since decon­ges­tants (like Afrin® 和 Sudafed®) are avail­able over the counter, 它们使用起来总是安全的.

Decon­ges­tants pro­vide relief for a stuffy 鼻子 or clogged sinus­es. Many are avail­able over the counter as pills, liq­uids, or nasal sprays. 而解毒剂可以很好地快速缓解症状, they should not be used on a long-term basis — 和 some peo­ple should avoid cer­tain decon­ges­tants altogether.

There are a few types of decon­ges­tants, 和 each comes with their share of poten­tial risks:

• Oxymeta­zo­line (Afrin® Nasal Spray or Zicam® Nasal Spray) can cause rebound con­ges­tion — when con­ges­tion returns 和 is worse than before — if used for more than 3 days in a row.
• Oral decon­ges­tants like pseu­doephedrine (Sudafed®) or phenyle­phrine (Sudafed PE®) shouldn’t be tak­en for more than 7 days in a row. 随着时间的推移, 口服止痛药可以提高你的心率和血压, which can increase your risk for seri­ous com­pli­ca­tions like heart attacks.
• Don’t take oral decon­ges­tants if you have uncon­trolled or severe high blood pres­sure. Check with your provider before tak­ing decon­ges­tants if you have heart or thy­roid prob­lems, dia-betes, glau-co-ma, 由于前列腺肥大而排尿困难, 或者怀孕了.

误解:你不会在以后的生活中产生过敏.

过敏往往发生在生命的早期. How­ev­er, aller­gies can ebb 和 flow, or not even show up until adulthood.

发生这种情况有几个原因，例如:

• 免疫系统衰弱:随着年龄的增长, your immune sys­tem gets weak­er 和 can increase your like­li­hood of devel­op­ing dis­eases, 包括过敏反应.
• Med­ica­tion changes: Some med­ica­tions for con­di­tions like anx­i­ety or insom­nia con­tain anti­his­t­a­mines. If you stop tak­ing them, you might notice symp­toms that were once masked by the medication.
• 压力:变老或生活方式的改变会导致甚至更糟的是压力, 这可能会引发过敏发作.
• Mov­ing to a New Envi­ron­ment: You may move to a new place where you’re exposed to a dif­fer­ent envi­ron­ment 和 new allergens.

不管你什么时候开发它们, sea­son­al aller­gies can make you feel any­where from slight­ly uncom­fort­able to down­right lousy. 但你没必要这么可悲. 有很多方法可以缓解或预防症状.

An aller­gist or pri­ma­ry care provider can help you find the most effec­tive way to man­age your aller­gies. 在那之前，拿一盒纸巾.