Living With Allergies

10/21/08

Malvis williams

I am a 57 yr old male suffering with what has been described as environmental allergies, in other words I am allergic to nearly everything. I have problems functioning from day to day. Along with being sensitive to all of the every day allergens I am also sensitive to most vapors and oders in the environment. Example, at home I had to put my refrigerator and freezer on the back porch because I could not tolerate the Freon vapor. Breathing the vapor is like breathing a poisonous gas. I found one allergy doctor who had experienced patients with these types of allergies and he said he had never had any success in treating them. If there is anyone who can provide info it would be greatly appreciated.

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Answers (1)

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Robert Barry

First I say this--Get a new refrigerator. If it is leaking freon, then it is going to fail (no doubts) to keep your foods at a safe temperature and will only add to the worldwide freon pollution, of which most know to be harmful to the atmosphere.

As for your other allergies, I also suffer daily and take the necessary steps for symptomatic relief. Now how far you go depends upon how much you can tolerate. At first pills worked, then as breathing gets to become a chore, I chose to undergo injections for 12 years. They helped me toget back to the OTC antihistamines and away from the prescription ones. I had needed an inhaler daily, but with the shots to reduce my sensitivity to allergens and exercise to increase my peural space (how much air I could inhale into my lungs) I am thankfully off of the inhaler, but for very rare occassions.

To help remove airborne allergens, use air filters and open your windows once in a while to remove the vapors given off by the rugs, plastics, oils and such used to cook foods. That's right OPEN THE WINDOWS. Some households have more dangerous pollution due to decaying furniture and other "vapors" simply because they never "air-out" their homes. There is a big difference between simple pollution and dangerous pollution. A private home's air that never vents out the inside air can be more deadly than the air right outside the window. As for businesses, we all take our chances, and hope that they circulate the air, exchange the air, and filter the air, not only for comfortable temperatures but for healthier air with reduced pollutants.

So, air out your home and take a pill if needed to get some relief. Putting up with allergies is just not healthy. And, complaining and doing nothing is just plain bad medicine. Any MD worth his credentials should have been able to give this advice, and not said "There is nothing I can do to help." That is a doctor who stopped learning and forgot his Oath.