Ealing ith nasal allergies
MARISSA Rahman, 50, has lived with a sensitive nose for at least 30 years. Now with the haze, her nose is acting up worse than usual. Taking antihistamines and quite often, antibiotics, has become a way of life.
Marissa’s condition is not uncommon. In fact, one- third of the world’s population has this problem.
However, most people don’t realise recurring symptoms such as a sneezy, runny and blocked nose are part of the symptoms of nasal allergies, or allergic rhinitis.
People with allergic rhinitis have what is commonly described as a hypersensitive nose, which stems from a hypersensitive immune system.
Inflammation of the nasal mucous membrane produces symptoms such as sneezing, a runny, congested and/ or itchy nose, which also extends to the eyes ( red, teary eyes), ears ( feeling of fullness) and throat ( dry cough), as they form an interconnected network.
Common allergy triggers include house dust mites, cockroaches and pollution as reported by over half of nasal allergy sufferers.
Quite often but not always, allergic rhinitis sufferers also suffer from sinusitis – swelling or inflammation of the sinus mucous membrane. Globally, it has been established that about 51% of rhinosinusitis cases are caused by allergies.
As the nasal and sinus passages are closely inter- related, otolaryngologists now refer to sinusitis as rhinosinusitis.
Worldwide, nasal allergies are on the rise. Unfortunately, awareness is poor. Most people just hope it will disappear on its own. In fact, unless the hypersensitive nature of the immune system is addressed, nasal allergies are likely to worsen to inflammatory conditions in the lungs.
The journal, Allergy & Asthma Proceedings 2002, confirms that one in every three people with uncontrolled allergic rhinitis goes on to develop asthma.
The primary rule to managing nasal allergies is avoidance of triggers. However, this is easier said than done. For all its usefulness, conventional drug treatment is unable to address the hypersensitive state of the immune system – the root in triggering the allergy from happening in the first place.
Research on the natural, activated astragalus root extract called Lectranal has shown effectiveness in patients with nasal allergies.
Treatment resulted in improvement of allergic rhinitis by over 70% after two months of treatment as published in the journal, Phytotherapy Research, in 2010.
Different from other therapies, Lectranal aims specifically at the hypersensitive nature of the immune system, which triggers allergy symptoms.
Dr Silva Pecanic, one of the researchers, explains, “Instead of blocking histamine as what antihistamines do, Lectranal calms the immune system from acting angrily each time it encounters an allergen in the environment.
“With this herbal extract, the patient’s calmer immune system will be able to differentiate between what is harmful and what is not and perform optimally.
“With Lectranal, the immune system is directed towards normal response ( non- hypersensitive state) and imparted a memory to help it to recognise harmless allergens. Avoidance must still be practised but patients do find Lectranal helps them cope better.”
Marissa tried Lectranal after she found out that her sensitive nose was in fact, an allergic tendency. Two months later, after taking one capsule twice daily, Marissa can now go in and out of her office without using up boxes of tissues. In fact, she didn’t need to see her doctor for five months now compared to her previous monthly visits.
This article is brought to you by the Nuvaceuticals Division of Nuvanta Sdn Bhd.
For details, contact 03- 5636 3758 or e- mail pharmacist@ nuvanta. com