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Maritza Baida, Pierce advisor says goodbye tissues. After moving to Washington her asthma got worse and she was sick most of the time. Since she went through a medical procedure she can be outside and enjoy the days without worrying.

Drugs, procedures ease all types of allergies

Allergy sufferers can be tissue free with prescriptions, over-the-counter drugs and operations

By: Jaleesha Petty

Posted: 6/4/09

Over 35 million Americans suffer from seasonal allergies. Allergies often occur when the immune system react to a foreign substance such as pollen, pet dander, bee venom. The symptoms however depend on the allergy a person my have.

There are many known allergies: hay fever, atopic dermatitis (eczema), food allergy, insect sting, and drug allergens. The most common food and insect allergies can trigger a severe reaction known as anaphylaxis causing the body to go into shock.

"My asthma was so severe that I was the little girl in the plastic bubble in the hospital a lot," Maritza Baida, Pierce College advisor said.

Baida is one of the million who suffered from severe asthma as a child due to the environment surrounding her. As a childhood resident of Long Beach, Calif., Baida developed severe asthma from the smog in that region.

"I still had allergic attack and then the doctor told me I should live in a place with less smog," Baida said.

As Baida got older, her allergy came only from cats and pollen. Moving from Long Beach to Santa Barbara made a big difference. Although she still had a runny nose and itchy red eyes, her asthma was no longer an issue.

"Santa Barbara had westerly and easterly winds that would congregate," Baida Said. "We all had allergy attacks from pollen."

When Baida moved to Tacoma, she suffered another bad attack to later discover she was allergic to birch and alder trees. She began doing allergy shots to boost her immunity to allergens.

"I was instructed to clean and dust my room once a week and wash my sheets without fabric softener," Baida said.

Shortly following the shots, she began Rapid Immunotherapy, which required three shots in each arm every 45 minutes for eight hours for two days. She also was prescribed heavy allergy medicine that consisted of steroids so she did no go into anaphylactic shock.

"I was not happy about the steroid part," Baida said. "That week was very intense and my arms were bruised, swollen and red, and my face blew up. It was worth it but it was to save my life."

Baida is not along in her journey with allergies many people suffer from seasonal allergies as well as others.

Student Kortni Pendon suffers from seasonal allergies and hay fever.

"I have had allergies since I was born," Pendon said.

Pendon symptoms are the classic sneezing watery eyes and coughing. She takes Benadryl and Allerclear for her seasonal allergies. Pendon joins the 30 percent of those who are affected by hay fever, also known as allergic rhinitis.

Her symptoms are similar to those of seasonal allergies with the exception of eyes swelling and itchy throat. For treatment she also uses Benadryl, Aller Clear and Aller-Tech.

"I have to take allergy medicine every morning," Pendon said. "If I skip a day of taking my meds I will start sneezing, coughing and have an itchy throat."

Allergies affect a vast majority of Americans. One of the first daughters, Malia Obama, has an allergic reaction to dogs, with classic symptoms of runny nose, sneezing, and eczema.

Food allergies are ranked top in the category as well. Eight foods account for 90 percent of all food allergic reactions: milk, eggs, peanuts, tree nut, fish, shellfish, soy and wheat.

However, that doesn't mean people can't live normal lives. There are treatments for most allergies via over the counter medicine such as Benadryl, Claritin and Allegra.

There are also Endoscopic Sinus Surgeries for mild and even severe allergies. So people can enjoy spring and summer outdoors with no problems.