Clean indoor air will help your family breathe easy in a healthier home.

(ARA) – It’s one thing to live in a well-kept home, but is it also a healthy place to live? While your home may look sparkling clean to the eye, there are a number of invisible factors that can seriously affect the health of your entire family, and even contribute to a heart attack or stroke. Chief among them is the quality of the air your family breathes while indoors.

Up to 72 trillion microscopic irritants, or allergens, find their way into your home every day. They include dust, pollen, pet hair and dander, dust mites, mildew, lint, fungus, tobacco smoke, cooking grease and bacteria. Many of these particles are so small that your nose and throat can’t filter them out and they can get deep into your lungs.

The Environmental Protection Agency, American Lung Association and American Heart Association all agree that exposure to airborne particles impairs breathing and increases the risk of asthma attack, stroke, heart attack and other serious illnesses. These fine particles enter your home through doors, windows or small openings in frames, walls and roofs. They stem from various sources outside including fossil fuel burning in vehicles and manufacturing plants, and from activities inside such as smoking or cooking.

No matter how hard you scrub and dust, your family can still breathe in tiny little particles that can aggravate allergies and asthma, and even affect the heart. However, it is possible to have a cleaner, healthier and comfier home. American Standard Heating & Air Conditioning has compiled a list of simple steps to help your family breathe easier.

1. Clean your home’s air.
Start with the basics by installing an effective and proven whole-home air cleaner. For example, studies show that the American Standard AccuClean(TM) whole-home air filtration system may help prevent an asthma attack, heart attack or stroke. With the highest clean air delivery rate in the industry, its patented air cleaning technology eliminates allergens and particles you don’t want in your home, such as dust, pollen, bacteria, pet dander, mold spores, smoke and the common flu virus.

2. Control humidity.
Keep a relative humidity of 30 to 50 percent for optimal comfort and to control irritants like mildew. Controlling your household humidity can also kill dust mites, one of the most common allergens. Having a humidifier or variable-speed fan technology as part of your HVAC system can help you take control of your humidity.

3. Repair damages.
Have your HVAC system components, including furnaces, flues and chimneys, inspected before each heating and cooling season to repair any damages, holes or cracks. In addition to repairing your equipment, a certified HVAC dealer can inspect and clean your system’s parts and pieces, ensuring they perform at optimal efficiency. It’s not just your HVAC system — it is equally important to maintain the other components of your home that impact indoor air quality including the roof, foundation and insulation.

By taking these simple steps you can ensure that you and your family won’t be breathing indoor air full of contaminants and, ultimately, you’ll all breathe easier. For more information on how to breathe easier at home or to locate an American Standard Heating & Air Conditioning dealer near you, visit www.americanstandardair.com.

Courtesy of ARAcontent

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When you work in the health care profession you may have discovered a rash on your hands when you wear latex gloves. This is not just dry skin it is usually a latex allergy that caused it. A latex allergy is very uncomfortable, especially if you wear gloves often throughout your day. If you do have a latex allergy you may find that anywhere you touch on your body after taking off gloves that contain latex will break out, leaving you feeling very uncomfortable. After a few days without contact with the latex gloves you will soon start to heal and your rash will disappear. There are more severe cases where the symptoms are much more severe so it basically depends on how much you are allergic to latex to see the symptoms as mild to severe.

If you do not work in the health profession, you may realize that you have a latex allergy when you go to visit the doctor. If he or she uses latex gloves and you begin to break out or have other allergy symptoms shortly after your doctor’s visit you may want to contact your doctor to let him or her know. Depending on the severity of you latex allergy he or she may recommend that you come right back in to see them or you may be recommended to take Benedryl or another antihistamine blocker until the latex allergy reaction is over. From now on you will need to tell a doctor about your latex allergy before your examination to avoid another latex allergy reaction. You can not only come in contact with latex but did you know you can also inhale latex?

So you don’t necessarily need to be in the medical profession in order to have a latex allergy. There are other products that contain latex and you may very well find that you have a latex allergy to them as well. Ask your doctor for a list of products that you should avoid to prevent a latex allergy. He or she may have a list that has been made so you can avoid another latex allergy. Some of the symptoms you may notice include sneezing, watery eyes, coughing, breaking out in hives, having trouble breathing. These are just general symptoms and not always the symptoms specifically for a latex allergy.

What you need to avoid

Some of the most common products that contain latex are in your home. You may have had a latex allergy for a while now and the symptoms have been mild enough that you passed them off as seasonal allergies. Some of the products you may need to avoid include: carpet, waistbands on clothes, all purpose dishwashing gloves, disposable diapers and sanitary pads. At work you may use rubber bands and erasers which also contain latex. Other items include condoms; handle bar handgrips from bikes and motorcycles, racket handles, goggles for swimming, condoms, and Diaphragms. These are only a few of the products you may find to have latex in them which will cause latex allergy.

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There are numerous types of allergies that can affect you, and thus there are also numerous allergy treatments available and since allergies affect people regardless of their age, it is therefore very necessary to be able to identify whether you have an allergy or not so that you can then get the best allergy treatment possible, and to enable you to do this, you need to be able to get pertinent information about allergies that will help you to understand your condition as well as how best to treat it.

Learn About What Food Allergy Is All About

Thus, whether you have a food allergy or some other type of allergy, it is only through information about allergies that you can understand that a food allergy is some sort of reaction from within your immune system that rejects certain types of foods that you have eaten. Furthermore, you will also learn that about two percent of adults are known to suffer from food allergies while the percentage in case of children is six percent. What’s more, from available information about allergies you can learn that foods such as milk, nuts, eggs, soybeans, and shellfish as too peanuts can cause people to become allergic to these foods.

Some people also suffer from dog allergies and thus they would benefit from reading up about information about allergies related to dogs, which will help shed more light on this form of allergy which is very frustrating to the affected person and which also affects their health. The problem is further compounded in case you have dog allergy but are passionate about dogs and love owning them. In fact, information about allergies will reveal to you that dog allergies are reactions to dander that comes from dogs and that anyone can become allergic to dogs.

You may also want to learn more about allergy asthma and here again you would benefit from information about allergies that shows that such form of asthma is a combination of being allergic as well as having asthma. In case, you do suffer from allergy asthma, you will certainly feel miserable though it is also not so well known that allergies themselves can cause a person to suffer from asthma, and in reality, about sixty percent of those who have suffered from asthma also already had allergies related to asthma.

There no doubts the fact that having an allergy is sure to be very uncomfortable and it will affect your daily routine and it can even play havoc with your sleeping habits. Thus, having information about allergies available will prove to be very useful and helpful as it will help identify your symptoms in good time and thus make timely treatment a reality sooner rather than later.

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What Herbs are right to use

Herbs for allergies have a lot of healing affects toward some conditions, including. If you suffer from allergies, the long term affect of taking a prescription medication can mean irreversible damage to something in your body. When using herbs for allergies, you know that because it is natural there are no long term affects to it. The only bad problem with using herbs is the fact that you can overdose your self and that can cause bad consequences. In order to decide which herbs for allergies to take, here is a short example of what some herbs for allergies will do.

Mint can relieve sore or itchy throats
Mullberry Root Bark can relieve a cough
Chrysanthemum can help to relieve red eyes
Cassia Seed can get rid of itchy eyes
Angelica Dahurica can help with nasal congestion

Each herbs for allergies heal in a different way and therefore you can use several herbs to treat your symptoms. Some herbs cannot be used the same time as other herbs are used. They will need to work alone. With the help and assistance of the person owning the store and your doctor you should be able to find the right herbs for allergies fast.

If you have allergies due to something you come in contact with, such as milk, latex or pets, you may need to avoid these things all together in order to prevent an allergic reaction. Using herbs for allergies is not always right for everyone but you won’t know until you try. It is much easier to run to the store to purchase anything but herbs for allergies but in the long run, the man made medicines that are available over the counter can make it difficult for the body to fight infections and conditions, including other allergies.

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What Is Gluten?

Gluten is a form of protein that is common in wheat, barley and rye. It is actually a good form of protein that can help in achieving the daily protein RDA of many people. It just so happens that some people who do need gluten are allergic to it. This form of protein can be extracted from the mass by exposing the flour to cold water. The flour tends to dissolve in water while the gluten does not. This process will leave a gummy mass of almost 90% gluten.

Manifestations Of Gluten Allergy Symptoms

There are actually many different gluten allergy symptoms and some are even similar to some diseases or disorders, such as celiac disease. If you have doubts about having gluten allergy symptoms or celiac disease symptoms, it is best to have a test performed to diagnose what you are suffering from.

Some of the more common gluten allergy symptoms are some skin allergy symptoms, fatigue, anemia due to iron deficiency, diarrhea, weight loss, constipation, irritability and more. As you can see, the gluten allergy symptoms are varied and not as common as most allergic reactions. A skin test can help determine if you are experiencing gluten allergy symptoms or another disorder. Other doctors might need a blood sample for testing to be better able to diagnose your condition.

In mild cases of gluten allergy symptoms, the elimination of gluten from the diet is not entirely necessary. You just might have to reduce the exposure of gluten to the individual suffering from gluten allergy symptoms but for those who have experienced severe reactions to gluten, elimination of this form of protein from the diet may be necessary.

When you are confirmed to have gluten allergy symptoms, the doctor might recommend elimination of gluten from your diet. In cases like this, you will need to address the problem of having a source of essential vitamins and minerals eliminated from your diet as well. Supplementation is needed for those who do not ingest gluten so they will still be able to meet the recommended daily allowance of certain minerals and vitamin such as iron, thiamine, riboflavin to name a few.

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Most Common Causes

Although a person could really be allergic to any food, there are a few in particular that are especially common for causing problems here. This includes milk, eggs, peanuts, soy, wheat, fish, and tree nuts, to name a few. Most people are diagnosed with food allergies when they are a young child because this is when it is usually first noticed, but many people do not realize that they have food allergies until they are a grown adult.

Why it Happens

Many people wonder how and why allergies actually occur, especially when the condition relates to food. Basically food allergies happen when a person’s immune system mistakenly believes that something the person ate is harmful to the body. As a result it begins to produce certain IgE antibodies to that food, one of these chemicals being histamine. This is the antibody that has the most effect on the body, including causing the eyes and nose to water and itch and the throat to get dry and parched.

Treatment

Of course the most effective method of treatment for food allergies is to avoid the offending food. This can be difficult however and so there are other treatment methods that can be implemented here, including medication. Medication is not able to cure the underlying food allergy which will most likely be with the person for the rest of their life, but it can help to provide relief of the symptoms experienced as a result of it.

There are some people who are only allergic to one type of food and others who are allergic to numerous different foods. It can take a lifetime to determine all the foods that a person is allergic to, especially since chances are that there are certain foods that they have not yet tried.

Working together with a doctor is very important here, especially for those people who are dealing with serious food allergies. The doctor will want to keep an eye on their condition and make sure that allergies is the only thing the person is suffering with and that there is nothing more serious at play here.

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What About FDA Definition Of Food Allergies?

If you are looking for a FDA definition of food allergies, there is none yet. However, you have the order of the FDA dated January 1, 2006 stating that all the food products that contain any type of allergenic elements should be clearly mentioned on the label. This order is reinforcing an older Act, i.e. Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act which was passed in the year 2004 which dictates that names of such foods or elements that could create allergic reactions – such as soy beans, crab, shrimp, any type shell fish, dairy products, eggs, peanuts, and so on be mentioned under a separate head, “contains”.

There might not be an FDA definition of food allergies but the existing laws are quite effective in alerting people who suffer from any type of food allergies to understand the risk of consuming what they are planning to buy.  The labels of these food products do not only mention the contents but also the source of the allergen. In this way, even if the person does not recognize the food or element in isolation, they would recognize it from the source.

For example, let us say you are allergic to whey or casein and these ingredients are mentioned on the label but pass your scrutiny. However, when the label would say ‘contains dairy’ as warranted by the law, you would definitely take notice of it and avoid this product and the time you would have had to fight the allergy.

The danger of developing food allergy is about 2% in adults and about 6% in children in USA and the numbers are increasing, not decreasing. Therefore, the new rule of FDA is helping a lot in preventing more casualties from allergies caused by food. Even if a FDA definition of food allergies is not there, this institution is doing a great job in blocking all the possibilities for this to happen.

The application and enactment of the recent laws by FDA work better than if there was a simple FDA definition of food allergies. In this case it is more important to have laws that protect than spread awareness regarding the dangers of allergies triggered by food.

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Allergic Eye Conditions

There are actually a few different conditions of eye allergies. One of the most common conditions here is known as allergic conjunctivitis which is usually seasonal and associated with hay fever. There are certain things that a person can do in order to avoid getting this particular condition of eye allergies, and in particular it is important to try to identify and avoid the allergens that are causing the symptoms.

In terms of treatment there are a few effective options here. For one there are several different types of eye drops that are available and which are usually very successful at treating the symptoms associated with allergic conjunctivitis. It is also often helpful if the person puts a cold washcloth over their eyes for relief or to use lubricating eye drops.

Conjunctivitis with atopic dermatitis is another of the most common eye allergies conditions, and this condition is a well known cause of severe eye changes and particularly so in young adults. This is an inflammation of the transparent membrane that lines the eyelid, and can be incredibly painful never mind frustrating.

The inflammation here results in causing small blood vessels in the conjunctiva to become more prominent which gives it the pink look. There are certain things that a person can do in order to find relief from this eye allergies condition including using antibiotic eye drops. The viral forms of conjunctivitis cannot be treated with eye drops or ointments, but rather the sufferer will have to use an over the counter remedy of some sort in order to relieve the symptoms.

The best way for a person to avoid all allergic reactions, of the eyes and other, is to stay as clean as possible and more than anything this means washing the hands on a regular basis. Not touching the eyes with the hands, washing hands frequently, changing pillowcases often, discarding eye cosmetics after a few months, and not using anyone else’s cosmetics or personal eye care items – all of these are great tips to preventing allergies. Also keep in mind that newborns are particularly susceptible to allergic reactions and so the parent needs to keep an eye out for these at all times.

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About Zyban

Zyban is a prescription strength medicine that was originally used to treat depression but which is now most commonly used as a smoking cessation treatment method. The Zyban tablets contain the active ingredient bupropion hydrochloride which is a medicine that is used to help people who are dependent on nicotine to give up their smoking habit.

Zyban Allergy Reaction

The possibility of a Zyban allergy reaction is actually quite high, but it can be reduced by doing a few things. For one, any patient that is considering starting on this medication needs to make sure that they tell their doctor if they have a seizure disorder, an eating disorder, take other medications, have had serious head injury, use cover the counter diet aids, or have diabetes which is treated with insulin or other medications.

There are also a few other precautions that should be taken in order to avoid a Zyban allergy reaction including avoiding drinking any alcohol. This is important because it is best to avoid all alcohol while taking this medication. It is important that anyone even just considering this drug discuss their use of alcohol with their doctor before starting on it.

It is important persons taking this drug understand that it is specially designed to release the drug gradually into the body. People need to make sure that they only take the recommended dose prescribed by their doctor even if the medication itself has different suggestions.

There are certain side effects that are typically related to a Zyban allergy reaction, and this includes a skin rash or difficulty in breathing. If this happens the person needs to discontinue taking the medication immediately and seek medical help. Rash with a fever or joint pain may also be signs of an allergic reaction and if left untreated can even be potentially life threatening.

Although very rare, there have been cases of hallucinations that have been reported with use of this medication and this is a very serious side effect. Any troublesome side effects experienced by persons taking this medication should be discussed with their doctor immediately, who will be able to determine whether or not the person should continue taking the drug. Also patients should keep in mind that they will most likely need feel any positive effects within the first week or so of taking the drug, and possibly not even until more than a month later.

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Autism

There is insufficient information that makes a connection of autism and sulfa allergy. There is a lack of data that suggests that people with autism are more likely to have sulfa allergies or would have more serious sulfa allergy reactions when compared to the rest of the population. There is also a lack of evidence regarding a connection between parents who have sulfa allergies and the increased chances of having a child with autism. Regarding autism and sulfa allergy, caregivers of autistic people should follow the advice given by the physician regarding which medications to avoid and how to treat the symptoms. Autism and sulfa allergy has not been extensively researched.

Sulfur, sulfates as well as sulfites are typically not strongly related to sulfamethoxazole and usually will not cause negative reactions in patients who have been diagnosed with sulfa allergy. Numerous medications are slightly related to sulfamethoxazole including some types of diuretics, oral diabetes medicines as well as some types of anti-inflammatory medications which might not cause an adverse reaction to people with a sulfa allergy however it’s a good idea to check with your physician before you take these types of medications.

There are other types of medications that have names that don’t sound like they are related to sulfamethoxazole, so if you are a caregiver for an autistic person and you are concerned about autism and sulfa allergy, check with your doctor regarding the various medications that are related to sulfamethoxazole. Some people with sulfa allergies only avoid medicines that contain the prefix sul or the prefix sulfa but this is a wrong approach to determining which types of drugs to avoid.

Sulfa Allergy

The condition known as sulfa allergy is sometimes incorrectly used to categorize all negative reactions people have to medicines that contain sulfonamide. Sulfa allergic reactions are basically due to hypersensitivity mechanisms. Only about three percent of people who take sulfonamide antibiotics have actual hypersensitivity type of reactions. Regarding autism and sulfa allergy there is no information about the percentage of autistic people who have a sulfa allergy.

Maculopapular rashes as well as urticarial rashes are the most prevalent symptoms for people with sulfa allergies. They typically happen during the first week of drug therapy and are usually eliminated seven to fourteen days after you have stopped using the medications. Some people have more severe dermatologic allergic reactions such as Stevens-Johnson syndrome a swell as toxic epidermal necrolysis; however they are not very common. Some patients have experienced adverse reactions such as drug fever, vasculitis, serum sickness, hepatitis, hemolytic anemia as well as nehpritis. Regarding autism and sulfa allergy, ask for some advice from your physician if you are a caregiver for a person who is autistic.

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