*Cough* *Cough*

Chronic cough can be caused by allergy, but it's not always the case.

Recently I saw a young man who had a chronic cough. I did a chest X-ray, and it showed a tumor that was eventually diagnosed as germinal cell cancer. Luckily for him, this tumor is very treatable.

Another case was a middle age man who was diagnosed with tuberculosis from the chest X-ray. In another case, a man with a prolonged runny nose turned out to have a cancer of his throat.

The lesson is to do at least some simple tests to rule out other conditions before thinking of allergy.

My learning continues

Running Noses

Many people have been suffering from a running or stuffy nose for a very, very long time and have been on antihistamine or nasal sprays. A lot of sufferers have resigned themselves to the fact that they have to suffer such symptoms forever. 

They do not have to.

There are two main categories of causes:

1. Temperature changes 
2. Allergens in the atmosphere.

The culprits are usually due to house dust mites, moulds (airborne spores), pet dander, dust particles, smoke/smog, grass and plant pollen (the grass pollen in the east differ from those which cause seasonal rhinitis/runny nose in the west) and in my part of the world (Malaysia) I have found that joss sticks, mosquito repellents (coils or electric) can also cause this problem.          

Unlike food, airborne allergens are difficult to avoid totally. It is possible to desensitise the sufferer ageist the allergen by producing holistic drops which neutralise the effect of the allergen, thereby decreasing the sensitvity to the allergen.

There are also patients who get running nose by consuming coffee or tea, exposure to perfumes and even seafood but these causes are less common.

Most nasal allergy are caused by airborne allergens

My learning continues.......