Chinese call it the “flying catkins season” (飞絮季), the time of year which hay-fever sufferers dread most. But the stuffiness, itching and runny nose has put one lady in hospital, after overuse of a presumed miracle cure for allergies such as this.
This Monday morning, 10 April, the Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery (耳鼻咽喉头颈外科就接) at Nanjing Gulou Hospital received a patient who had blindly used a much publicised, so-called miracle cure for her rhinitis.
Rhinitis, most commonly manifest as hay fever, is an inflammation and irritation of the nose’s mucous membrane. That’s what leads to the stuffiness and sneezing.
The lady, 20-something Ms. Song, was told by her parents since childhood that she has rhinitis. Undertaking online research and settling upon a Japanese treatment touted as a miracle cure, Song found that it indeed cleared her nose and significantly reduced sneezing with just a single spray.
But this year, when she took it out again during the past few days, Song found it to have no effect. She headed to Gulou Hospital, concerned that her body had become immune to the medicine.
An examination revealed that her nasal mucosa had been damaged and there was an obvious redness and swelling in the nasal cavity.
Yu Chenjie is Chief Physician, and an ear, nose and throat (ENT) specialist, with the Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery at Gulou Hospital. He explained that when ordinary-chronic rhinitis turns into pharmaceutically-induced rhinitis, the treatment challenge significantly increases.
The ENT specialist said that for those who really can’t help but want to use such medicines, it should, for safety reasons, be only taken for about a week at most. Long-term use will worsen the effect, damaging the health of the nasal cavity, essentially becoming a form of chronic poisoning.
Yu reminds sufferers who feel they have rhinitis to seek medical attention in a timely manner, as there are many types of rhinitis; the symptoms may be similar, hut treatment methods differ.
As the Yangtze Evening News reports, the physician also went on to state that gently tapping and applying a cold press can effectively prevent and reduce allergic symptoms.
From past experience, March and April, together with September and October, are the times rhinitis comes to the fore in Nanjing. With the pollen and catkins in the air these days, more and more people have been seeking treatment in the City’s ENT departments.
In the case of Nanjing’s Gulou Hospital, the number of patients seeking medical attention due to allergies has almost doubled the past few days.
