Tips for Preventing Allergic Reactions During the Holidays

Allergy sufferers need to take precautions during the holidays to avoid a potentially intense allergic reaction.

While the winter may not be the first season you associate with allergies, there is prevalence for specific allergies present during this time. Items characteristic of the holidays can bring about unexpected allergic reactions.

Allergic to Christmas Trees
While they may look beautiful sitting front and center in your living room during the month of December, your Christmas tree may be contributing to your hay fever or allergic skin condition.

The pollen from Evergreens themselves does not typically cause an allergic reaction. Due to its thick, waxy outer coating, evergreen pollens cannot easily travel through the air and into your nose to trigger and allergy attack, but both real and artificial Christmas trees can contribute to allergies in other ways.

“The accumulation of dust and mold on artificial Christmas trees that are used year after year can become a serious problem for allergy sufferers,” says Joe Tracy, editor of Sinus News at http://www.sinusnews.com .

Real trees may also act as a source for mold or may carry pollens from other sources such as ragweed. Real trees also produce a resin that can be a possible source for airborne irritants that can aggravate or ignite an allergic reaction. Also, tree sap can cause an allergic rash in rare instances.

The American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology has suggested the following techniques to help reduce your likelihood of an allergic reaction due to an artificial or real Christmas tree:

- Wipe your artificial tree clean with a cloth

- Take a real tree outside and spray it with a garden hose to remove pollens. Put the stump of he tree in a bucket of water while the rest of the tree air-dries in the garage. Store the tree in a sealed plastic casing before displaying.

- Wear gloves during the handling of the tree to keep sap away from the skin.

- Wipe off ornaments and lights gently to remove dust and mold.

Hidden Food Allergies During the Holidays
Along with the possible allergy to your holiday decorations, you have a larger chance of accidentally ingesting food you may be allergic to over the holidays because of the numerous homemade treats available. The most common foods that can trigger an allergic reaction are milk, eggs, legumes such as peanuts, and tree nuts such as almonds, hazelnuts, pecans, and walnut, according to the AAAAI.

“Even a small bit of the wrong food can cause an intense allergic reaction to someone with food allergies,” says Kim Lance of the Allergy Prevention Center. “So many new foods come out at Christmas time like eggnog, fruitcake, and roasted chestnuts that it’s important for a food allergy sufferer to use extra caution.”

A hidden allergy may also be lurking in unexpected foods due to previous allergenic foods in contact with storage containers, baking sheets, and utensils.

When avoidance is not possible, using an antihistamine before eating holiday treats may reduce the severity of a reaction, but it is best to have on hand self-injectable epinephrine, prescribed by an allergist.

Enjoy the holiday season, but if you suspect you are allergic to certain foods make sure you visit your allergist and take extra caution when enjoying the treats of the season.

About Sinus News:
Sinus News (www.sinusnews.com) is the leading sinus health newsletter, delivering the latest information on sinus infections, allergies, and asthma directly to every subscriber's email box twice a month and free of charge. The newsletter provides informative coverage of sinusitis, sinus infections, allergies, and asthma.

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