I don't know how many of you have heard about allergic rhinitis in their life. If you did, then you know how sneaky this disease can be when it comes to diagnosing it in early stages of evolution.
Briefly, allergic rhinitis is a condition which interests mostly the eyes and the upper part of the respiratory system. The symptoms can differ from one patient to another, but they include running, teary eyes, sensation of sand in the eyes, redness of sclerotics, running and itchy nose, long cascades of sneezing, and sometimes dry cough which persists for more than one month.
I found an article on Medline Plus which explains all these much better than I'm able to do: read it here.
What I want to say: because it looks so much like a common cold, allergic rhinitis is usually diagnosed very late, after months or even years of struggle with the embarrassing symptoms. Let's take the dust mite allergies situation, when you go to the theater, and your allergic rhinitis is triggered by the dust: many times I just had to leave before the play ended, because I was sneezing and coughing continuously, disturbing the actors and the other spectators with my noises. If only I knew that some OTC antihistamine medication would have solved my problem, allowing me to enjoy the theater!
But I was diagnosed very late. Besides, I had to suffer all kinds of treatments for other respiratory diseases (which I did not suffer from). These treatments interacted with my undiscovered disease, triggering even more severe allergic reactions from my poor immune system, which was troubled like hell.
as an advice to all of you who may be reading this: listen to the old lady and go to the doctor for every cough or cold which lasts longer than one week, or which recurs every month or so. Ask for specific allergy tests - they do not hurt and they will help doctors sort out your case much faster.
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