Not long ago, the new Guidelines for Allergic Rhinitis (AR) were released.
AR is an extremely prevalent condition, being the fifth most common chronic disease in the United States, affecting one in six Americans. Also, it is the most common chronic disease among children.
Allergic inflammation of the sinus tissue can interfere with the normal clearing of the sinus cavities, often leading to infection. Under these circumstances, respiratory allergy can trigger repeated sinus infections. Since chronic sinusitis may originate from both allergy and infection, both of these underlying factors should be carefully evaluated and treated for effective disease management.
Surprisingly, many individuals who have had longstanding sinus disease may have never been sent to visit an allergist. So they continue to live with their symptoms.
How is this possible? In the company, we sometimes wonder if the reason is that nobody asked them the right question.
While talking about this topic, an old story resurfaced that we wanted to share on our blog:
A few weeks after having his second child, James started to feel a pain in his chest. Since the pain intensity increased over time, he decided to visit the family physician, who told him the pain was probably due to an excess of work and stress. “Relax as much as you can” was the doctor’s recommendation.
The pain persisted, and James decided to visit a cardiologist. The cardiologist examined him and gave him an Electrocardiogram (ECG). All the results were negative, which meant that the pain was not due to a cardiac problem. On this occasion, the recommendation was similar “reduce your stress.”
Two months later, he went back to the cardiologist because the pain was still present. James underwent more tests, but no cardiac problem was found. While this reassured him, it did not relieve his pain.
Days later, James was at a party talking to some friends. He told them about the pain and all his visits to physicians. During the conversation, one of his friends asked him about his children, who were 23 and 8 months old.
“Well, you know,” James answered, “the youngest is not sleeping well, and I spend a few hours every night cradling her in my arms.”
As if shaken by lightning, his friend said, “My dear James, all the pain you have is from stiffness!”
From that very night, James stopped cradling his daughter, and his pain was gone.
James had spent a lot of time and money because his doctors had asked him about work, but not about his family life or habits.
Thinking out of the box may be the answer to many of our health problems, as sometimes they are caused by simple actions that we do subconsciously.
Asking the right question makes all the difference!
Has something similar ever happened to you?
Did you ever go to a doctor only to find out that a daily habit caused your problem?
Tell us about your experiences!
