allergies

What are allergies? The immune system is responsible for the identification and destruction of foreign substances that enters the body. Normally the immune system acts as the body's defense against disease-causing microorganisms and substances. However for some people, the immune system mistakes perfectly harmless substances for germs and in response, it releases certain compounds to destroy the perceived "enemy". This results to allergic reaction. Some people may show allergic reaction to one substance, but others may manifest allergic reaction to many substances which we call allergens.

Allergens may cause an allergic reaction when they come in contact with skin or the eye, when they are inhaled, eaten, or are injected. An allergic reaction can occur as part of a seasonal allergy (such as hay fever). Or an allergic reaction can be triggered by taking a drug, eating certain foods, or breathing in dust or animal dander.

signs and symptoms of allergies

Symptoms of allergies may include:

• Watery and itchy eye
• Runny nose,
• Sneezing (hayfever, rhinitis)
• Nasal congestion
• Swelling around the mouth, nose and throat
• Itchy skin
• Swelling of
• Rashes (inclding hives and eczema)
• Swelling of the skin
• Wheezing and coughing (asthma)
• Nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and abdominal pain
• Lowering of blood pressure
• Light headedness, weakness, and anaphylaxis
• Collapse or loss of conciousness
• In severe cases may cause death

 

types of allergies and what causes allergies

Food allergy. Allergy caused by eating allergenic foods that cause allergic reaction Food allergy may include:

• Peanuts
• Milk
• Wheat
• Wallnuts, pecans, etc
• Shellfish
• Soy
• Eggs

Medication Allergy. Allergy caused by taking medications that cause allergic reaction.

• Penicillin
• Allopurinol
• Sulfa antibiotics
• Nonsteroidal anti-inflamatory drugs (NSAIDS, such as asprin and ibuprofen)
• Muscle relaxants

Insect allergy. Allergy caused by insect bites that belongs to the Hymenoptera order of insects. Bites from insect that cause allergic reaction are from

• Bees
• Hornet
• Ants
• Wasps
• Yellow jackets

Latex allergy. Allergy caused by contact to latex materials. Common latex materials that cause allergic reaction are

• Rubber bands
• Carpet backing
• Hospital and dental equipment
• Rubber (latex) gloves
• Balloons
• Condoms

Exercise induced Anaphylaxis: Allergy due to exercise-induced Anaphylaxis develops allergic reaction after doing some strenuous exercise

Allergic Conjunctivitis and Eye allergy. Allergic reaction is usually caused by pollen, house dust mites and animal dander

Hay Fever . Hay fever, asthma and eczema are all related allergy conditions and the tendency to develop them runs in families. Most people with hay fever have allergic reaction to grass and oilseed rape pollens, which appear from April to August each year. People who are sensitive to pollen from hazel, yew, elm and alder may develop allergy symptoms from January to April, and people allergic to nettles and other weeds can be affected from April to mid-September.

Allergic Rhinitis. Allergic reaction is caused by exposure to house-dust mite, but there are others, including allergens from animals such as cats, dogs, and horses. Certain foods, drugs and chemicals can also trigger allergic reaction.

allergy testing and diagnosis

1. First step is to determine if the reaction is allergic. This is usually done by a doctor.
2. Establish if there are other members of the family or close relatives that have allergy
3. Blood test for eosinophils - a white blood cell produced during allergy attack
4. Identify possible allergens that may have triggered the allergic reaction
5. History of recent contacts or intake (eating, drinking or injection) of possible allergens that may have triggered the allergic reaction.
6. Skin prick test - solution of allergen is dropped to the skin and then pricked by a needle. The formation of wheal (elevated swelling) and flare (surrounding the wheal of well defined redness) within 15 to 20 minutes would give a positive allergic reaction. Allergen solution may also be injected to provide a more detailed result.

Radioallergosorbent test (RAST) is used when skin tests to trigger allergic reaction cannot be used-for example, when a skin rash is widespread

What is Acne

acne is a common skin disorder normally found on the face and the upper torso. Acne is a cause of embarrassment to most people but it is seldom serious. Acne is caused by an interaction between hormones, skin oils, and bacteria that results in the inflammation of the hair follicles.

Majority of the cases of acne responds pretty well with personal care. With combination of personal hygiene, over-the-counter acne treatments and alternative remedies, you may have a clearer and fairer skin.

Acne may be in the form of pimples, cysts and sometimes abscesses. Cysts and abscesses are pus-filled pockets of skin where the hair follicles grow. Hair follicles are connected to the sebaceous gland that are located in the middle layer of the skin or the dermis, these glands secretes an oily substance called sebum that the body uses to keep the skin from drying.

What are the symptoms of Acne

There are 2 major categorization of symptoms of acne

Mild acnes.

Symptoms of mild acne are mostly superficial, the symptoms of mild acne are characterized with the development of few noninflammed blackheads or a moderate number of small mildly irritated pimples.

Symptoms of acne includes blackheads which appear as tiny black dots at the center of the small swelling of normal colored skin.

Another symptom of acne is called pimples. Pimples on the other hand have white centers surrounded with moderately reddened skin. Pimples are moderately uncomfortable and irritating. Mild acnes usually go away after treatment and rarely leaves scars on the skin.

Severe acne.

Symptoms of acne that is categorized as severe acne include several large, red, painful pus-filled lumps (nodules) that develops on the skin. These symptoms of acne are usually deep and cystic. At times these lumps join together under the skin forming a giant lump where it ruptures and oozes abscesses. Severe acnes usually leaves scar in the skin depending on the depth of the acne. Scars maybe tiny deep holes (ice pick scars), wide pits of varying depths or large irregular identations. Scars resulting from severe acnes lasts a lifetime. To some people this is cosmetically disturbing and a source of psychologic stress.

What are the causes of Acne

Skin Pore Blockage can cause acne.

One cause of acne is the blockage of skin oil secretions (sebum) that normally pass out of the skin through the hair follicles and then through the skin pores together with dead skin cells.

The clogged skin pore is one of the primary cause of acne, this is when the pore of the skin is clogged with dried sebum, dead skin cells and bacteria.

There are two types of blockage that is the cause of acne;

1. Black Head (open comedone)- this is a cause of acne as black head develops as the dried sebum, dead skin cells and bacteria partially blocks the pore of the skin.
2. White Head (closed comedone)- this is a cause of acne as white heads develop when the dried sebum, dead skin cells and bacteria completely blocks the pore of the skin.

In both instances, the blockage of the skin pore promotes the growth of bacteria propionibacterium acne which is normally present in the hair follicles and a cause of acne. When this happens the bacterial growth breaks down the sebum creating a substance irritating the skin. The resulting irritation inflames the skin resulting to skin eruptions called acne pimples. When irritation worsens, an abscess will form causing skin rupture, resulting to more inflammation.

Cosmetic use can also be the cause of acne. Cosmetics blocks the skin pores preventing the flow of oils and dead skin cells from the skin. This becomes the cause of acne.

Hormones can cause of acne

Increase in hormone levels is also considered as a cause of acne. Hormone imbalance aggravate the development of acne. That is why most teenagers suffer more from acne. But as the hormone level stabilizes by mid 20's acne usually disappears. Other conditions that involves hormonal changes such as menstrual periods and during pregnancies may also be the cause of acne. The taking of oral contraceptives and menopausal hormone replacement therapy may also be a cause of acne.

Drugs can also be a cause of acne

Certain drugs such as corticosteroids and anabolic steroids can also be a cause of acne pimples. These drugs stimulate the sebaceous glands secreting more oil or sebum. When these oil or sebum are blocked this may be the cause of acne.

Others causes of acne

Other cause of acne maybe exposure to sunlight, stress and other skin irritants that continuously comes in contact with the skin.

Home Remedy for Acne

There are a few things that can be done to home remedy acne flare ups

Home Remedy Acne Care 1: Stay Clean and fresh. Acne care may be done by washing gently your skin with mild soap. Avoid strong cleansers and heavy scrubbing, this causes the skin and acne to be further irritated leaving your skin more vulnerable to the side effects of topical acne treatments. Rather use soaps that do not contain moisturizing oils that may not be washed off by water and would clog your skin pores.

For acne care, it is unnecessary to use special and more expensive facial cleansers that contain special medication against acne. Special facial cleansers used for acne care may be washed off by water anyway upon rinsing. Wash your face at least three times a day to remove excess oil and dirt for best acne care and prevention.

Home Remedy Acne Care 2: Another home remedy for acne care is to use minimal makeup and avoid those that are oil based cosmetics. Look at the labels and select those that are water-based. Some skins are easily irritated even with minimal make-ups that cause blemishes and acne breakouts. For best acne care, choose cosmetics that would not irritate your skin then remove makeup as soon as possible, most importantly before retiring to bed.

Home Remedy Acne Care 3: Avoid frequent and continous contact to your face. Try not to touch your face frequently with your hands as this may transfer germs to your face and may cause further infection of your acne. Also avoid prolonged contact with other things such as cradling telephone between your head and shoulder.

Home Remedy Acne Care 4: Poke prudently. Generally for proper acne care, dermatologists discourage the squeezing of blackheads and popping the whiteheads. These practices usually results to scarring. But who doesn't, most people can't simply resist to poke their acne or pimples, if you will do, make sure that your face and your hands are clean. Making sure that you will at least dab it with rubbing alcohol before and after to keep it disinfected.

Nutrition and Acne - Foods for Acne Free Face

Good Nutrition and eating a healthy diet is the key to effective acne care. Eating a healthy diet rich in fiber is commonly known to help maintain a clear and acne free skin. Although there is no medical study done as yet to prove the relation of diet and acne, eating a healthy diet rich in fiber brings more good to a person generally.

For best acne care and avoidance, do not eat too much meat and processed foods. Increase your intake of whole grains, vegetables, and fruits. Drink a lot of water.

Chololates can cause Acne - Myth busted. Chocolate has been blamed for acne. "The chocolate myth has been very persistent," says Alan P. Bauer, M.D. "After all these years I still hear it." In fact, the chocolate myth about acne was debunked about a half-century ago. Back then, Albert M. Kligman, M.D, professor of dermatology at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, gave a group of teens either real chocolate bars of "placebo" bars that only tasted like chocolate. Later, Dr. Kligman photographed the teens' faces and counted the acne blemishes that had developed. The teens who had eaten the placebo bars got virtually the same number of acne blemishes as the teens who had eaten the real chocolate. (Excerpt from Blended Medicine-The Best Choices of Healing, Michael Castleman, 2000)

Vitamin and Mineral Supplements for Acne Free

Take your Vitamins and Mineral Supplements.

1.      Zinc : Studies have suggested that a dose of zinc may help control the break-out of acne. Zinc works by reducing the levels of male sex hormone dihydrotestorone (DHT) in our body. By lowering the hormone androgen, acne breakouts are lessened. Zinc intake more than 30mg per day should be under medical supervision.

2.      Aloevera soft gel

3.      Lecithin

4.      Herbal soaps  such as:

-          Organo gold G-3 soap,

-           BF suma anatic herbal essence soap

-          CNI beauty soap

-          Green life G soap

Sleep Deprivation

For many of us, sleep is the sweet balm that soothes and restores us after a long day of work and play.  It is a naturally recurring state characterized by reduced or absent consciousness, relatively suspended sensory activity, and inactivity of nearly all voluntary muscles. Sleep is a heightened anabolic state, accentuating the growth and rejuvenation of the immune, nervous, skeletal and muscular systems.

A healthy adult requires 7.5 to 9 hours of sleep daily to be able to function best throughout the day.

Average Sleep Needs by Age
Newborn to 2 months old	12 – 18 hrs
3 months to 1 year old	14 – 15 hrs
1 to 3 years old	12 – 14 hrs
3 to 5 years old	11 – 13 hrs
5 to 12 years old	10 – 11 hrs
12 to 18 years old	8.5 – 10 hrs
Adults (18+)	7.5 – 9 hrs

According to the National Institutes of Health, the average adult sleeps less than seven hours per night. In today’s fast-paced society, six or seven hours of sleep may sound pretty good. In reality, though, it’s a recipe for chronic sleep deprivation.

There is a big difference between the amount of sleep you can get by on and the amount you need to function optimally. Just because you’re able to operate on seven hours of sleep doesn’t mean you wouldn’t feel a lot better and get more done if you spent an extra hour or two in bed.

The best way to figure out if you’re meeting your sleep needs is to evaluate how you feel as you go about your day. If you’re logging enough hours, you’ll feel energetic and alert all day long, from the moment you wake up until your regular bedtime.

Sleep plays a vital role in good health and well-being throughout your life. Getting enough quality sleep at the right times can help protect your mental health, physical health, quality of life, and safety.

The way you feel while you’re awake depends in part on what happens while you’re sleeping. During sleep, your body is working to support healthy brain function and maintain your physical health. In children and teens, sleep also helps support growth and development.

The damage from sleep deficiency can occur in an instant (such as a car crash), or it can harm you over time. For example, ongoing sleep deficiency can raise your risk for some chronic health problems. It also can affect how well you think, react, work, learn, and get along with others.

Sleep deprivation is the condition of not having enough sleep either because of reduced total sleep time or fragmentation of sleep by brief arousals, it can be either chronic or acute. A chronic sleep-restricted state can cause fatigue, daytime sleepiness, clumsiness and weight loss or weight gain. It adversely  affects the brain and cognitive function. Acute sleep deprivation refers to no sleep or a reduction in the usual total sleep time, usually lasting one or two days.

There are many causes of sleep deprivation, voluntary or involuntary;

-          The stresses of daily life may intrude upon our ability to sleep well, or perhaps we trade sleep for more work or play.

-          We may have medical or mental health conditions that disrupt our sleep, and be well aware that we are sleep deprived.

-          Most people actually think they are training their body systems by reducing the amount of hours they sleep. This is actually not true; depriving your body of optimum sleep significantly affects your health, performance and safety.

Generally sleep deprivation may result in;

• Aching muscle
• Confusion, memory lapses or loss
• Depression
• Hallucination
• Hand tremor
• Headaches
• Malaise
• Sensitivity to cold
• Bags under eyes
• Increased blood pressure
• Increased stress hormone levels
• Increased risk of diabetes
• Increased risk of fibromyalgia (Chronic widespread pain and a heightened and painful response to pressure)
• Irritability
• Rapid involuntary rhythmic eye movement
• Obesity
• Temper tantrums in children
• Constant yawning
• Symptoms similar to:
• Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
• Psychosis
• One of the possible side effects of a continued lack of sleep is death. Usually this is the result of the fact that the immune system is weakened without sleep.

Some people use the following strategies to cope, but this may provide short term benefit to reduce the effects of sleep deprivation. They are not long term solution, however and they may not restore alertness and performance to non-sleep deprived levels;

• Caffeine
• Sleep prior to deprivation
• Naps during deprivation
• Caffeine and a nap
• Other stimulants

The only sure way for an individual to overcome sleep deprivation is to increase nightly sleep time to satisfy his or her biological sleep need; there is no substitute for sufficient sleep.

It is advisable to see your healthcare professional when you realize that you are not getting enough sleep (which could be as a result of an underlying health issue) or not well rested despite the recommended hours of sleep. There are sleep aids and medications that could help relax you and they include;

 - organo gold  hot chocolates
- lecithin
- anti- stress with  zinc