GENERAL SIDE EFFECTS OF ANTIHISTAMINESSome side effects that can occur as a result of taking antihistamines are:
Allergic ReactionsThese include swelling of the limbs, skin, and voice box; hives; eczema (a red, dry, itchy, scaly, weeping rash); shock; and sun sensitivity.
Blood Cell ReactionsAnemia, low blood platelets, a low white blood cell count, and a reduction of all cells can occur from taking antihistamines.
Cardiovascular ReactionsThese include low blood pressure upon standing; skipping, racing, irregular heartbeats; fainting; increased blood pressure; EKG changes; and cardiac arrest (after injections of antihistamines).
Gastrointestinal (GI) ReactionsA variety of GI symptoms can occur from the use of antihistamines. These include abdominal cramps, nausea, and constipation. These are especially common as a result of taking class I antihistamines.Weight gain and increased appetite may result from taking cyproheptadine (Periactin) and astemizole (Hismanal), both class V antihistamines.
Nervous SystemThe most common of all neurologic reactions to antihistamines is drowsiness. It is usually mild and passes after two weeks of treatment. However, due to individual variation in response to antihistamine, some find this side effect intolerable.Other nervous system abnormalities can occur with the use of antihistamines, but they are infrequent. These include confusion, restlessness, excitation, nervousness, seizures, headache, insomnia, euphoria, and a very unusual form of muscular spasms of the neck, face, mouth, and eye muscles.*40/322/5*

TRUE ALLERGY: WHAT IS IT?Is this statement True or False?”If it isn’t a cold, it must be an allergy.” It is False. The fact is that there are more than 20 different non-allergic conditions that your doctor will consider when determining the cause(s) for your allergy-like nasal symptoms.Doctors are trained to consider all of the possibilities for each of your symptoms so that they can accurately differentiate one cause of your symptoms from another, ultimately reaching the correct cause or diagnosis. This process is called differential diagnosis. Important: Remember that it is quite possible for you to have more than one type of rhinitis. Several types may even occur at the same time. Example: let’s say you are suffering with fall hay fever, and on top of this you have caught a cold, and on top of that you have been using nasal decongestant sprays 4 to 5 times per day for the last two weeks to keep your nose open. You have three different types of rhinitis contributing to your symptoms, all at the same time: seasonal allergic rhinitis (the hay fever), infectious rhinitis (the cold), and chemical rhinitis (the overuse of over-the-counter (OTC) nasal decongestant sprays). It is important for you to be aware that there may be multiple causes of your nasal symptoms. This awareness will help you eliminate any confusion about your symptoms, help you seek and obtain treatment in a more timely and effective manner, and enable you to better understand that treatment.*26/322/5*

The amount of moisture in the air as compared to the amount it can hold is called its relative humidity. The ideal relative humidity of a heated house whose indoor temperature is between 60° and 70°F is 50 percent; however, most American homes have a relative humidity in winter of about 14 percent, which is supplemented with vapor from large humidifiers that have an automatic control (cold water vapor provides better results than hot water vapor). Pans of boiling water in different rooms of the house cannot serve the purpose of constant and controlled humidification.

In summer, the situation may be reversed; excessive humidity can be controlled by installing a dehumidifier. There are many excellent units on the market suitable for a private home, an apartment, or both.

The treatment of sinusitis depends on its cause, which may be allergy, infection, or both.

Allergic sinusitis is characterized by sneezing, a watery flow from the nostrils, clogging of the nose, a history of allergy, polyp formation, and a nasal smear that contains eosinophiles. Its treatment is specific through testing and desensitization and nonspecific with decongestants.

Infective sinusitis is characterized by a foul odor in the nose, temperature elevation, pain in the sinus region, a discharge of pus from the sinus opening, and response to antibiotics. Measures to ensure sinus drainage after the passing of the acute infection imply control of the allergy, removal of large adenoids that may hamper sinus drainage, and the avoidance of exposure to further respiratory infections.

Chronic sinusitis may cause anatomical changes in the nose and sinus linings that can make drainage of the sinuses impossible. Surgical procedures (to be done preferably in winter, and, if possible when snow is on the ground) are used to establish new drainage pathways. Puberty may improve chronic sinusitis because obstructing adenoids may become smaller with age.

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Synthetic chemicals are not intrinsically different from naturally-occurring ones – their basic chemistry is much the same, although there are some novelties (eg chlorinated hydrocarbons – hydrocarbons are fundamental to life, but adding chlorine to them was a human innovation). What is more, many naturally-occurring chemicals are highly toxic: the natural foods we eat are stiff with potentially damaging chemicals – plants, in particular, spike their products with an armoury of defensive substances, fungi on the plants contribute their own toxins, and the bacteria in our gut add to the number we absorb. Human beings are well equipped to detoxify these natural chemicals, with a powerful array of enzymes.

For the most part, the enzymes that our ancestors evolved to tackle natural chemicals work pretty well on synthetic ones – as long as they are not overwhelmed by the amount they have to detoxify. However, the initial products of the enzyme reactions are sometimes more toxic than the original chemical. In other words, the body’s detoxification enzymes have evolved to deal with a certain range of naturally occurring chemicals – they can go to work on synthetic ones, but on the way to breaking them down they may produce intermediates that are harmful. For this reason, such changes are known as biotransformation rather than detoxification.

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Water allergy (aquagenic urticaria) is extremely rare. Water of any temperature touches off itching and spotty hives. And like allergy to cold or emotional triggers, histamine release seems the basic mechanism at work. In one of the few cases studied, oral doses of hydroxyzine (an antihistamine) three times a day for one week effectively blocked the reaction to water.

Emotions

As a schoolgirl in Sweden, actress Ingrid Bergman was so shy that she used to break out when she had to recite in class. Her fingers swelled so badly she couldn’t bend them. Her lips and eyelids swelled, too. The doctor said Ingrid was allergic to shyness. Fortunately for Ingrid and the film world, drama school eventually cured her. But her case is a good example of how we can be allergic to strong emotions.

Emotionally stimulated allergy may be triggered not only by shyness, but also anxiety, anger, fear, embarrassment – any emotion that prompts an increase in body temperature.

Sperm

A few women have been surprised to learn that they’ve suddenly become allergic to their partner’s sperm. One woman experienced anaphylaxis while having sex with her husband -an extraordinary response by anyone’s standards. Skin tests confirmed that her husband’s sperm was provoking allergic antibodies. The woman’s doctors were able to desensitize her in much the same way they desensitize other individuals against pollen. She and her husband were able to resume their love life safely (Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology). ”

Condoms

Snicker if you will, but dermatitis from condoms isn’t all that rare. A reaction usually begins with a swelling of the foreskin, which may spread to the shaft, scrotum and inner thighs. In most men, the allergy is to rubber – in which case they’ve probably had other unpleasant brushes with rubber in clothing or other articles. Switching to another brand of condom may help.

‘Some men have found by trial and error that only certain brands of rubber condoms produced reactions, while others were well tolerated,’ writes Dr Alexander A. Fisher (Contact Dermatitis, Lea and Febiger).

Occasionally, the problem isn’t the rubber itself but a powder or lubricant it bears. Try a plain, untreated product. Otherwise, some rubber-sensitive men may have to switch to the original, old-fashioned condoms made from sheep’s intestine.

And of course, a partner’s condom should be suspected as a possible cause of an unexplained rash or other inflammation on the vulva or inner thighs of a woman, even if her partner isn’t allergic to the device.

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If you’re a person whose life has been bedeviled by migraine, you’ve probably been searching for a solution. And you may have suspected that a food or beverage is somehow responsible for those painful episodes. You could be on the right track.

The notion that a food in the stomach causes a pain in the head isn’t new. Hippocrates, the Greek ‘father of medicine’, noted a connection between food and migraine. And modern research confirms his observation: a survey of 1,883 migraine sufferers in Great Britain found that 95 per cent of the attacks suffered over a three-month period were caused by diet (Headache).

Acting on this and other findings, the link between food allergy and migraine was investigated in a two-year study of thirty-three migraine sufferers by Jonathan Brostoff and co-researchers at the Department of Immunology, Middlesex Hospital Medical School in London. Both RAST tests and follow-up food tests strongly suggested that many of these people had food allergies. They were then treated with elimination diets and food rotation – and responded well.

‘In the twenty-three patients who were sensitive to certain foods, elimination of those foods from the diet resulted in relief (complete in most cases) from migraine,’ report the researchers. The most common migraine triggers in this study were milk, eggs, wheat, chocolate, oranges and tea.

‘We have shown that food allergy is important in some [migraine sufferers],’ conclude the authors. ‘Patients were allergic to more than one food – usually three – and on elimination of these foods from the diet many patients became symptom-free for the first time in several years’ (Lancet).

Ellen Ñ G. Grant, a neurologist at Charing Cross Hospital in London, also investigated the dietary factor in headaches in sixty migraine sufferers. The people studied had reactions to an average of ten foods each, the most common offenders being wheat, oranges, eggs, tea, coffee, chocolate, milk, beef, corn, cane sugar and yeast (much as in Dr Brostoff’s study). When those foods were avoided, all the patients improved, with a dramatic drop in the number of headaches per month. Dr Grant speculates that the few patients who continued to have occasional migraines were sensitive to tobacco smoke, gas or other environmental factors (Lancet).

Yet another researcher, Dr Edda Hanington, of the City of London Migraine Clinic, has noted that certain foods seem to have a distinct knack for triggering migraine. In addition to the foods noted by Drs Brostoff and Grant, Dr Hanington lists alcoholic beverages; fried, fatty food; onions; meat, especially pork; and seafood as prime offenders.

Many of those foods contain tyramines and other histamine-like substances. Some migraine researchers theorize that these substances cause the blood vessels in your head to swell, triggering a migraine. (Tyramines are also found in aged, fermented or pickled foods, such as strong cheese, red wine and pickled herring.)

Dr Hanington has also found that tartrazine (El02), a common additive in foods, beverages and medicines, can provoke migraine. So can sodium nitrite and monosodium glutamate, found in cured meats and some processed foods respectively.

Despite the work of Drs Brostoff, Grant, Hanington and others, the role of allergy in migraine remains controversial -there’s some disagreement as to whether these reactions can be considered allergic in the strict sense. Regardless of the mechanism involved, however, food-induced migraine should be handled like any other food-induced reaction: by careful observation and avoidance.

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Hay fever (doctors call it allergic rhinitis) is more than a nuisance, however. Uncontrolled, it can lead to migraine headaches, sinus infection or hearing loss. You can’t just let it take its course.

Antihistamine drugs alleviate hay fever – but they leave most people too groggy to think straight. In small children and older people, antihistamines have the opposite effect, leaving people restless and unable to sleep. And after a while, antihistamines lose their effectiveness – you need to take more and more to get the same level of relief. Clearly, drugs aren’t the solution.

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In the 1920s and 1930s, a few doctors discovered that some bedwetters lost urinary control after they ate particular foods, but had perfect control when they avoided them. Unfortunately for millions of bedwetting children since then, those observations went largely unnoticed for decades. Then in 1957, a scientific study once again showed that avoiding certain foods meant no more bedwetting for many youngsters.

A closer look at those children showed they had ‘oedematous’ (fluid-filled) bladder tissues, much like the swollen nasal tissues in a person with hay fever. A swollen bladder is a smaller bladder; it can’t stretch to hold the amount of urine it should. And if the sphincter muscle controlling flow out of the bladder is also swollen, the problem is compounded: the muscle tires more easily and cannot close tightly enough to hold back urine, especially when the person is asleep and relaxed. The result is overnight ‘accidents’. When food allergens are avoided, the swelling subsides and the bladder can hold urine during sleep.

‘Control of food allergy is effective in curbing bedwetting in four out of five patients,’ says Dr James Ñ Breneman, chairman of the Food Allergy Committee of The American College of

Allergists. He bases that assertion on a study of 400 bedwetters whose loss of urinary control could not be explained by physical problems other than allergy. Cow’s milk was the most common offender, followed by wheat, egg, corn, chocolate and pork (Basics of Food Allergy, Charles C. Thomas).

Dr Breneman suggests keeping a detailed diary of diet and night-time accidents to help identify foods at fault in bedwetting.

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Basically, zinc therapy begins at 50 milligrams, three times a day, combined with 1,000 milligrams of vitamin Ñ twice a day. During acute flare-up a tablespoon of cod liver oil (containing vitamins A, D and E) is added. After the eczema begins to subside, therapy is reduced to 25 milligrams of zinc a day, 1,000 milligrams of vitamin Ñ day, and daily cod liver oil in winter.

Zinc therapy takes from three weeks to six months to take effect, depending on the stubbornness of the rash. To speed healing, Dr Wright recommends the addition of essential fatty acids, which are found in vegetable oils such as safflower, sunflower, sesame and others. ‘Very recently, research work has uncovered the zinc-essential fatty acid connection – showing zinc to be crucial to the transformation of some of the nutritionally derived essential fatty acids to their active form,’ explains Dr Wright.

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