Rhinitis has quite a lot in common with asthma – indeed the two conditions often go hand in hand, and patients who can avoid the allergens that trigger their asthmatic attacks tend to find that their rhinitis clears up as well. So the approach to dealing with rhinitis is much the same as that for asthma, described above. The same goes for associated conditions such as allergic sinusitis.
The first step should be an attempt to identify airborne allergens. Skin-prick tests are useful in pinpointing the inhalants that trigger rhinitis, but of little use for foods. Efforts to eliminate airborne allergens should continue for some months to allow a fair assessment of the effects. It is best to begin in the winter, because pollen and outdoor mould spores are at their lowest levels then – their presence may mask any good effects achieved by eliminating house dust or pets, and this can be very discouraging. If such clean-up measures do produce an improvement, continue them through the summer months to see if the symptoms recur.
At the end of this process, it should be clear if any airborne allergens are involved, and which ones they are. Where it is difficult to avoid such allergens, desensitization treatments may be worth considering.
If the symptoms persist despite all these measures, then an elimination diet could be used to assess the role of food. Where the rhinitis is fairly mild, using drugs to control it may be a more practical solution.
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