Have you ever been disturbed by a runny nose, endless sneezing, or nasal congestion? If you have these symptoms more than one week, be careful you may have rhinitis! Rhinitis is a nasal disease that inside nose gets inflammation after irritated by environmental conditions. Not only outside conditions, such as pollen, smoke or chemicals, but also inside conditions, like hormonal changes, may provoke the disease. There are three kinds of rhinitis: allergic, nonallergic, and mixed. Generally, rhinitis just lasts a few days but allergic rhinitis can reoccur frequently.
A short animation of allergic rhinitis.
Rhinitis is not new to us. World Health Organization declared that between 10% and 30% population have allergic rhinitis in the worldwide. According to Summary Health Statistics for U.S. Adults: National Health Interview Survey, approximately 7.8% teenagers in U.S. have hay fever – allergic rhinitis. It seems that rhinitis has similar symptoms as cold; people dislike it, but also ignore it. However, untreated rhinitis can cause many serious consequences!
Being careless to rhinitis may lead to poor quality of life. Uncontrolled rhinitis may contribute to sleep loss, learning impairment, and decreased long-term productivity. Additionally, poorly controlled allergic rhinitis may also contribute to the development of other related diseases including acute and chronic sinusitis, recurrence of nasal polyps, hearing impairment, abnormal craniofacial development, sleep disorder and asthma.
Apart from above consequent diseases, what’s worse is that chronic rhinitis is discovered to be associated with atrophic rhinitis! Atrophic rhinitis is a disease where the nose tissues, especially nasal mucosa, permanently atrophy. Nasal mucosa, also called mucous membrane, lines over the nasal cavity. Mucosa consists of tiny blood veins, glands, and nerves. The major functionality of mucosa includes secreting mucus to trap external particles, humidifying the entire cavity, and warming air entering the respiratory passage.
Here is a video explaining the functionality of nasal mucosa.
Because of the loss of mucosa, patients lose the primary barrier between the external world and the interior of the body. Atrophic rhinitis can be a crippling disease. Without the protection, patients will suffer unrelenting dryness, loss of sense of airflow, and even pain breathiness. Furthermore, the disease is irreversible; patients have to suffer the pain throughout their lives.
Fortunately, there are some measurements that people can take to prevent atrophic rhinitis.
- Nasal irrigation with saline solution – recurrent inflammation is one of the most triggers. Rinsing nose daily with salt water can kill bacteria and avoid infection.
- Ingesting food that riches in iron and vitamin A/D – Bernat I. stated in “Ozaena and iron deficiency” that many patients showed a nutritional deficiency, especially of iron, fat-soluble vitamins and proteins.
- Exercise! – cliché, but always the most effective. For many people who have allergic rhinitis, it is impossible to eliminate the problem. However, doing exercise can improve the immune system and reduce the frequency of rhinitis.
- See a doctor when the disease is at the early stage!
Overall, even though rhinitis is not life-threatening at the early stage, we need to be aware of its risk and take it carefully. Don’t risk our health!
By Xinyue Tang
