Cold, flu or allergy? When your blocked nose won't stop running

Jane Mwikali is experiencing a runny and blocked nose resulting in difficulty breathing. This is partly caused by the current and ever changing weather pattern caused by unpredictable climate change.

The rainy and cold weather Kenya is experiencing now is notorious for conditions such as common cold, flu and pneumonia. However, the focus is on blocked and running nose, both as an allergy and as a seasonal epidemic. 

Many people are currently experiencing allergic rhinitis, which has resulted in running nose, sneezing, itching body and nasal congestion.

Some people think this could be an outbreak of a new strain of Covid-19 or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). However, medics say there is a distinct line between the two phases of the condition, thus making it easy to administer appropriate therapy.

The concept is known as runners and blockers. Dr Moses Mwangi says the early phase of allergic rhinitis has symptoms, such as running nose, watery eye, sneezing and itching. This is the runners stage--and can be treated by a class of drugs called antihistamines or anti-allergy drugs.

“When the condition progresses due to continued inflammation of the upper respiratory tract, causing nasal congestion and discharge of thick mucus, these symptoms spell the late phase of allergic rhinitis, called the blockers stage,” says Dr Mwangi.

Mwikali says her blocked nose is chronic and has affected the quality of her life through disturbed sleep and discomfort in the nose. Mwikali is now forced to use steroid inhalers as the mode of therapy.

According to information available, runners and blockers concept was first coined by Dr Robin Green, a paediatric pulmonologist at Sunninghill Hospital in South Africa. His concept and other research findings were first published in the Medicine Journal in October 1988.

Paediatricians now say allergic rhinitis refers to inflammation of the nasal lining and follows exposure to allergy-causing agents, such as dust, paint and pollen. The medics reveal that there are two types of allergic rhinitis- perennial and seasonal.

The former is linked to exposure to allergens, such as dung’ from pets, or house dust mites, while the latter occurs seasonally, like when plants are flowering. Both perennial and seasonal allergic rhinitis  have similar symptoms, but nasal congestion is more prominent in perennial rhinitis.

Research shows that between 15 and 20 per cent of the Kenyan population suffers from either perennial or seasonal rhinitis. And about 30 per cent have inherited the condition from their parents. If parents and grandparents have the allergic rhinitis, chances that their offspring will inherit the condition is well over 70 per cent, he reveals.

Moi University conducted a study among 3,018 patients in Uasin Gishu County and the result found that modern lifestyle and traffic pollution contribute to the increase in allergic disorders, especially in urban areas. Though neither perennial nor seasonal allergic rhinitis is life-threatening, both conditions result in poor quality health, poor sleep and lethargy.

About a third of all patients with seasonal allergic rhinitis develop asthma. Doctors say treatment for allergic rhinitis has long relied on a group of anti-allergy drugs, known as the first generation antihistamines,”  says Dr J.K Patel an expert on conditions affecting ear, nose and throat.

Dr Patel says there are second-generation antihistamines, which are more effective, efficacious, safe and convient because they do not cross into the brain, which can help patients, such as Mwikali treat the condition.

“Getting sedated has been linked to traffic and industrial accidents,” he says, adding that some of the old antihistamines have adverse side effects and adverse reactions on heart activity, such as cardiac dysfunction.

One way of overcoming the condition is doing regular and rigorous exercise as it helps relieve the condition. 

It is for these reasons that those with running and blocked noses ellergy should consult qualified medical doctors, especially ENT experts to prescribe to them quality and effective medicine for treatment before they turn asthmatic.