If you think that sneezing on repeat is all there is to allergic rhinitis, wait ’til you hear about the health complications that may spring up from it. Repeatedly suffering from its symptoms can negatively affect your health as well as your overall quality of life.
But don’t worry, we’re not scaring you off. We just want to help you learn about the possible complications of allergic rhinitis so you can prevent them from happening.
Impacts on overall lifestyle
Constantly enduring allergic rhinitis can lead to a reduced quality of life. For one, a blocked or runny nose can result to difficulties in breathing making it harder to sleep in peace. This can particularly result to insomnia, daytime drowsiness, irritability, and troubles in concentration.
There’s also the possibility of your daily activities like working and doing chores getting spoiled because of repeating allergy symptoms.
Source: Texas Health Resources. (2018). Can Untreated Allergies Lead to Something More Serious
Development of Nasal Polyps
Some experts believe that repeatedly suffering from allergy symptoms like runny nose and sneezing can contribute to the formation of nasal polyps because they trigger nasal inflammations.
Nasal polyps are swellings that build up in the lining inside your nose or sinuses, the small cavities above and behind your nose. Some signs of nasal polyps include: a blocked nose, reduced sense of smell or taste, snoring, as well as nosebleeds.
These soft growths vary in size and can grow on their own or in clusters. And if not dealt with before they get big, or before they multiply in clusters, they can seriously interfere with your breathing. They can also block the sinuses, and ultimately cause sinusitis.
Source: United Kingdom National Health Service. (2017). Nasal Polyps
Sinusitis is also a risk
A common complication of allergic rhinitis, sinusitis occurs when the sinuses are constantly inflamed or infected.
The sinuses routinely produce mucus, which drains into our noses through small channels. However, if these drainage channels get blocked due to allergy symptoms or even nasal polyps, the mucus doesn’t get drained and the sinuses become infected.
Some sinusitis symptoms to watch out for are: a blocked nose, a runny nose, mucus that drips from the back of your nose down the throat, reduced sense of smell, feeling pressure or pain in the face, and snoring.
In addition to the breathing discomforts, sinusitis can also affect your sleeping patterns.
Did you know that it can affect your ears as well?
Because our ear, nose, and throat health go hand in hand, allergic rhinitis can be bad news for our ears as well.
Allergic rhinitis in particular causes a problem with the Eustachian tube, because allergies can cause this small draining tube inside our ears to become clogged with mucus and unable to let go of the liquid it’s holding.
A middle ear infection ensues when there’s fluid build-up in the ears. It may also come with a handful of serious complications such as: constant earaches, a high body temperature, feeling sick, and even slight hearing loss.
Source: United Kingdom National Health Service. (2019). Ear Infections
Fortunately, these are preventable.
These allergic rhinitis complications are actually treatable. But of course, better than cure, is prevention.
Addressing the symptoms of allergic rhinitis such as runny nose and sneezing on repeat can help avoid the progression of nasal polyps, sinusitis, and middle ear infections. Moreover, relieving the symptoms of allergy can help you live better without repeating interruptions.
Anti-histamine medicine like Cetirizine Dihydrochloride (Alnix) helps relieve allergy symptoms. Cetirizine Dihydrochloride (Alnix) gives fast-acting, all-day relief that starts working in as fast as 20 minutes. Nix allergy only with doctor-prescribed Cetirizine Dihydrochloride (Alnix).
CETIRIZINE DIHYDROCHLORIDE is the generic name of ALNIX.
If symptoms persist, consult your doctor.
ASC Ref. No. U092P090720AS
