Allergic Rhinitis

Treatment of allergic rhinitis is aimed mainly at reducing the severity and frequency of attacks.

Methods of management can be divided into :

Environmental Control

Changes to the living environment will have to be made to avoid the allergens that trigger attacks. For example, frequent cleaning of living areas and replacing items such as carpets or stuffed toys may reduce the amount of exposure to dust mites in the house.

Medical Therapy

Medical therapy is directed at controlling symptoms and reducing the allergic response.

In cases where symptoms are intermittent, antihistamines may be prescribed. Where attacks are frequent, a nasal steroid may also be added. Nasal steroids are widely used because they are effective for long-term control of symptoms and are safe for long-term use as they have a topical action and very little of the steroid actually gets absorbed by the body.

Surgical therapy. Surgical therapy may be useful where there are anatomical abnormalities such as a deviated nasal septum, or inferior turbinate hypertrophy.

Surgery may improve the symptoms of congestion and blockage, but may not have any impact on the other symptoms such as runny nose or itchy eyes. Nasal steroids may still have to be used to control these symptoms.

Immunotherapy

It is also suitable for a select group of people with severe, prolonged symptoms that do not respond to conventional therapy.

In immunotherapy, the body’s immune system is modulated to reduce the response to the allergen, thus reducing the severity of symptoms. This is a slow process and will require injections or self-administered drops taken regularly over a period of 1 to 3 years.