How to get rid of allergens in your home. Allergy experts have already warned: this spring will be especially hard for Spanish allergy sufferers. The conjunction of a particularly wet autumn in the Mediterranean and the bonanza of a very warm, dry and sunny winter, cause the air we breathe is full of pollen.
How to get rid of allergens in your home
Consequently, all those organs that contain mucous will be affected: red eyes, covered noses, sneezing, fatigue, difficulty breathing, muscle pain or even temperature changes. In the most reactive people, the symptoms may become such that they do not be clear if you suffer from an allergy or a cold, especially when the first spring rains begin and the atmosphere cools.
How to distinguish them if they have a similar symptomatology?
The doctors Lourdes Arochena and Mar Fernandez, allergists of the Jimenez Diaz Foundation, have developed a differentiating chart to clarify what signs people with allergies to pollen show, and which are the ones that distinguish those who suffer from a cold. The facultative explain that often at this time of year "we consult patients who sometimes come with doubts about whether the picture presented by a simple cold, flu or allergy."
"In all cases the patient has snot and sneeze, and in many cases even recalls that in previous years has presented a similar picture," they continue, not without first underlining that also in winter this type of confusion occurs: "allergy to pollen is not limited to spring, we have pollen particles in the environment every month of the year, varying the species and concentration depending on the geographical location, so in Madrid, for example, in the cold months of December to March there is a high pollen concentration of the cupresaceae family (cypress, arizonic, juniper) and, on the other hand, in March and April we can find pollen from the shade banana tree in the Mediterranean ".
Therefore, the danger of confusion persists during any time and it is important to know how to distinguish between one and another disorder, since doctors will be able to give it the appropriate treatment without confusion or, more importantly, delays that make the process worse. aggravate In the case of the cold it is to avoid that it leads to sinusitis, bronchitis or pneumonia, and in the case of allergy to counteract the decline in quality of life as soon as possible.
"This is especially important in children, to avoid receiving inadequate treatments and to ensure they can provide immediate care in the case of an allergic crisis," say the allergists Jimisnez Dinaz Foundation, who explain that "the best way to distinguish these processes in children is the nose itching: in the catarrhal picture is mild, but in allergic rhinitis is intense, very annoying and persistent, so it can greatly affect the quality of life of the child, affecting even their performance school, to sleep and even to the social relationship ".
Rhinitis affects one in three children, being more frequent in children under five years of age, and viral catarrhs ??with allergy symptoms are often confused. Regarding adults, although the differentiation may be more evident, it is not always possible to be sure, so the following eight keys elaborated by doctors Arochena and Fernonndez can be of great help.
The eight keys to distinguish allergy from colds
1. Mucus: in the allergy the mucus is "clear, liquid, transparent"; in the cold against it appears "dense or thick, yellow or greenish"2. Itching: in the allergy the itching of eyes and nose is present; in the cold it is "absent or very mild", according to the doctors.
3. Lacrimation: while it is very common in allergies, it is almost absent in colds.
4. Sneezing: "frequent and grouped" in allergies and "almost isolated" in colds.
5. The fever: although it does not have to be presented in the case of the refriados, it is totally discarded in the allergies: if there is fever, it is an infectious cold.
6. Cough: if it appears in allergies, it is dry. In the cold is runny mucus.
7. The rapidity of symptomatic manifestation: in case of allergy appear suddenly, in less than 24 hours, and in colds its manifestation is much slower.
8. The duration: allergies have a prolonged duration, while the cold does not usually last more than an hour.
