Effective Remedies For Treating Sinus Allergy
Common cold and flu are caused by influenza virus. If you have symptoms like nasal congestion, runny nose, sneezing, cough, sore throat, fever, chills, muscle ache, fatigue, it is likely that you have contracted flu. Flu is mainly caused by influenza virus type A, B, and C. Sinus allergy is a more severe condition, and it may be difficult to identify as it has symptoms similar to cold and flu.
However, certain tests can confirm whether it is a sinus allergy, like a nasal smear with a lot of eosinophils, a type of white blood cells, can indicate sinus allergy. Further skin prick tests and a radioallergosorbent test is also commonly used to detect allergies. When your body comes into contact with an allergen, it releases histamine, which is a natural chemical that defends your body from the allergen and it causes symptoms like a runny nose, sneezing, and itchy eyes. Sinus allergy can be treated using the following remedies:
- Antihistamines: Antihistamines work by stopping your body from producing histamine. Some popular antihistamines include Fexofenadine (Allegra), Desloratadine (Clarinex) and Cetirizine (Zyrtec).
- Decongestants: Decongestants can be used over a short period, about three days to relieve stuffy nose and sinus pressure. Popular decongestants include oxymetazoline (Afrin nasal spray), pseudoephedrine (Sudafed), phenylephrine (Sudafed PE), cetirizine with pseudoephedrine (Zyrtec-D).
- Immunotherapy: Immunotherapy or allergy shots is administering of allergens in extremely small doses to the patient through injection. It decreases your immune response to allergens over a period of time. It is a long-term treatment plan. Allergy shots can be taken one to three times a week for over six months and then once in two to four weeks for over three to five years.
- Sublingual immunotherapy: It involves placing a tablet containing several allergens under your tongue. It is similar to immunotherapy but is administered orally and not through injection. Oralair is a popular SLIT treatment for curing sinus allergy. SLIT is effective in treating allergies caused by grass, tree pollen, cat dander, dust mites, and ragweed. This treatment is taken at frequent intervals over a period of time.
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