Several issues on allergic rhinitis in children

Allergic rhinitis is a common allergic disease in children. A survey shows that 65% of children in my country suffer from moderate to severe allergic rhinitis. Allergic rhinitis can cause many harms to children, interfere with children's school and extracurricular activities, significantly reduce their quality of life, and affect sleep; cause drowsiness and inattention, affecting test scores; cause children to be irritable, careless, destructive, and have other complications. Now, parents are paying more and more attention to the treatment of their children's allergic rhinitis. In clinical work, it is found that the following issues are of concern to parents, so they are answered one by one.

1. Can allergic rhinitis be cured? Allergic rhinitis is caused by allergic constitution and inducing factors. Based on this principle, it cannot be completely cured.

At present, desensitization treatment can be performed to achieve a semi-curative effect. That is, some preparations are injected subcutaneously or taken sublingually. After 3 to 5 years of treatment, the patient will eventually not react to the allergen and will not have symptoms.

2. Allergic rhinitis is just a runny nose? It is not harmful? This is a big misunderstanding. The short-term side effects or harm of chronic diseases may not be obvious, but in fact, in the medium and long term, allergic rhinitis will not only affect daily work and life, but also cause many complications.

The nose is connected to the surrounding tissues and organs, such as the ears, pharynx, etc. Therefore, it can also lead to chronic diseases of the surrounding tissues and organs, and the resulting health hazards are quite large. You must not take it lightly just because the temporary symptoms are not serious.

3. Should I do less outdoor exercise if I have allergic rhinitis? When an allergic disease occurs, it is recommended to reduce outdoor exercise to avoid direct stimulation from allergens, but you should still participate in appropriate outdoor exercise at other times. Because exercise is good for strengthening your physical fitness, you should not avoid it because you are afraid of contact with outdoor allergens. If your immunity is weakened, you may still have some allergic symptoms even if you do not go outdoors.

4. Can taking vitamin C enhance immunity? Currently, vitamin C can soften the brittleness of blood vessels, but there is no evidence-based evidence to prove its effectiveness in improving immunity.

5. Can giving children supplements and injections to enhance immunity prevent allergic rhinitis? This measure is suitable for middle-aged and elderly people because adults have relatively stable immunity. But it is not recommended for children because their own immunity is still in the process of development. The use of so-called supplements may have a certain effect in the short term, but it is not good in the long run. It will partially suppress the child's own immunity and prevent it from being well improved.

6. Are oral rhinitis medications safer than hormone sprays? The side effects of local medications are far less than those of systemic medications, and the effects are far better than those of systemic medications. Don't be afraid of hormones. If hormone sprays are used in a standardized manner, their benefits far outweigh their disadvantages. In addition, it is not recommended to stop using hormone sprays as soon as the symptoms improve. On the surface, discontinuation may reduce the amount of medication, but in fact, it will make the disease difficult to cure, or not well controlled, and it is easy to develop drug resistance.

7. Do I need to avoid certain foods after identifying the allergens?

If the allergens found are mainly food, there is generally a strength classification: +, ++, +++. If it is above ++, it is not recommended to contact the allergenic food; if it is a +, it depends on the physical condition. When the body is in good condition, it can be eaten normally, but when the body is weak and the immunity is low, such as when you have a cold, it is recommended to avoid eating to prevent the stimulation of allergens from inducing some allergic diseases.

8. Is the home too clean, will the baby be more prone to allergies? Yes. There is a "cowshed theory" that if a child is placed in a cowshed (a place with a poor sanitation environment) when he is young, the incidence of allergic diseases will be lower when he grows up. If a child lives in an overly clean home for a long time and has not been exposed to external allergens, once he is exposed to a not so good outdoor environment, facing the continuous arrival of allergens, the incidence of the disease will naturally be higher.