New Hampshire State Employees May Be Banned From Wearing Scented Products
We've all been in the situation where we're exposed to a person wearing way too much perfume. It may be at the grocery store, the coffee shop, or even at work. If the scent is strong enough, it may make your eyes water, nose tingle and may even cause a cough. If a person has asthma or nasal allergies, exposure to strong odors or perfumes may make these underlying medical problems worse. For these reasons, the state of New Hampshire is considering legislation to forbid state employees who interact with the public from using scented or fragrant soaps.
While this legislation may initially sound like a good idea, it's an example of a slippery slope argument, similar to the idea of banning peanuts from school. First, how will the law be enforced? Will there be "perfume police" to sniff any and all state employees before starting their work shifts? What constitutes excessive odor? If you can smell the odor from 1 foot away? Three feet away? Ten feet away? From across the room? What about other smells, such as body odor, bad breath or flatulence? Will a state employee be terminated for any offensive smell that might come from their bodies?
When you think about it, this legislation is absolutely ridiculous. If passed, New Hampshire will be the laughing stock of the country, and will be an example of government overstepping its authority.
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Valentine's Day Allergies
The concept of Valentine's Day allergies doesn't make much sense to most people -- until you think about it. This Tuesday, February 14, is Valentine's Day, when we give flowers, candy and other presents to the special people in our lives. But if these people have food allergies or nasal allergies, you may also be giving them something you didn't intend -- an allergic reaction.
Exposure to colorful flowers can cause nasal allergy symptoms, but only when a person puts their nose close enough to the flower to smell its scent. This is because colorful flowers, such as roses, rely on insects to pollinate them, rather than non-colorful plants, such as some trees and most grasses, which rely on the wind to pollinate them. Therefore, it's common for florists and flower recipients on Valentine's Day to experience sneezing and stuffy noses as a result of smelling their special flowers.
Chocolate treats are also given on Valentine's Day. Many of these chocolates may have hidden ingredients such as treenuts and peanuts, which could cause an allergic reaction in people with food allergies. Even in chocolates that aren't supposed to contain nuts, it's still possible that they do.
This Valentine's Day, if your sweetheart suffers from hay fever or nut allergies, skip the flowers and chocolate altogether, and do something different -- take him or her out to a nice dinner or buy them jewelry.
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How to Tackle Hay Fever Symptoms this Spring
Believe it or not, spring pollen season is already here in many parts of the country. Here in Northern California, the trees are beginning to pollinate. In other parts of the country, spring pollen season may only be weeks away. If you suffer from springtime hay fever, do you have a plan on how to tackle your symptoms this season? Hopefully your plan includes something more than buying extra boxes of nasal tissue. A better plan would be to assess the types of symptoms that you typically experience, choose therapies based on those symptoms, decide on over-the-counter versus prescription medications, and to see an allergist to explore other treatment options such as immunotherapy.
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Aveeno Baby Lotion Recalled
Johnson and Johnson, the makers of Aveeno products, initiated a voluntary recall of certain lots of Aveeno Baby Calming Comfort Lotion. The recall affects lot number 0161LK which was distributed to the Southeastern United States. This lot of Aveeno Baby Calming Lotion may contain higher amounts of a bacteria, called coagulase-negative Staphylococci, which typically does not represent a danger to most people. People who have purchased Aveeno Baby Calming Comfort Lotion with the above mentioned lot number should refer to the Aveeno website for more information about whether or not to use the recalled product and how to receive a refund.
While it is not likely that a product contaminated with coagulase-negative Staphylococci would represent a danger to most people, the population that Aveeno Baby products are being used on -- babies with eczema -- are not most people. Children with eczema, also called atopic dermatitis, are at risk for the development of skin infections from bacteria, fungi and viruses. Therefore, the application of a cream contaminated with Staphylococci on the skin of a child with eczema could potentially result in a skin infection. While the Aveeno website seems to minimize the risks of the contaminated product, I would highly recommend that parents check with their child's pediatrician, dermatologist, allergist or other healthcare provider before using the contaminated cream on their children.
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Can People Be Allergic to Money?
I'm sure you heard that old superstition about when you have itchy palms, you will soon receive some money. While this superstition is most likely false, some people actually have itchy palms after handling money. It is actually possible to be allergic to money -- not the act of making it -- but from coming into contact with the physical form. People can be allergic to both coins, typically as a result of the nickel contained in certain denominations of United States and Euro coins, as well as to paper bills, as a result of the ink in printing. Certain rashes are also seen on the hands of people who count large numbers of paper bills, such as bank tellers. Find out more about the different forms of money allergy, including how to avoid and treat this type of allergy.
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Pepper Spray to Treat Nasal Allergies?!
We all have a pretty good idea about what pepper spray is -- the self-defense weapon that is carried by police and can be found at most sporting goods stores. And, what it does -- remember that video of the UC Davis police department pepper spraying the Occupy Wall Street protestors who were staging a sit-in on campus property -- resulting in stinging and burning of the eyes, nose, skin and lungs. Now, imagine actually squirting pepper spray, in a diluted form, in your nose in an attempt to reduce the symptoms of nasal allergies. Sounds crazy, right? Well, capsaicin nasal sprays are available over-the-counter for the treatment of nasal allergy symptoms, and they work pretty well.
Capsaicin, the substance found in hot peppers that is responsible for the burning and stinging sensation that people get in their mouths when they eat the peppers, is very effective as a long-term reliever of pain. Creams containing capsaicin have been used for years for rubbing on arthritic joints as well as on painful skin that shingles leaves behind. Nasal sprays containing capsaicin seem to be effective at treating nasal congestion and sinus pressure related to non-allergic rhinitis, and may also be effective for the treatment of allergic rhinitis. Other than a mild stinging sensation that occurs only with the first few times the nasal spray is used, side effects are minimal. And, if the nasal spray doesn't help your nasal symptoms, you can always use it as a reasonable replacement for a bottle of Tabasco Sauce.
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Could Your Cold Actually Be A Sinus Infection?
January is cold and flu season, and many of us are walking around with stuffy noses and a box of Kleenex right now. Some of us have allergies, some have the common cold, and others may even have sinus infections. Symptoms of a cold that don't get better after a week or two could represent a allergies or a sinus infection. A sinus infection may simply cause nasal congestion, runny nose, post nasal drip, coughing and/or a headache -- and may not necessarily cause facial pain/pressure, green nasal discharge and fevers.
If your cold has lasted more than two weeks and isn't getting better, you may want to see your doctor to see if you could have a sinus infection.
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Girl Dies at School From Peanut Allergy
A 7-year-old Virginia girl died last week as a result of a severe allergic reaction to peanuts. Apparently, the girl had been given a peanut (or peanut-containing food) from another child while on the playground. The girl developed shortness of breath and hives and sought help, although apparently no treatment was given at the school. When emergency medical services arrived at the school, the girl was already in cardiac arrest. She was taken to a local hospital where she was declared dead.
This sad story will surely bring up the question of whether or not peanuts should be banned from school. There are other questions that arise -- such as the availability of medicines at school for children with medical problems -- such as injectable epinephrine. And, whether or not that medicine was prescribed by a physician for a specific child, or if that medicine is available for "general use". This could lead to multiple problems, especially since most schools don't have a nurse or other healthcare professional on staff, who would have the ability to recognize and treat a medical emergency. The most important take-home lesson from this tragedy is to ensure that if your child has a life-threatening medical condition, such as food allergies, to have an action plan in place for school officials to follow should an emergency occur.
Read more:
- All About Peanut Allergy
- The Most Common Place at School for Allergic Reactions
- Where Should Epinephrine Be Kept at School?
Natural Allergy Relief
More and more of my patients are asking for non-drug options for the treatment of their allergies. Whether this is an attempt to cut costs, reduce medication side effects, or to thumb their nose at the pharmaceutical industry, this trend is becoming more common. Fortunately, there are a variety of ways to treat allergies without medications. I often caution my patients, however, that herbal supplements and non-traditional approaches to the diagnosis and treatment of allergies are unproven and often even more expensive than that of pharmaceutical treatments.
Options for natural allergy relief advocated by allergists/immunologists include nasal saline irrigation and allergen immunotherapy. Allergen immunotherapy, administered as allergy shots or allergy drops, are the only treatment of allergies that can modify the underlying problem of allergies -- which may result in a cure. Allergen immunotherapy has been used for over 100 years with proven results -- and, best of all, it's an all natural therapy.
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It's 2012 -- Did You Just Develop an Allergy to Alcohol?
If you're reading this blog, there's a good chance that you had a good time last night. Maybe a really good time. But you're probably not having that great of a time today, likely as a result of some sort of a reaction to alcoholic beverages. Most people have experienced a hang over from drinking too much alcohol (and not enough water), but could you be experiencing an allergic reaction to alcohol? There are a variety of different types of reactions that a person could experience from alcohol, from a variety of different causes. Some of these could include an allergic reaction (or at least mimic an allergic reaction), non-allergic intolerance, or could simply be an expected pharmacologic effect from too much alcohol. Whatever the cause is, people who experience these reactions want to know how to deal with it -- and how to prevent it from happening again.
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