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- What is allergic rhinitis?
- Symptoms of allergic rhinitis
- Causes of allergic rhinitis
- Prevention of allergic rhinitis
- Risk factors for allergic rhinitis
- Complications of allergic rhinitis
- When to see a doctor about allergic rhinitis
- Diagnosis of allergic rhinitis
- Conventional treatment of allergic rhinitis
- Alternative/complementary treatment of allergic rhinitis
- Living with allergic rhinitis
- Caring for someone with allergic rhinitis
Even with many years of research into this condition, scientists still do not know exactly what causes allergic rhinitis, other than the person having an overactive immune system that reacts improperly to a number of allergens. While science does understand how the allergies happen, they do not understand yet, why some people develop allergic rhinitis, while others do not.
When the susceptible person breathes in the allergen, the immune system mistakenly recognises it as a dangerous substance that needs to be expelled quickly and produces antibodies (IgE) against the allergen. The antibodies are stimulated to produce histamine which is part of the body's inflammatory response to expel dangerous substances.
The histamine response causes symptoms such as itching, excessive mucous production, swelling and sometimes hives in more sensitive people, although symptoms vary for each person.
This is the reason that anti-histamines are sold as remedies for people with allergies - to stop the histamine response and stop the allergic reaction.
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Nutritional deficiencies
Some research suggests that nutritional deficiencies may play a part in exacerbating some allergic rhinitis symptoms. There are a number of alternative / complementary treatment strategies for allergic rhinitis that can be used in the first instance to help alleviate symptoms.
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