know it all SURPRISING FACTS & CLEVER TIPS
Information is Power. (Read on...) Medical-ease
What do the medical terms we hear really mean? We decode these allergy-related terms for you here so you can talk to your doctor with ease.
Allergen: (al-er-jen) Anything—from grass to pet hair to peanuts—that causes an allergic reaction.
Good Advice or Think Twice?
WHAT THEY SAY: If you have green or yellow nasal drainage (the nice word for mucus or snot), you need an antibiotic.
THINK TWICE: Your cold has taken a nasty turn: you’ve got a stopped-up nose and the stuff filling your tissue is thick and green. It’s time for an antibiotic…right? Not quite. Antibiotics only treat bacterial infections. Because viruses cause colds, antibiotic drugs are useless to fight them. Doctors used to think that green or yellow
mucus was a sign of a sinus infection. They now know that less than 2 percent of colds turn into bacterial infections. Throughout the course of your cold, mucus naturally evolves from clear to opaque to green to yellow. Most cases of the common cold resolve themselves within a week—though you may have lingering symptoms, like a cough, for another week. If your symptoms don’t improve within two weeks, visit your doctor.
BOTTOM LINE: The color of your mucus is not a good indicator of whether you need antibiotics. Because viruses cause the common cold, antibiotics won’t help you get better. Rest and fluids will.
When do you need an antibiotic? Find out at
HealthyAdvice.com/Antibiotics 12 HEALTHYADVICE.COM
Histamine: (his-ta-meen) When exposed to an allergen, your immune system fights back by releasing a chemical
called histamine into your bloodstream. Histamine is responsible for many of the allergy symptoms you experience, like a runny nose, itching and sneezing.
Leukotrienes: (loo-ka-tri-eens) A substance also found in mast cells (see below), leukotrienes are released during
an allergic response or asthma attack and cause inflammation.
Mast cells: (mast sels) Part of the immune system, these cells contain chemicals, like histamine (see definition),
that are released when the body senses a foreign invader or allergen. The chemicals often cause itching and swelling.
Wondering about other medical terms you’ve heard? Send them to
Medicalease@HealthyAdvice.com.
HEALTHY TIP
Get the flu shot every year to avoid influenza.
It takes two weeks for the shot to be effective, so don’t wait until flu season is under way. Get the vaccine as soon as it’s available in your area— usually in September. Flu shots are now recommended for everyone, age 6 months and older.
Worried that the flu shot will give you the flu? It won’t. The vaccine contains harmless, dead viruses.
ANTIBIOTIC ILLUSTRATION: CELIA JOHNSON
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