Only in recent years have I befriended the feline species. I was always a "dog person." But in the past five years or so, I've had just as many feline roommates as human roommates, and I've grown to love the little furballs.
Ironically, since I have developed an affection for cats, I've also become allergic to them. Thanks to environmental control measures, my cat allergies are not very bothersome. I've spent a lot of time learning how to avoid cat allergens in the home; the key is to always keep the cats out of the bedroom. I keep the bedroom sealed off and keep my AllerAir air purifier running at all times. (When I do have reactions, it's usually because a fur-covered blanket is brought in from another room; to avoid this, use Allersearch Allergen Wash laundry detergent to denature allergens, and make sure that you have a durable, washable hypoallergenic blanket.) To learn more about environmental controls for cat allergies, see An Allergy Sufferer's Guide to Living with Cats.
Today I'd also like to discuss a different topic related to cats and environmental control: the litter box. Cute as they are, cats frequently spread disease to humans. In fact, about half of the world's population is infected by the common cat parasite Toxoplasma gondii. This ABC News article suggests that T. gondii subtly affects the human personality and may be linked to schizophrenia. Other studies suggest that the parasite may play a role in bipolar disorder, depression, and anxiety. Oxford University researchers say that high levels of the parasite lead to hyperactivity and lower IQs in children.
So how do people get this parasite? Well, it comes from cat poop, particularly the poop of cats who venture outdoors and eat infected animals. About 80% of domestic cats are infected. Clean out the litter box every day to avoid infection. This is crucial. After the cat poop sits out for longer than a day, the microscopic oocysts (spores) become infectious and can easily be inhaled or ingested without your knowledge. Use gloves and wear a mask when emptying the litter box. Wash your hands thoroughly after emptying the litter box, and try to keep the box in a low-traffic area of your home.
Pregnant women should be especially careful to avoid litter boxes. A woman who gets the infection, known as toxoplasmosis, during pregnancy can transmit the parasite to her child, and studies suggest that this increases the risk of mental disorders in the child. Toxoplasmosis can also cause stillbirth. Pregnant women should also avoid eating raw meat and gardening with bare hands, as these activities could also lead to infection.
T. gondii oocysts can remain infectious for up to 18 months, so it's important to thoroughly clean the area around the litter box. I recommend a HEPA vacuum cleaner, vapor steam mop, and safe, eco-friendly disinfectant. I also have an air purifier near the litter box at home (which is hidden inside a hallway closet).
The litter itself can cause health problems, too. Have you ever coughed after inhaling a cloud of kitty litter dust? That's probably because the litter contains irritating crystalline silica, a known carcinogen. (Again, you should always wear gloves and a mask when changing the litter!) If the litter bag warns that you should go to the emergency room if you accidentally swallow it, then you can assume that it's toxic. Most stores now sell the non-carcinogenic natural kitty litter. I've been using all-natural, dust-free pine pellets along with the Naturally Fresh Pet Crystal to help with odor control.
"In addition to the typical pollen-producing allergies that are rampant during the months of spring, technophiles should take caution that some of their favorite gadgets may be the culprit of certain allergy symptoms," says Dr. Todd Rosengart, Chief of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Stony Brook University Medical Hospital and Chief Medical Advisor of MDX Medical.
Exposure to radiation and microwaves from cell phones may lead to electromagnetic sensitivity and cause skin rashes, fatigue, and headaches.
For allergy sufferers, cell phone use can trigger allergies and make seasonal allergy symptoms worse, according to rehabpub.com.
According to CNN, a National Academy of Sciences report contradicts White House officials who say that the connection between smog and premature death has not been shown sufficiently.
"The report is a rebuke of the Bush administration which has consistently tried to downplay the connection between smog and premature death," says Frank O'Donnell, president of Clean Air Watch.
The report concludes that "short-term exposure to ambient ozone is likely to contribute to premature deaths." It also states that "studies have yielded strong evidence that short-term exposure to ozone can exacerbate lung conditions, causing illness and hospitalization and can potentially lead to death."
If you must spend time outdoors in heavily polluted areas, wear a mask - and clean the air in your home with an air purifier.
WebMD reports that you might breathe easier if you watch your salt intake and avoid processed foods (which is where most Americans get three-quarters of their salt).
In a recent study at Indiana University, researchers found that test subjects with a low-salt diet could exhale far more air than those on a high-salt diet; they also needed their bronchodilator drugs less often and presented fewer markers of airway inflammation.
Researchers think that salt increases the volume of blood in the tiny vessels in the lungs, forcing fluid into the space between the vessel and airway, thus making it harder for oxygen to travel across that space and into the bloodstream.
"The Western world food is full of salt," notes Dr. Tim Mickleborough. "Certainly, if you’re asthmatic or an exercise-induced asthmatic, you’ve got to stay away from fast foods and the salt shaker at the table."
Happy Earth Day! We have a special announcement for Earth Day 2008: Allergy Armor™ is going green!
For the past year, we have been developing Allergy Armor™ Organic, and it will finally be available at achooallergy.com on May 1.
We found the perfect organic cotton fabric for Allergy Armor™ Organic; it's the only non-dyed, non-treated, lab-tested organic dust mite barrier in the U.S. This 440-thread-count fabric is certified 100% organic and certified dust mite proof - and it's completely free of chemicals.
If you suffer from dust mite allergy as well as chemical sensitivity, Allergy Armor™ Organic is for you. After it has been tightly woven, the fabric is heat-pressed to shrink the pores down to 6 microns. Since dust mite allergen is around 10 microns in size, Allergy Armor™ Organic effectively blocks the allergenic particles.
Plus, Allergy Armor™ Organic is totally free of chemicals. If you're sensitive to polyester, urethanes, dyes, or other chemicals, then you'll love this all-natural fabric.
And organic farming is good for the environment! Organic farmers respect the Earth; they nurture the soil with natural fertilizers instead of contaminating it with synthetic chemicals that eventually end up in our food and water.
This Earth Day, show your love for Mother Earth by incoporating one of these simple ideas from thegreenguide.com into your life:
Save time and a lot of paper: Switch to tree-free billing and pay those bills online with the click of a button or an automatic debit. Approximately one billion trees-worth of paper are trashed each year in the U.S., and hard copy bills alone generate almost 700,000 tons of waste and almost two million tons of carbon dioxide. Both you and the planet will be happier without the excess garbage.
Take it a step further by preserving forests, which provide habitat for all sorts of Earth’s creatures and remove carbon dioxide from the air. Donate to Plant-I, 2020, which will plant an indigenous tree for each dollar you give or join the Nature Conservancy in their Plant a Billion Trees program and donate to plant trees in Brazilian rainforest.
Enjoy a certified wildlife habitat just by stepping out the back door. The National Wildlife Federation (NWF) certifies yards, community gardens, school grounds and business sites through the “Garden for Wildlife” program, which looks for animal shelters and resources, the use of least-toxic pesticides, and water conservation. Start creating a backyard where native species take haven. See nwf.org for details.
Talk to your office manager about greening the workplace and, for starters, print on both sides of the paper. For a list of better paper products to choose, including Forest Stewardship Council-certified paper from well-managed forests, see the Paper Buying Guide.
Get your choo-choo on. Planning a trip? Check out the train schedule. According to the Nature Conservancy, on a cross-country trip, a train emits only about 4 to 15 percent of the carbon dioxide that a plane does (and an automobile is not much better). May 10 marks the first annual National Train Day, so it’s a good opportunity to give the rails a try. See amtrak.com for details.
Save water: According to the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) WaterSense program, Americans use an average of 170 gallons of water per day, and at least 36 states are anticipating local, regional or statewide water shortages by 2013. Use an egg timer to shave time off of your daily shower, and start collecting the “warm-up” water to use on your garden.
Get involved in the environment in your own neighborhood. You’ll become more personally invested in the earth’s health and will therefore be a better resident of your community and the planet. This Earth Day, do a little research. Visit a nearby farm to meet the people that make your food; to find farms and farmer's markets, check localharvest.org or ams.usda.gov. Learn about the quality of your local air quality and nearby rivers and streams from “Window to My Environment,” the EPA’s web tool for making a difference close to home, at epa.gov. And find out how to support endangered and threatened species in your area by visiting your state Fish and Wildlife services via fishandwildlife.org.
This year, please take a moment to recognize Earth Day - because if you suffer from allergies, asthma, or chemical sensitivities, the health of the planet directly affects your personal health. See Environmentalism, Allergies & Asthma to learn more.
Veteran entomologist Rick Cooper had never actually seen a live bed bug until 1999. Since then, bedbugs have turned into a full-time job for his pest management company.
"I would say it's spinning out of control," says Cooper.
Indeed, Orkin Pest Control reports that bed bug infestations are now surging in all 50 states, and MSNBC reports that bed bugs are even showing up in new mattresses!
Sometimes new mattresses are stored in warehouses with refurbished, contaminated mattresses, allowing for the transference of bed bugs.
To protect your mattress from these blood-sucking critters, cover it with impenetrable Allergy Armor™.
And be careful when you're buying a new mattress! Make sure it hasn't been stored in a warehouse that could be contaminated. (You'll never encounter that problem if you purchase a Royal-Pedic mattress - because each one is custom-built!)
Mothers who have allergies or asthma may want to think twice before enrolling their babies in swimming classes. ScienceDaily reports on a recent study conducted by the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH)using data from the Norwegian Mother and Child Study (MoBa).
Most children who are enrolled in baby swimming classes do not manifest an increase in lower respiratory tract infections, ear inflammation, or tightness and wheezing in the chest; but among babies whose mothers have allergies or asthma, a slightly higher percentage of babies who participated in swimming had chest tightness or wheezing: 47% in baby swimmers, compared to 44% of non-swimmers.
Department Director at the NIPH's Division of Epidemiology and primary author of the study, Wenche Nystad, says, "The difference is not large but it indicates a tendency to respiratory problems."
Previous studies suggested a link between airway infections and baby swimming, possibly due to environmental factors like volatile chlorination products used in indoor swimming pools.
The presence of a particular protein profile in the blood of those suffering from chronic sinusitis may lead physicians to be able to objectively diagnose and treat the disease, ScienceDaily reports.
Using surface enhanced laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectroscopy (SELDI-TOF-MS), researchers found that 96 chronic sinusitis patients possessed a protein profile that was absent in 38 healthy control subjects. Corresponding author on the study, Dr. Stilianos E. Kountakis of the Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery in the Medical College of Georgia School of Medicine, remarks, "We can diagnose this disease with a totally objective test that does not depend on symptoms or observations."
As it is now, diagnosing chronic sinusitis is quite subjective, based mostly on a patient's discussion with his doctor of symptoms that characterize the disease, including dripping nose, sinus pressure, congestion, and difficulty breathing. Although doctors routinely use an endoscope and may also use a computerized scan, researchers say that the "overall management of [chronic sinusitis] is still hampered by the lack of quantifiable, molecular and genetic markers to aid in screening."
If symptoms persist for 12 weeks, sinusitis is considered chronic. Causes of the disease include respiratory inflammation, bacterial infections, mucosal disease, and nasal polyps. Patients may have a genetic predisposition to polyps and asthma, putting them at increased risk for developing chronic sinusitis. Dr. Kountakis explains, "You may have a bacterial infection, allergies, mechanical problems. There are numerous genes that control respiratory function. Any of these things can go wrong to predispose the patient to develop chronic sinusitis." Objective diagnosis will also help doctors administer the proper treatment. Surgery is sometimes performed on deviated septums, polyps, or other anatomical causes. There are no FDA-approved drugs specifically for the treatment of chronic sinusitis; physicians routinely treat symptoms with steroid sprays to reduce inflammation, mucus thinners, and saline irrigation. New diagnostic tools will help classify which patients actually suffer from chronic sinusitis and will help researchers study the effectiveness of drugs. Classification will also help group patients by the severity and type of chronic sinusitis they have.
As the Mayo Clinic describes, a sulfa allergy most often refers to an adverse reaction to an antibiotic called sulfamethoxazole, which is present in antibiotics that contain sulfonamides. Some of these antibiotics are Septra and Bactrim. Sulfisoxazole, present in Pediazole, should also be avoided.
In addition to antibiotics, there are many other medications that contain sulfonamides. These medications include some diuretics, oral diabetes medications, and some nonsteroidal anti-inflammatories. Check with your doctor to make sure these are safe.
Skin reactions are the most common reaction to sulfa medications, but the liver and kidneys, lungs, and blood may also be affected.
Note: Sulfa allergies are not to be confused with sulfite allergies, which involve allergies to common preservatives found in both foods and medications.
I received immunotherapy for pollen allergy several years ago, and while I rarely get sick these days, I'm definitely feeling the effects of pollen today. (The pollen count is well over 2000 here in Atlanta!) The short walk to my car this morning was all it took to bring on the sniffles.
It's almost as if I can feel the microscopic pollen grains tickling my nasal mucosa. I really just want to take a nap, but the work day has just begun. What can I do?
Luckily, I work at achooallergy.com, so I have plenty of options.
For immediate allergy relief, I need to get those pollen grains out of my nose! A saline rinse will do the job. Some people use pump bottles. Others prefer the high-tech SinuPulse Elite Nasal Irrigation System. I'm going to use the simple, ancient neti pot, recently popularized by Dr. Mehmet Oz on The Oprah Winfrey Show. I will fill the neti pot with saline (salt water), lean over a sink, and pour the saline in one nostril, allowing it to drain out the other and wash away the pollen.
How to Use a Neti Pot
Here's a neti pot demonstration video that I found on youtube.com:
Yes, it looks a little odd, like it might even be uncomfortable, but I can assure you that it's easy, painless, and extremely refreshing. Your nose will love it. Now it's my turn...
Ahh...I feel better already! Eliminate the allergens in your environment (and in your nostrils), and your allergy symptoms will improve drastically.
How to Avoid Pollen
Of course, you can't eliminate outdoor pollen, but here are some tips for dealing with it:
Don't hang your laundry outside to dry.
Shower after spending time outdoors, or at least wash your face and hands with cold water to rinse away pollen grains.
Limit outdoor activity in the early morning hours when pollen is released.
Limit outdoor activity when pollen counts are high. Visit the National Allergy Bureau to check your local pollen count.
Avoid mowing the lawn. If you cannot avoid yard work, wear a mask.
Take your allergy medication at least an hour before going outdoors.
The pollen count in Atlanta was 1705 today. It was over 1000 last Thursday as well... and anything over 120 is considered extremely high.
Yessir, this is allergy season.
I went to visit an old friend last Thursday night, and because the pollen count was so high, his roommate was wearing a mask - indoors! So of course I gave him a copy of The Allergy Sufferer's Survival Guide. He told me that he already uses several products from achoo! ALLERGY, as he has tested positive for nearly every allergen. He also gets weekly allergy shots, even though he believes that the shots give him panic attacks (soon after he receives the shot). Hearing about his situation made me really appreciate the fact that my allergies are under control for the most part.
On a realted note, last week I woke up really early one morning to visit the National Allergy Bureau pollen count center here in Atlanta. It was very interesting to see how the technicians collect and count the pollen. Don't worry; I took plenty of photos. Look for the article in our next newsletter!
Although many people believe they are allergic to chocolate, true allergies to chocolate - specifically, the cocoa it's made from - are actually rare. In addition, many reactions to chocolate are not true allergies to the chocolate itself, but are rather allergies or intolerances to other ingredients in the chocolate, such as milk, nuts, gluten, corn syrup, dyes, or other additives. Alternately, people may be sensitive to the naturally-occurring chemicals in chocolate. These include caffeine, theobromine, and phnylethylamine.
Whatever the case may be, common reactions to chocolate in those who are affected include headache, heartburn, skin rashes, and breathing problems. Sensitivity to chocolate ingredients can also trigger asthma attacks.
One reason for the prevalence of reactions to chocolate is that a good part of mainstream chocolate products in the United States contain several additives; it's these that people react to. The purest forms of chocolate contain cocoa liquor, cocoa butter, sugar, maybe vanilla - and nothing else. Mass produced chocolate, on the other hand, is often primarily composed of the additives mentioned above (milk, corn syrup, dyes, etc.).
If an allergist has diagnosed you with an actual cocoa allergy, of course you need to stay away from it altogether. In addition, if you have an allergy to milk, nuts, or corn, don't take any chances eating chocolate. (For more on food allergies, see the Food Allergy FAQ.)
However, if you are intolerant of ingredients that may be included in inexpensive chocolate varieties, try a premium quality chocolate that comes closer to chocolate's purer form. One of my all-time favorites is Chocolove. Mmmmmm....
Seed Newsvine
Only in recent years have I befriended the feline species. I was always a "dog person." But in the past five years or so, I've had just as many feline roommates as human roommates, and I've grown to love the little furballs.
"In addition to the typical pollen-producing allergies that are rampant during the months of spring, technophiles should take caution that some of their favorite gadgets may be the culprit of certain allergy symptoms," says Dr. Todd Rosengart, Chief of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Stony Brook University Medical Hospital and Chief Medical Advisor of MDX Medical.
According to 
Mothers who have allergies or asthma may want to think twice before enrolling their babies in swimming classes. 
The presence of a particular protein profile in the blood of those suffering from chronic sinusitis may lead physicians to be able to objectively diagnose and treat the disease, 
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