Allergies Archive

Cold and allergy sufferers beware: the neti pot you are using to flush your stuffed-up sinuses could cause a serious infection, the FDA has warned.

A neti pot is a teapot-like device used to pour warm salty water into one nostril, allowing it to rinse the nasal cavities. Neti pots and other nasal rinsing products provide relief for a stuffed nose or allergy symptoms.

Food intolerances make dairy and other foods hard to swallow.

As a child, you loved eating ice cream cones and drinking glasses of cold, delicious milk. Today, those same dairy treats leave you feeling gassy, bloated, and miserable. Could you be lactose intolerant?

If you didn't grow up with a food allergy, you're not off the hook. They can spring up without warning at any time of life.

Food allergy doesn't rank high on the list of later-life maladies. Only 4% of adults are allergic to a food, and even those who begin life with the most common food allergies — to milk, eggs, wheat, and soy — are likely to outgrow them by the time they enter kindergarten.

Q. I often feel like I have a lump of mucus in my throat. In the morning I spit some of it up, but the sensation doesn't go away. What can I do about it?

A. Doctors sometimes use the term "globus sensation" for the feeling of a lump in the throat. It's one of those minor maladies about which we know only a little, since medical research focuses mainly on the diseases that are disabling or fatal rather than the symptoms that constantly aggravate us.

Both are on the rise — and it's important to know the difference.

It's no fun to live in fear of food. If you can't tolerate certain foods, you probably dread the gastrointestinal distress they can cause. If you have a food allergy, the stakes are higher: a meal could end in a trip to the emergency room. Or, like many people, you could be uncertain whether your symptoms are due to an allergy (which requires eliminating all traces of the food from your diet) or an intolerance (which can be managed with less drastic measures). An analysis revealed that while 13% of adults described themselves as allergic to peanuts, milk, eggs, fish, or shellfish, only 3% truly were. Other studies have shown that undetected food allergies may play a role in several medical conditions.

Allergic rhinitis, commonly called hay fever, can be a minor seasonal nuisance or a troubling year-round problem. Most people can find relief by taking an antihistamine and by avoiding the allergens that trigger the irritation.

Sinusitis occurs when blocked sinuses cannot drain and the backed-up mucus gets infected. The simplest and often most effective treatment is daily nasal irrigation. It can also help to drink a lot of water, inhale steam, and sleep with the head elevated.

Q. I have allergies. Could they be the reason I have high blood pressure?

A. Although allergies don't usually directly increase blood pressure, they can contribute indirectly to high blood pressure in two very different ways.

Swift action is needed to short-circuit potentially deadly symptoms.

Sarah Lyman had no reason to worry when her husband John left the house for a jog after lunch: he looked his usual healthy self. Twenty minutes later, she got word that he had collapsed by the side of the road — fighting for breath. At the hospital, she learned that the cause was anaphylaxis (also called anaphylactic shock or allergic shock), likely brought on by the lobster salad they'd eaten for lunch. Fortunately, John was treated in time and survived. That he was allergic to shellfish was news to him.

Growing numbers of people are avoiding wheat and other grains because of celiac disease.

Gluten seems to be the food ingredient non grata these days. Bakers are coming up with recipes for gluten-free cupcakes and baguettes. Anheuser-Busch sells Redbridge, a gluten-free beer made from sorghum. And, of course, times being what they are, you can easily slip into an Internet swirl of blogs and Twittering about gluten-free foods. It's not just talk: cash registers are ringing. By some estimates, the sales of gluten-free foods have tripled since 2004.