Allergy Relief
for
Humans and Dogs
Allergic reactions in humans and dogs are similar. An allergen is presented to the body and the body reacts – trying to get rid of the foreign substance. One huge difference between the two is that your pet cannot communicate directly that they are having a problem. It’s up to you to understand the symptoms and take the appropriate action.
Allergy relief for humans
The best approach is a two-pronged attack: Immediate relief from symptoms and determining the cause to prevent repeats. Immediate relief comes in the form of anti-histamines.
These medications stop the immediate reaction to the allergen by preventing histamine release. Histamine is a hormone responsible for the swelling, redness and itching that comes from an allergic reaction. There are two main problems with anti-histamine use.
The first is that it doesn’t really cure anything. Only stopping exposure to the allergen will stop symptoms from reemerging. The second problem is that anti-histamines used for allergy relief in humans causes significant side effects – primarily drowsiness and dryness.
Because of the problems in allergy relief, anti-histamines aren’t the best solution. Air purification is ideal for airborne allergens like pollen and dust – sinus symptoms or eye redness/watering.
Adding anti-oxidants to the diet is also an important treatment. Because allergies involve oxidative attack on normal cells in an overreaction to allergens, increasing anti-oxidants in the diet is warranted.
Allergy relief for dogs
Dogs show evidence of allergic reactions by scratching or licking the affected area when possible. If ears or eyes are involved, they may rub areas they cannot reach. This is often first noticed by owners when the animal develops a bald patch where they have rubbed their fur away.
Treatment can include anti-histamines taken by mouth, but dosing is an issue because dogs vary so much by weight. Using anti-oxidants and air purification is a great solution with no harmful side effects. While creams and ointments are generally safe to apply, you must prevent your pet from licking them.
Immediate relief for allergies can be found with natural home-remedies that are applied as poultices. A poultice is a mashed up ‘blob’ of the proper ingredients that can then sooth the affected area. Some natural treatments that work well (for pets and humans) are:
- A paste made of sandalwood and lime juice.
- Mashed almond leaves (with water).
- For insect bites and reactions, a paste made with baking soda that is left to dry on the area to ‘draw’ out the toxin.
- Crushed poppy seeds, water and lime juice in a paste.
- Lime or orange juices are often added because the acidity and vitamin C they contain help the skin heal.
- Vitamin E oil on dry, scaly, itchy skin will moisturize and promote healing.
Long-term relief for both humans and dogs
There are two approaches for long-term ‘cures’. The first involves a bit of detective work. You have to track down the specific thing that is causing the allergy and avoid it. How the investigation is conducted is by first eliminating possible causes until the allergy goes away (which can take up to a week) and then adding things back one at a time, to see if the allergy comes back.
While it takes time and effort, this is useful for the information it provides. Rather than just treating allergy symptoms when they occur, you can then be proactive and remove the problem from the environment.
This is where air purification helps immensely. For dogs, pay particular attention to diet and the materials they come in contact with. If the allergy is seasonal, suspect pollen – dogs get reactions to pollen just as humans do.Other common allergy causing agents are:
- Dyes used in food products (both humans and dogs)
- Dust or mites that accumulate in carpets or bedding.
- Detergents used in cleaning clothing or dishware.
- Any new product or material introduced into the environment before the allergy appeared.
The second approach to curing chronic allergies involves incremental exposure to the allergen. To do this properly, you have to first know what the problem substance is. Exposure then starts at levels too low to cause a reaction and then are slowly increased over months to a ‘normal’ level.
Allergy relief may have to be provided whenever exposure causes a reaction, and the method isn’t guaranteed to work. This might require a trained physician or veterinarian to do safely, and because it takes so long, it is usually only used for something that can’t be avoided.
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Remedies for Allergy Relief
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