I want to learn all I can about a medical condition called "vasomotor
allergies". These are allergies to environmental conditions, rather
than to
specific plant or animal allergens.  Such things as barometric
pressure, sunlight, wind (drafty conditions), etc. will, in certain
individuals, cause an allergic reaction exactly as if that person had
walked through a field of ragweed.  Further, those symptoms will
respond to medications commonly used for people who suffer from, e.g.,
a bona fide allergy to ragweed, or pollen or dust.  Can you help? 
Thanks, Tishmom-ga

Hello!

You mention symptoms similar to exposure to pollen, ragweed, and so
forth, so it sounds like you’re talking specifically about “vasomotor
rhinitis” (VR).

Here are some brief facts:

·	The origin of the condition is not known.  Until recently, it was
included with other non-allergic forms of rhinitis.
·	Like other forms of rhinitis, the misery seems to come from crusting
in the nasal passages.  Histamines are not produced (they ARE produced
in allergic rhinitis)
·	Triggers can include smoke, emotions, alcohol, food, dust,
chemicals, odors, changes in atmospheric pressure, temperature, and
humidity.
·	VR can be treated with exercise, avoidance of triggers, prescription
nasal sprays, over-the-counter saline nose sprays, and/or laser
surgery.  OTC decongestant nasal sprays should be used cautiously,
since some can have a “rebound” effect where the nasal passages swell.
 In fact, these can be a VR trigger themselves.
·	Antihistamines are limited in their effectiveness, since histamines
are not the problem in VR.  However, antihistamines do have some
benefit when used together with decongestants.


Sources:

“NoStuffyNoses.Homestead.Com—Helping People Understand Vasomotor
Rhinitis,” written by  college student Troy Chin as part of an project
on Web health information.  This is a great site, and includes an
online test to see if your symptoms match up with VR.   Importantly, 
Mr. Chin cites his sources in the “References” section of the website.

http://www.asc.upenn.edu/courses/comm240/spring2001/chint/About.html 


Brookwood ENT Associates

http://www.brookwoodent.com/vasomotor.html


MEDLINEplus  Medical Encylopedia (MEDLINE is a service of the National
Library of Medicine.)

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/001648.htm


Search strategy:
“vasomotor allergies”
vasomotor
“vasomotor rhinitis”

I hope this provides some useful information.  The standard disclaimer
(I’m not a doctor) applies.

Best wishes for good health.

---

Request for Answer Clarification by tishmom-ga on 14 Nov 2002 08:23 PST

Well, your answer was clear enough, Bizguy-ga, but the only thing I
still question is your statement (from your research) that no
histamines are produced.  My doctor told me the current thinking is
that indeed histamine is produced, and I surely feel as though it is. 
I was hoping you could find some other research that addresses the
situation more completely, since my symptoms only rarely, and then
incompletely, involve the nose.  That's why I didn't ask for any kind
of rhinitis information. . .I don't believe it is rhinitis.  Can you
see if there's any more info available?  Thanks.  Tishmom-ga

---

Clarification of Answer by bizguy-ga on 14 Nov 2002 08:46 PST

Hi tishmom,
I certainly wouldn't want to disagree with your doctor about histamine
production.  I didn't see any information to contradict Chin's site on
that. Also, I didn't find anything that indicated that vasomotor
rhinitis was allergic--in fact, on many health information sites, it's
vasomotor rhinitis is synonymous with non-allergenic rhinitis.  The
Merck Manual, at:
http://www.merck.com/pubs/mmanual/section12/chapter148/148b.htm ,
says, "Some patients suffer from vasomotor rhinitis, which is
characterized by mild but annoying chronic continuous nasal
obstruction or rhinorrhea and no demonstrable allergy, polyps.."
As to vasomotor allergies other than rhinitis, I did look for that. 
If there were any information about this at all, I would expect to
find at least a few websites when doing the following search:
"vasomotor allergies" (as a
phrase)://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=%22vasomotor++allergies%22&btnG=Google+Search
but as you can see, there are no websites indexed by Google that
contain that phrase.
"vasomotor allergy"
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=%22vasomotor+allergy%22
brings up three--two are about vasomotor rhinitis and the other one
just mentions "vasomotor allergy" without being more specific.
So I hope that clears up why I concentrated on rhinitis.

That's about all I can do, I think, with resources at hand.  I hope
I've clarified the response for you.

bizguy

The jury is out, till I see what the researcher can come up with after
my posted request for clarification.  Thanks.  Tishmom-ga