10-4 Magazine - For Today's Trucker

FIGHTING THE ACHOO! BLUES
By Nurse Practitioner Norma Stephens Hannigan

Glorious spring is here! This fact is especially delightful for those of us who have battled the snow and frigid temperatures of another harsh winter. The days grow longer and fuller of light and warmth... and pollen. For the person who suffers from seasonal allergies, spring, with its lovely blossoms, blooms and carpets of grass, can be torture.

WHAT IS AN ALLERGY?
The most common name for seasonal allergy is “hay fever”. Since many people are allergic to the pollens that are in the air during summertime baling of hay, it’s likely that the term “hay fever” became popular to describe the symptoms that accompany the allergy. Allergy is not fever, though, and is not limited to summer or hay. Fever and sore throat might accompany a viral cold, but it usually lasts only a week or two. One clue to distinguish between cold and allergy is fever—allergies do not have fever as a symptom—and sore throat. The sore throat that accompanies an allergy often is present in the morning but gone after the person is up and around. Sore throat that is associated with a cold probably will last all day and night. A person may have an allergy to other pollens besides hay such as foods, medications, plants (poison ivy, for example) or even metals.

Our immune systems have been cleverly designed to assist the body in fighting off invading bacteria, viruses, and parasites—organisms that are truly evil enemies. Several different types of cells are rapidly released and rush to defend the body at the time of invasion. For example, if you have a cut and bacteria enter it, white blood cells and other immune system cells gather in the area to eat up the bacteria. As they accumulate, an abscess (boil) may form; the area becomes red and hot and fills with pus and we are aware there is an infection. The infection is localized in this way and doesn’t overwhelm the entire body. We drain the abscess and the infection is cured.

Allergy is a case of mistaken identity, however. For some reason which is not fully understood, when substances that are not truly harmful to the body come along, like pollen, this same army of enemy battling soldiers rushes in to fend off the invaders. The body remains on high alert all the time. Besides trying to fight the infection, this variety of cells causes inflammation, itching of the nose, skin, throat, roof of the mouth and eyes, sneezing, an increase in mucous production and increased tearing of the eyes. These responses vary from person to person. In other words, some people will only have a little sneezing, while others may have a severe reaction which disturbs breathing resulting in asthma. To put it another way, you may have allergy or ALLERGY!

HOW CAN YOU PREVENT ALLERGY?
No one knows for sure how to prevent allergies. Many allergies run in families. Some of that has to do with genes that you inherit from your parents and some has to do with what’s in your environment. One of the theories about development of allergies is the “hygiene theory”. Normally, when a bacteria or virus invades the body, the immune system produces antibodies that recognize the invader and prevent it from harming the body if it is exposed to that same virus or bacteria in the future. An example of this is chicken pox. Most people, once they have had chicken pox, do not get it again if they have contact with someone who is sick with chicken pox because their antibodies protect them. According to the hygiene theory, the overuse of antibiotics may contribute to allergy development because the body’s own natural infection fighting cells are not allowed to do their job. They get confused, therefore, when different substances enter the body they begin to fight off everything, including substances that are not really harmful (like pollen).

Children who grow up on farms tend to have fewer allergies, probably because when they are exposed to microorganisms that are harmful, their immune systems produce antibodies (fighters) against them and their bodies are able to distinguish between the really bad stuff and the okay stuff, like pollen, and leave the pollen alone. In the industrialized nations, overuse of chemicals that kill germs may be contributing to increasing allergies also. More careful use of antibiotics and household cleaning products might eventually decrease the amount of allergy we are seeing now.

So, although we don’t know right now of a way to prevent allergies, we can prevent allergy symptoms. Some folks have allergies all year round. Dust mites are a good example of perennial, or year round, allergies. The excrement of the mites that live in the dust are actually what make you miserable, not the dust itself. If those allergies are bothersome, then medicine every day might be in order. If you see that there is a seasonal pattern to your symptoms, speak with your health care provider about using some medicines before the season gets into high gear.

TRUCKER CONCERNS
What’s tricky for truckers is that they travel all over the country and different pollens are in the air at different times. Luckily, there are now allergy medicines taken by mouth that don’t cause drowsiness for most people. Some of them are sold without prescription, over the counter—just ask the pharmacist. If you are one of the unfortunate ones who does get sleepy even when taking the “non-drowsy” medication, there are also nasal sprays and eye drops that go directly to the source of the problem. Some of the nasal sprays should be started before the allergy season has actually begun because they need a few weeks to work at full power. For this type of medication, a prescription will be necessary.

Although seasonal allergies are rarely life threatening, they can make life so miserable that you can’t sleep, can’t work and can’t breathe (not a good state of health to be in as you drive your rig down the road). Planning ahead can allow you to get enough anti-allergy medicine on board so that you can keep going without sneezing yourself cross country.

~Norma Stephens Hannigan is a Family Nurse Practitioner with many years of experience treating truckers. She writes from her home in Hoboken, NJ.