Allergic rhinitis, also known as allergic rhinitis (AR), is one of the common diseases in otolaryngology. Especially in severe patients with severe nasal congestion, it will cause dizziness, lack of energy, and difficulty in concentrating. The impact is significant, and at the same time, there is a lack of quick-acting means to cure the disease, which often causes a greater mental and economic burden to patients. Wang Lei, deputy chief physician of the Department of Otolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery of Guangzhou First People’s Hospital, said that the first step in the treatment of allergic rhinitis is to avoid contact with allergens. For patients with perennial attacks that cannot be completely avoided, immunotherapy, that is, desensitization therapy, can be tried.
The first step of treatment: avoid allergens
The typical manifestations of allergic rhinitis are itchy nose, continuous sneezing, and runny nose. This is a typical clinical symptom of allergic rhinitis. It is often accompanied by nasal congestion, and even causes eye symptoms such as red and itchy eyes. If bacterial infection is secondary to allergic rhinitis, yellow-green color will appear. purulent nasal discharge.
Wang Lei introduced that the first step in the treatment of allergic rhinitis is to let patients with allergic rhinitis avoid contact with allergens, which is also a very important step. There are many kinds of allergens that cause allergic rhinitis. Different patients should try to avoid contact with allergens according to what they are sensitive to, and try to get away from the environment with allergens.
For example, patients who are allergic to mold should find a way to make the home environment dry and refreshing to reduce the growth of mold. In theory, the first step in the treatment of allergic rhinitis is to get rid of the allergen. If you do it well, you can completely get rid of the allergen, and the allergic rhinitis will usually heal naturally, and it will not happen again.
But in real life, these allergens are floating in the air, so subtle that they are invisible to the naked eye, and they are almost everywhere.
The second step of treatment: drug treatment
Wang Lei said that if allergens cannot be completely avoided, it is necessary to understand the second step of treatment, that is, drug treatment. Drugs that can treat allergic rhinitis include the following: antihistamines, glucocorticoids, anti-leukotrienes, chromones, intranasal decongestants, intranasal anticholinergic drugs, and traditional Chinese medicine.
It should be reminded that in the treatment of allergic rhinitis, nasal spray is a very important treatment method. Often when the condition is severe, the doctor will use nasal sprays and oral medicines together. If the symptoms are better controlled, the oral medicines will be slowly stopped. The potion must be advised to wait until the symptoms are completely controlled before gradually stopping. As long as the patient can correctly implement the doctor’s instructions, insist on regular review, and do not stop the drug by himself, generally good results can be achieved.
Perennial seizures? Try immunotherapy
For patients with allergic rhinitis who have been attacking for many years, it is often easy to relapse as soon as the drug is stopped.
New research has found that for those patients with severe allergic rhinitis with perennial attacks, there is another more effective means, that is, immunotherapy, that is, desensitization therapy.
Immunotherapy is the use of purified allergens, starting from a small dose, little by little, gradually increasing the dose, increasing the concentration, and maintaining it for a long time. The process of this treatment is generally Not less than two years. Eventually the body’s immune system gets used to and accepts the stimulation of this allergen and is no longer overly sensitive to it. The process of immunotherapy is very long, usually taking two years or more.
Currently widely used in clinical and relatively mature immunotherapy for allergic rhinitis caused by dust mites. For patients with house dust mite allergy, there are two types of immunotherapy, sublingual and subcutaneous.
The onset of immunotherapy is relatively slow, generally about half a year before it begins to take effect gradually, and the total course of treatment takes a long 2-3 years. Some patients still need to undergo short-term repeated immunotherapy on a regular basis to strengthen the consolidation effect. (Reporter Zhang Qingmei, correspondent Huang Yuexing)