Getting Relief

Relief is all any of us want from a stuffy nose, hacking cough or aching muscles. Does it make a difference if the cause is an allergy, a cold or the…

Allergy symptoms range from those that are occasional and only mildly bothersome to those that are chronic or life threatening. The type and severity of your symptoms depend on the type of…

What is an allergy?

An allergy is an exaggerated physical response to an ordinarily harmless substance such as pollen, certain foods or drugs, or to insect stings.

Here are the questions that our visitors ask most often, along with their answers. These questions provide information to better understand problems surrounding allergies and allergic reactions. Consult your physician or health…

Description

• An allergy is an abnormal sensitivity or reaction of your immune system to a substance (an allergen) that you eat, inhale or touch. Non-allergic people can usually tolerate this substance.  
• Nearly…

Description

• Sinusitis is inflammation of the paranasal sinuses (air-filled cavities inside the bones of the skull).  
• Sinusitis may be acute or chronic, and infectious or non-infectious.  
• Anything interfering with airflow…

The following table outlines the main trees and grasses in South Africa, where they are found and when their pollen seasons are.

This is a condition that may commence after the third month of life as a weepy rash on the face and outer surfaces of arms and legs.

In later childhood it becomes a dry scaly itchy…

Grey Alder

Grey alder sheds its leaves annually and grows up to 20 metres. It is common in barren landscapes, woods and by lakes and streams, often in misty forests. It is used…

Three factors increase a person’s chances to have an allergic reaction. These are heredity, the immediate environment and upper respiratory infections.

If one parent is allergic to a particular…

Peanut allergy is a serious and usually life-long allergy affecting both children and adults. It is essential that individuals with peanut allergy avoid even the slightest exposure to peanuts to…

Lasting for minutes or days, hives (also called wheals or welts) are large, itchy red bumps on the skin. Hives can also last for a longer period and are then referred to as chronic…

These are signs that your child may have an allergy:

If you’re in a delicatessen or at a salad bar, it may be reassuring to see the food handlers wearing gloves. Reassuring, unless you’re allergic to latex, as many people are.

The September-October 2000…

Your nose has the task of filtering out the unwanted substances and preventing them from entering the lungs. As you inhale, the circulates through the nasal passages, being filtered, moistened…

There are more than 240 allergens, some rare and others very common. Who’d have though that barley, pigeon feathers, silk, egg yolk, horsemeat, vanilla and lentils could be allergens? It’s true.

You may know that cats can cause allergic reactions. What you may not be aware of is that dogs, rats, mice, guinea pigs, rabbits, hamsters, birds, horses,…

Your body is a weapon. The immune system is a machine of war, ready to take on invaders. The immune system has its own internal affairs department: it can identify cells which are…

Basic things that can protect you from allergies.

Outside
When you’re outdoors, pollen is likely to be your main adversary, so:

The term hay fever is a misnomer: the condition is not caused by hay, nor does it produce fever. The clinical name is seasonal allergic rhinitis, which is a type of allergy.

Seasonal allergic rhinitis…

Your home looks clean, right? Well most of the time, then. But how clean is your house really and what goes on in the nooks and crannies that are difficult to reach?

Most people associate allergies with little more than annoying sniffles, sneezes and wheezes. But for sufferers of some food allergies, reactions can be far more serious - even fatal.

And,…

Food intolerance refers to any adverse reaction to food or food additives. Food allergy is only one such reaction and refers specifically to food intolerance in which the body’s immune (defence) system is directly involved.

It’s disconcerting that bugs live in your bed. But there are plenty of them. They’re called house dust mites and they night quietly live off the flakes of skin you…

Allergic reactions to drugs are fairly rare, but almost all drugs can cause a reaction of sorts in a small number of people. Drug reactions ranging from a mild allergic reaction to a severe anaphylactic…