Can allergies be causing my headaches?
Unusual allergies and sensitivities....glad I just have hay fever!
Here is Book of Odds’ list of unusual allergies and sensitivities, and the fabled icons who embody them.
Water
Icon: The Wicked Witch of the West
Reality: Whether you see her as L. Frank Baum’s cackling evildoer or Gregory Maguire’s misunderstood green lady, Oz’s occidental sorceress had a wicked sensitivity to plain old H2O. Perhaps she suffered from a bad case of aquagenous urticaria—breaking out in hives upon contact with water. The rare condition is thought to be caused by extreme sensitivity to water additives like chlorine, and reports vary on whether it responds to antihistamines. (If it does, it’s a true allergy, involving the immune system; if not, it’s technically not an allergy.) Besides antihistamines, capsaicin cream and ultraviolet B are among the treatments that have been tried. By the way, the odds an adult believes in witches are 1 in 4.76.
Sunlight
Icon: Vampires
Reality: Sunlight irritated Count Dracula, killed Anne Rice’s charismatic creatures of the night, and exploded Buffy’s targets into dust. (Stephenie Meyer, apparently, hadn't read up on vampire lore before creating her own sun-resistant type for her Twilight series, freely admitting being “not at all informed about the horror genre.”) The odds an adult who plans to dress up for Halloween will be a vampire are 1 in 23.81. Real-life solar urticaria is less common, and sufferers don’t actually explode, nor do they glow; instead, they respond to direct sunlight with an itchy rash or hives. Like other allergies, a sun allergy is an inappropriate immune system response. It’s rare; most sun sensitivities derive from chemicals or medications in skin products like sunscreen or perfume. Similarly, cold urticaria is just what it sounds like—an allergic reaction to cold temperatures.
Sex
Icons: The Amazons
Reality: According to myth, no men were allowed in the territory of these legendary female warriors. To keep their tribe going, they visited a neighboring tribe once a year to mate (and then kept only the female children). No specific reason for their disdain for men has been recorded, so here’s a theory: they suffered from human seminal plasma hypersensitivity, where a woman is allergic to her male partner’s seminal fluid. The good news: part of the treatment, which involves gradual desensitization, requires the couple to have frequent sex. Apparently the Amazons never thought of that. Incidentally, the odds a woman has ever had revenge sex are 1 in 11.45.
Meat
Icon: Lisa Simpson
Reality: We're used to hearing about peanut allergies and lactose intolerance, but there's some evidence that meat allergies may be more common than once thought. A recent study found that alpha-gal, a carbohydrate found in meat, was the culprit in a significant number of previouslyunexplained cases of anaphylaxis. Anaphylactic shock is characterized by difficulty breathing and a steep drop in blood pressure; it can be fatal. While many people (and some cartoon characters) avoid meat for moral reasons—the odds an adult is a vegetarian are 1 in 31.36—an unlucky few have little choice.
Exercise
Icon: Jabba the Hut
Reality: Exercise-induced anaphylaxis may be related to foods or medications, but vigorous activity sets it off. Before giving up and becoming a couch potato, a sufferer can investigate which substance or situation, when combined with exercise, causes the reaction, which can include itching and redness, hives, swelling, and ultimately anaphylaxis. The odds an adult 35 - 44 will get the recommended amount of exercise in a week are 1 in 2.02.
Wood
Icon: Paul Bunyan
Reality: Bunyan, the giant mythical lumberjack, logged so enthusiastically one might think he had something against our woody friends. Maybe he had an allergy. Many types of wood, especially in the form of shavings and dust, have been reported to cause skin reactions and other problems. One unfortunate man in England discovered his allergy only after quitting his banking job to follow his dream of becoming a carpenter. Fortunately, he found a type of wood he wasn’t allergic to. Many types have been reported to induce allergic reactions. In the US, the odds an employed person 16 or older is a carpenter are 1 in 150.2.
Kryptonite
Icon: Superman
Reality: None. Kryptonite, like Superman, is imaginary, but krypton (small “k”) is a real chemical element: you can find it in the number 36 square on the periodic table. (The odds an employed person 16 or older is a chemist are 1 in 1,627.) As a noble gas, krypton is chemically unreactive, and thus unlikely to cause allergies in Earthlings, many of whom— 1 in 4.17—believe extraterrestrial beings have visited the Earth. And the odds an American adult reports having witnessed a UFO—perhaps containing a baby Superman?—are 1 in 5.81. Let’s just hope the spacecraft isn’t made of nickel. Nickel allergies are on the rise.
Asthma and pregnancy
Exercise causing hives? Take heart-we can help!
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This article highlights the importance of Asthmatics using controller meds!
This article highlights the importance of controller meds for asthma as well as statistically, how much better asthma patients do under the care of a board-certified allergist!
Almost Half Of Asthma Sufferers Not Using Needed Controller Medications
Asthma is a serious disease, causing about 4,000 deaths each year
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. (February 25, 2012) – Forty-nine percent of children and adults with persistent asthma are not using controller medications according to results of a first of its kind survey of 1,000 asthma sufferers. Results are published in the March 2012 issue of Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, the scientific journal of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI).
“According to survey results, 79 percent of these patients had persistent asthma and should have been on controllers,” said lead author Gene Colice, MD, of George Washington University School of Medicine. “Of the 51 percent on controllers, 86 percent were inadequately treated as their asthma was not well or very poorly controlled.”
The CHOICE (Comprehensive Survey of Healthcare Professionals and Asthma Patients Offering Insight on Current Treatment Gaps and Emerging Device Options) survey used standardized methods established in expert panel guidelines. Results demonstrate the current extent of poor asthma control in the United States. Asthma is a common illness, affecting 7 million, or 10 percent of children and 17.5 million or eight percent of adults. About 4,000 people die each year due to asthma.
The poorer the asthma control, the poorer the patients’ quality of life and the higher the risk for emergency department visits and hospitalizations. Patients with severe persistent and uncontrolled asthma more frequently reported often feeling isolated, fearful, depressed and tired.
“Uncontrolled asthma is severely affecting patients’ quality of life and increases the risk of emergency department visits and hospitalizations,” said co-author and ACAAI past president Michael Blaiss, MD. “Asthma sufferers need to schedule regular office visits, talk with their allergists about preventative controller therapy and then use those medications regularly.”
Research shows that asthma patients under the care of an allergist have better outcomes at less cost because of fewer emergency care visits, fewer hospitalizations, reduced lengths of hospital stays, fewer days missed from work or school, increased productivity in their work and personal lives, greater satisfaction with their care and an improved quality of life.
Allergic to cold? Really?? Yup-it's a genuine diagnosis! (Wish I knew that when I was trying to avoid recess in the winter!)
Grant Schlager sounds like a typical Minnesota kid: He loves to play outside, no matter how cold it gets, and he's pretty excited that a slow-to-start snow season is finally underway.
Alison Stumpf Photography
Grant Schlager, 11, left, is allergic to cold. Brother Nathan, 10, is not.
But Grant, who turns 12 this week, has a problem: He is literally allergic to cold. It makes him break out in hives and could cause more serious reactions if he's not careful.
So that means he can't play in the cold for hours, the way many Minnesota kids do. "After 15 minutes, my dad or mom will check me to see if I have any bumps," the fifth-grader says. If he is breaking out or feeling itchy, he has to go inside for a while. Swimming in cold water is risky, and so is drinking an icy soda. Just to be safe, he takes a twice-daily antihistamine and stays close to an EpiPen (a dose of epinephrine) — the same stuff kids with peanut and bee-sting allergies need to inject if they have a life-threatening reaction.
Really? That was exactly the question his mother asked when he was diagnosed with the condition, called cold urticaria, at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester. "I had never heard of it and I was skeptical," says Amy Schlager, a mother of five from Jackson, Minn. "How can anybody be allergic to cold?"
Watch for these symptoms
People with cold urticaria have allergic reactions that involve the release of chemicals called histamines. It can develop in kids or adults. Check with a doctor if you notice:
Red, itchy hives that arise a few minutes after exposure to cold air or water, even walking into an air-conditioned room.
Swollen hands after holding a cold beverage.
Swollen lips when eating cold foods.
Seek immediate medical help if you feel lightheaded, have difficulty breathing or feel like your throat is swelling.
Source: Mayo Clinic
Researchers are not sure, though a new study hints at some answers. They also don't know how common the problem is. One 1996 study from central Europe found about one in 2,000 people were affected in one year, says Joshua Milner, a researcher at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. He suspects the condition is more common.
Milner led the new study, published online by the New England Journal of Medicine. He and colleagues found a genetic mutation in 27 people from three families who all had cold urticaria mixed with other immune system abnormalities and disorders.
Right now, he says, no one knows how many people with cold urticaria have the mutation or some other underlying condition.
Martha Hartz, a pediatric allergist and immunologist at Mayo, says most cold urticaria patients she sees are like Grant: They don't test positive for any other known disorder. But that doesn't mean their condition isn't serious.
Hartz says she knows of one toddler who suffered anaphylaxis, a severe, life-threatening allergic reaction, after jumping into a cold wading pool on a warm day. As a result, the child has permanent brain damage, she says. That's the only such severe case she has encountered in 25 years, "but that is the risk," she says, for anyone with the condition.
Hartz and Milner say that's why it's important for people who think they might be allergic to cold to check with a doctor.
"People tend to think it's so weird that they are too bashful to tell their doctors about it," Milner says. "Sometimes they tell their doctors and are told they are out of their minds. Or they are tested for 8 million food allergies they don't have."
There is a test for cold urticaria: A doctor puts a melting ice cube on the patient's skin, then removes it and waits a few minutes to see whether hives begin. Some true sufferers will fail that test, though, Milner says. Hartz says some patients react on some parts of the body but not others.
Hartz says she diagnoses about two children a year with the condition and often has to call their schools to convince them cold allergy is real — not just an excuse to get out of recess on a cold day.
Get ready..spring allergy season is coming early this year!
An apple or pear a day cuts down on stroke!!!
15 minutes a day.....
C'mon..you can find 15 minutes..somewhere.
