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The Brussels Post, 1966-09-01, Page 6HAY FEVER POBTA BAUB1011401 OMANI ,expormrlmormr. THURSDAY, SWV. 1st, 196a • THE FACTS: IF YOU ARE A HAY FEVER VICTIM, REMEMBER: 1. No matter how badly you suffer during the season, hay fever will not kill you. It may have troublesome complications, however. 2. Consult you doctor and get his help in identifying what causes your hay fever, plus his advice on what to do about it. 3. If you can, get away from the substance that causes your reaction. Air conditioning and air purification may help you rest, sleep and work: 4. Use antihistamines sparingly—always with your doe- tor's advice. Don't try to medicate yourself, 5. If your doctor thinks injections will help, start them Well before the hay fever season and stick to them without skipping. 6 Don't get discouraged if you get rid of one sensitivity only to find you have developed another one. 7. Be sure to let yOur doctor know if you think a compli- cation—such as a real nose or throat infection—has developed, Your Tuberculosis Association works for the control of all Respiratory' Diseases and, gory particul.ar, for the elimination of Tuberculosis. Hay feirer is one of the many Respira- t Diseases being fought through education and research sUpported by your Christ, mas Seal contribution. HURQN. .PQVN:TY, TB ASSOCIATION THE 'FIRST FACT To be noted about hay fever is that it is rarely caused by hay and hardly ever re-salts in fever. (A rise in temperature usually means some other illness has been added.) A more accurate name for this ailment that afflicts about one in twenty Americans is allergic rhinitis. These words refer to allergic reaction—a special sensitivity to some ordinary harmless substance—resulting chiefly in inflammation of the nose tissues. ANOTHER NAME Used is pollinosis; the substance to which hay fever victims most often react is plant pollen or airborne seeds. But the allergenic substance may be mold spores or animal dander (skin scales, like dandruff) or some even more common mat- erials such as dust. Whatever it is called, hay fev- er is a widespread cause of poor health and disa- -bility, hard to avoid or prevent and hard to cure. While the disease is not dangerous and .does not Cause permanent damage in itself, Some of its . complications can be troublesome. HOW HAY FEVER OCCURS Anyone can develop an allergy to a common sub- stance, but those who do usually have inherited the tendency as a. family trait. The sensitivity is developed after exposure to the substance. During the seasons when plants are pollinating, everyone in the vicinity is exposed. People with the tenden- cy may deVelop sensitivity to any one or more of the pollens, although certain pollens are more al- lergenic—more likely to cause an allergic reac- tion—than others. Pollens that are light enough to be windborne are the offenders for most hay fever sufferers. Heave ier pollens that are borne from plant to plant by • bees and other insects can also be allergens, but they cause trouble only when a person "conies into direct contact with the plant. Airborne pollens can penetrate anywhere, indoors and out, and are most numerous at the height of the pollinat- ing season for the particular plant. The. more pol- '. len in the air, the worse the .victim's suffering.. WHAT ARE THE EFFECTS Sneezing, repeated and prolonged, is the most Common thark ,of the hay fever sufferer. The sta.- •fy and watery nose described in the Word -rhinitis 'is usually a .chief feature, along with. redness, ...swelling and itching 'of the eyes; itching of the nose, throat and mouth; itching or other ear diffi- culties. Breathing difficulties at night due to .ob- struction of the nose may interfere with sleep. These' effects differ in degree according to the individual, ranging from mild to severe. • When • 'severe, they are hard to bear, reduce .efficiency and may cause loss of time from .work and school. Even. more serious may be the effects of complica- tions of hay fever attacks repeated year after year. Chronic sinusitis—inflammation of the sin- us cavities—is one.. Another is nasal polyps, or growths, In addition, about thirty per cent of people with hay fever develop asthma. THE SEASONS FQR HAY FEVER Trees, grasses and weeds have windborne pollen. According to his sensitivity, the "hay fever sea- son" for a particular individual occurs when the plants that affect him pollinate, Thus, in Eastern and Midwestern *United States, those sensitive to tree pollens (sub as elm, maple, birch, poplar and others) suffer in the spring. Early summer is the time for the grasses (including some used as hay, such as timothy), to which half of fill hay fever sufferers are sensitive. The weeds flourish in that part of the country from Mideurnmer to late fall. Of the last, ragweed is the most common offend- er, not only in its group but among all the pollene. Of people with hay fever, 75 per cent are sensi tive to ragweed. But an individual may react to one or more items in more than one of these groups, so that his own "season" may be from early spring to the first frost. For that matter, a person sensitive to dust, to dog dander or to some Other airborne material from. which he cannot easily escape may suffer all year around. Mold and fungus spores ("seeds"), also an air- borne phenomenon during the summer months cause reactions in many neople. Frequently found around hay, straw and dead leaves, their growth is encouraged by humid weather and places with poor ventilation—damp basements, for instance. HOW SENSITIVITY WORKS Sensitivity is established when the tissues--eof the nose, for examPiedevelop antibodies (de- fensive substances) to a particular pollen or Other allergen. After that, whenever these tissues en- counter the allergen, the antibodies attached to them react. Aking With Other reactions, a power- ful defensive chemical called histamine is released. often happens in Nature, these defensive meas- ures are 'sometimes overdone, causing the blood vessel dilation, increased secretion of fluids, irrita- tion leading to sneezing and other conditions that add up to hay fever. The inflammation and Other symptoms—while real enough, as every sufferer knows—actnally are not A the same destructive nature as those caused by more serious diseases. Removing the cause of the reaction, as by a drop in the pollen count, results in immediate relief. HOW TO CONTROL HAY FEVER — Avoiding the substance 'that causes a victim's reactions is the best way to control hay fever. Moving to a different part of the country is some- times suggested, but this may prove useless if the sufferer has or develops sensitivity to a sub- stance common in the new location. Seasonal travel and the use of air conditioning and air puri- fying devices whenever possible may at least cut down on the victim's suffering during his season, so that he may sleep and work reasonably well. The use of antihistamines, drugs that counteract the histamine and other substances -released by the allergen-antibody reaction, may serve to give relief from some symptoms. They don't affect the underlying sensitivity. Each individual has to de- pend on his doctor to find out what drug or com- bination of drugs works best for him. Nose drops are usually of limited value and their prolonged use may actually cause and aggravate the sympe toms. Certain hormones may be prescribed by a doctor in an extreme case, but they have to be carefully used, Desensitization by means of injec- tions is a longedrawn-out process, but may be very .effective. . HOW DESENSITIZATION WORKS — Once a victim's Offending allergen has been iden- tified—after what may be a long series of scratch tests with many suspected substances—it is pos- sible for the doctor to make up a graded series of injections. The injections contain a minute amount of the substance, which is gradually increased in, each injection until the body can tolerate larger doses without reaction. If the injections are start- ed well before the hay fever season and continued for about three months, the usual reaction to the natural appearance of the allergen may be prevented. The injections• may have to be re- peated each year; in many instances, injections ever a period of several years have resulted in desensitization to the particular substance. Some day it may be possible to tell why people have the tendency to develop allergic sensitivity, and to counteract the tendency. For the present we can only control the symptoms. THE SUFFERER and HIS DOCTOR The hay fever sufferer should be examined by his doctor and follow the doctor's advice there- after. He should avoid the common mistakes of try=ing all the new patent medicines that are ad- vertised each year, or of shopping around from doctor to doctor. The doctor can help almost all patients; he can desensitize some entirely. When he is unable to eliminate the hay fever itself, he can at least be alert for poesible complications. The wise patient follows the doctor's advice and co-operates in his treatment as well as he on, eagerly awaiting the day that further research will find even better tools for the doctor to use.