Text / Zhao Bin
It's the season of pink and willow green, and along with the city's pollen and catkins...allergic rhinitis.
According to data from authoritative experts such as Zhang Luo, president of Beijing Tongren Hospital, there are as many as 240 million allergic rhinitis patients in China.
Allergic rhinitis has many hazards, how is this disease induced?
How to treat and prevent?
What is special about allergic rhinitis in children, and is the "rhinitis hall" that can be seen everywhere credible?
How does allergic rhinitis "harm"
The main symptoms of allergic rhinitis are sneezing, runny nose, nasal congestion, nasal itching, often accompanied by a series of clinical symptoms such as eye itching, conjunctival congestion, and tearing, which reduces the quality of life of the majority of patients and seriously affects daily life, work and study; If children's symptoms are not controlled in time, it can affect sleep quality, cause distraction, and decline in academic performance, resulting in social difficulties and even affecting development and mental and psychological health.
Jin Yingyu, a resident physician of a hospital of the People's Liberation Army and chief resident physician of the ENT department, reminded in an interview with China News Agency Guoshi Express that allergic rhinitis is often accompanied by bronchial asthma. Diseases are only different in the site and clinical manifestations of the inflammatory response, so there is a concept of "same airway, same disease". Once asthma attacks or worsens, it may be life-threatening.
According to Jin Yingyu, there are four main factors that cause allergic rhinitis.
Substances: inhaled or ingested allergens, such as airborne pollen, dust mites, animal dander, dry and cold air, food, etc.;
Mental aspect: A strong emotional response at the mental level may also be a trigger. For example, stress will change the secretion of human immune proteins and induce allergies;
Genetic aspects: Allergic diseases have a certain genetic predisposition.
Allergic rhinitis is no exception, with heritability rates reported in different studies ranging from 33% to 91%;
In terms of air quality: Air pollution also affects the physiology and distribution of some allergens, increasing the content of allergens and possibly causing allergic rhinitis.
Jin Yingyu reminded that not all sneezing and runny nose are allergic rhinitis.
Symptoms such as nasal congestion and runny nose caused by cold viruses will disappear with the recovery of the cold. Colds generally have more runny nose and most of them are accompanied by symptoms of upper respiratory tract infection such as cough, expectoration, and fever; while allergic rhinitis is basically a Allergy symptoms such as a large amount of watery nose and frequent sneezing are the main symptoms.
Five ways to prevent "allergies"
How to prevent allergic rhinitis?
Jin Yingyu said there are five ways.
The first is to block allergens.
Avoid exposure to allergens as much as possible by wearing glasses, masks, scarves, protective equipment with better closure, and long-sleeved clothing;
The second is to pay attention to hygiene.
Keep the living environment hygienic, pay attention to removing mites and dust, and try to reduce to the space or environment with these uncertain factors;
The third is to change the living area.
If it is determined after testing that a certain pollen is an allergen, and the geographical distribution of the plants that are the source of the pollen is very different, if conditions permit, it can be considered that there is no or little of the allergen living in areas;
The fourth is to enhance physical fitness and maintain mood.
A happy mood can avoid mental incentives; proper exercise and good living habits can enhance physical fitness and improve immunity, which has positive significance for many diseases, especially allergic diseases and allergic rhinitis;
The fifth is that some patients must moisturize.
Allergic rhinitis patients living in relatively dry areas or environments are also an effective preventive measure for some allergic rhinitis patients by artificially maintaining the air humidity.
At present, China has set up a number of pollen monitoring stations. Through the pollen monitoring project, in cooperation with the meteorological department, it provides the forecast of the incidence of pollen allergy patients, and then guides allergic rhinitis patients to start preventive treatment before the pollen concentration increases, which also has a guiding role in planning travel. .
In addition, in addition to the pollen concentration broadcast, there is also a forecast 3-5 days in advance, which can be combined with the weather conditions and the patient's disease status to make the allergy index broadcast, which brings great convenience to the majority of patients.
Four treatments to relieve symptoms
Although allergic rhinitis brings many bad feelings to life and health, it is not terrible.
Jin Yingyu said that at present, the conventional clinical treatment of allergic rhinitis in China is the four main methods of drug treatment, immunotherapy and surgical treatment, and most of them can achieve good results.
One is drug treatment.
Generally, according to the specific situation, local application of nasal spray containing low-dose hormones or leukotriene receptor antagonists and oral antihistamines to the nasal cavity can achieve the effect of relieving symptoms;
The second is immunotherapy.
It is a way of altering the natural course of allergic disease through immunomodulatory mechanisms.
Through treatment, allergic rhinitis can be relieved in some patients, and its progression to asthma can be blocked.
Its clinical commonly used is subcutaneous immunotherapy and sublingual desensitization immunotherapy;
The third is surgical treatment.
Patients with allergic rhinitis who are unsatisfactory with drugs or immunotherapy or who are unwilling to receive drug treatment may consider surgical treatment.
The theoretical basis is to reduce the domination of parasympathetic nerves to the nasal mucosa and reduce the sensitivity of the nasal mucosa.
The surgical methods that can be taken in clinic include: pterygoid nerve block, anterior ethmoid nerve block, superficial petrosal nerve block, etc. to solve the problem of allergen deposition, so as to achieve the therapeutic effect;
Fourth, rinse the nasal cavity with saline.
For children or patients who resist hormones, it is generally recommended to irrigate the nasal cavity with 40°C normal saline, which generally has better results.
However, combined use with nasal spray hormones can achieve more obvious effects. Under the control of doctors, there is no need to worry or fear too much about hormones.
In addition, the application of pollen blockers can also effectively improve the nasal symptoms of patients.
Promising that allergic rhinitis can be "completely cured" is generally a lie?
Some foreign studies have shown that patients with allergic rhinitis spend 1,500 US dollars more than healthy people every year, equivalent to nearly 10,000 yuan.
"Treatment of general allergic rhinitis is definitely not so expensive in China, and the main cost of drug treatment is between several hundred to several thousand yuan." Jin Yingyu said.
Enter "allergic rhinitis" in the search engine, the first few pages are almost "rhinitis halls" of various brands, and the words "advertising" are marked at the bottom of the displayed webpage entries.
Querying "rhinitis hall" through "Tianyancha", you can find 1,488 items, most of which are "Xiamen Rhinitis Museum Medical Products Sales Co., Ltd." or "XX Rhinitis Museum Medical Equipment Co., Ltd."; query "rhinitis", 4,822 items can be found, and there are some more production-oriented institutions similar to "XX Rhinitis Biotechnology" than "Rhinitis Museum".
China News Agency Guoshi through train randomly contacted a "rhinitis hall" to join the investment promotion agency. Its market leader said that the treatment of allergic rhinitis is mainly due to "inflammation of the nasal cavity", that is, anti-inflammatory, including allergic rhinitis. There are not a few who have been completely cured.
They have three products to treat the disease. A total of 9 bottles of products are needed for one month of treatment. The national price is 2,320 yuan. After paying the brand franchise fee of 20,000 yuan, the purchase price is less than 20% off. The products can be sold for 158,000 yuan, and they do not need a large storefront. There is very little labor demand, and they provide training.
Franchisees must have the qualifications to operate "Class II medical devices" or "killing" products, so they can operate by adding relevant scope items to the business license or registering "Class II medical devices" sales companies, without the need for approval and registration. Medical institutions with higher requirements.
In this regard, Jin Yingyu said that she had heard patients say that there are so-called "rhinitis museums" and other institutions in the society that can cure allergic rhinitis immediately.
The reason is that the main drug ingredients of these institutions are nasal decongestants, which can cause chronic poisoning of nasal mucosa and drug-induced rhinitis after long-term use.
In addition, in the medical observation, there are cases of children with allergies and allergic rhinitis that healed themselves when they grew up.
This is because children's immune systems are not yet fully developed, and they are prone to allergic reactions to various allergens. However, with the growth of age and the development and establishment of the immune system, this allergic phenomenon may disappear.
But this does not mean that allergic rhinitis can be cured on a large scale.
Jin Yingyu said, "Promising that allergic rhinitis can be completely cured is generally a lie."
After a big data survey, it was found that no treatment can cure allergies immediately, and comprehensive treatment methods are needed.
Therefore, it is recommended that patients with rhinitis go to regular medical institutions for treatment.
Because doctors generally formulate treatment plans or administrations through professional medical testing and medical judgment, such as hormone drugs, nasal decongestants, and desensitization treatments must be under the control of professional doctors to maximize safety. If abused, the consequences are unimaginable.