'Almost every day I sneeze, particularly in the mornings when I've just woken up'

P.K. Madhan Mohan asks: I have been suffering from cold for more than two weeks. Almost every day I sneeze, that too particularly during morning when waking up from bed. Previously, I used to get cold, but it used to be only for two or three days. If I suffer from severe cold, I used to take some over-the-counter pills so that to recover from the illness. But this time, even after taking medicines, I didn't get any relief from the cold and sneezing that is continuing for more than two weeks now. Kindly advise me with a solution. Should I consult an ENT specialist or General Practitioner?

Dr. Sreekumar Sreedharan (MBBS, MD, Specialist Physician, ASTER Union Medical Centre, Karama, Dubai) replies:  It seems that you are suffering from Allergic Rhinitis, or inflammation of the nasal membranes, for quite a long time. In normal cases, viral infections cause cold and related illnesses that may remain up to a week or so. When allergy superimposes on common cold, it leads to a persistent issue. Allergic rhinitis is a very common, yet an under-detected and under-treated issue.
Like in the case of all other patients with this condition, you might have developed symptoms of the allergic rhinitis before the age of 20. You might be experiencing sneezing, running nose or watering from the nose, nasal congestion, and itching of the nose, eyes, ears and palate. These are the normal signs of allergic rhinitis.
Most of these patients will also experience symptoms like headache, earache, red eyes, tearing, postnasal drip, and impaired smell perception. This is a systemic inflammatory process, which is associated with other complications including asthma, rhino sinusitis and conjunctivitis.

Even if the condition is not life-threatening, complications can significantly impair the quality of your life, if left untreated. It’s more of a distressing and prolonged complaint that drains the person in the long run, hence it requires an early and effective treatment.

There are several complications that may occur due to allergic rhinitis. It generally leads to acute or chronic sinusitis, apnea or sleep disturbance, and dental problems - mainly overbite, which is caused by excessive breathing through the mouth. The untreated allergic rhinitis can lead to serious complications and damage to the patient’s ear, with infection in the middle-ear and the Eustachian tube dysfunction.

Patients with the condition suffer more often from viral and bacterial infections. The allergic rhinitis can be associated with a number of other conditions, mainly asthma. So, uncontrolled allergic rhinitis can actually worsen the inflammation associated with asthma and skin allergies.

This extremely common condition affects approximately 20 per cent of the world population, with higher prevalence in industrialized nations. The incidences of allergic rhinitis are higher among the people living in this part of the world.

There are several factors that increase the risk and severity of the common cold, which is an acute respiratory tract infection. If you are a smoker, it’s time to quit it, as tobacco addiction increases the risk of respiratory infection by approximately 50 per cent. Very young or old individuals are at greater risk due to smoking, possibly because of the decreased immunity in their body.

Exposure to infected contacts, like touching the nose with contaminated fingers, also increases the risk of this infection. Crowding is another reason that leads to increased transmission of the virus. A complete recovery from the common cold is usually observed within 7 days for adolescents and adults and within 10-14 days for children.
I advise you to consult an ENT specialist or an Internal Medicine Physician and explain to him how often have you been troubled by bouts of sneezing and an itchy, runny nose. This will help assess the particular problem, and the complications that may occur to you. We do have good symptomatic treatment available here for the same.

Disclaimer: This blog is a conversation and is not an alternative for treatment. The recommendations and suggestions offered by our panel of doctors are their own and Gulf News will not take any responsibility for the advice they provide.