Curing an Allergy with Ragweed

Overview

According to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, 10 to 20 percent of Americans suffer from yearly bouts with ragweed, more commonly known as hay fever. The symptoms--runny nose, itchy eyes and sneezing--are generally minor in nature. The allergy begins the moment the plant starts releasing pollen into the air.

Ragweed

Ragweek can be found pretty much everywhere, but it tends to be more prolific in the East and the Midwest. Flowers on plants bloom but once. When they do bloom, they release up to 1 billion tiny pollen proteins in to the air. These proteins then go and fertilize other ragweed plants, allowing them to bloom and shoot forth more pollen in the coming years.

Ragweed Allergy

The people who suffer from these allergies have overly sensitive immune systems. The immune system's job is to keep out harmful germs and bacteria that we encounter. When you have a overly sensitive immune system, it wants to protect your body from some fairly harmless particles, namely allergens. Thus, when pollen is in the air and your immune system senses it, it fights back. Thus allergy symptoms.

How to Know

If you are wondering whether a runny nose and itchy eyes, nose and throat might be symptoms of something else, there's a way to see. Your doctor can perform an allergy test that will help determine if you are, indeed, allergic to ragweed. He will simply scratch the skin with ragweed extract. If you have the allergy, the skin will turn red and get slightly inflamed.

Ragweed Cure

According to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, there is no cure for ragweed, but there are things that can be done to control your hay fever.

Avoidance

One tactic for dealing with ragweed allergies is to avoid the pollen. It may not sound like much of an option, but staying inside on hot, dry summer days can be a good thing. Save your outdoor time for days when there is a low pollen count, which often is reported during your local weather forecast. By using a High Efficiency Particulate Arrestance (HEPA) air conditioner, you can pretty much eliminate pollen in the house. The news keeps a pretty good record of pollen counts so, go out when it is at a low.

Treatments

Take an antihistamine to deal with some of the symptoms associated with ragweed. Antihistamines are commonly available over the counter and come in a variety of forms, including caplets, oral suspension medicines and nasal spray.

Immunotherapy

With immunotherapy, the allergy sufferer is exposed to ragweed over a period of months to even years. Over time, the body builds up a form of immunity to the pollen but will, most likely, never be able to get rid of the allergy all together. This is as close to a cure as we're going to get.