For people who are allergic to cigarette smoke, the smoke coming from the person sitting close to him will be enough to ignite allergic reaction. Runny nose, congestion and sneezing are the after effects of this allergic reaction. Many nasal allergy doctors have opined that smoke allergy myths are aplenty and this makes the treatment in nasal allergy clinic rather difficult. This article is intended to help you in determining whether you are a patient of smoke allergy or not. It also helps you to protect yourself from the problems associated with smoke allergy.

Understanding the myth ‘smoke allergy’

Though many persons think they are allergic to smoke, in fact, there is nothing like smoke allergy. The so called smoke allergic reactions are caused due to some other reasons and a nasal allergy doctor will be the best person to sort out the matter and find out the real culprit. Medical science does not consider smoke as an allergen. It is only an irritant. This is the reason why some smoke allergy patients are not feeling any relief even after they take antihistamine medicine. The best thing to avoid the complications due to smoke is to find out the real allergen that causes problems to you.

In general, nasal allergy doctor opines that there are two types of smoke allergies. They are:

The smoke that aggravates other allergies: Sometimes the smoke starts reacting with pollen, dander,  dust etc and cause problems, which otherwise would not have occurred

Vasomotor rhinitis: In this case smoke produces exact symptoms of allergic rhinitis and it remains untreatable.

Categories of people affected by smoke allergy:

• People prone to cigarette smoke allergy
• Children and kids
• People with allergy related to pollen
• People with asthma eczema etc
• People who are exposed to smoke continuously
• It is also seen that people who feel allergic to cigarette smoke are also allergic to strong odors, whether changes and perfumes.

Symptoms of smoke allergy

• Coughing
• Sneezing
• Runny nose
• Watery eyes
• Shortness of breath
• Congestion

Avoiding exposure to smoke

In the opinion of a nasal allergy doctor, tobacco smoke contains about 4000 different chemicals out of which 80 of them are carcinogens. As smoking is a widespread habit of the common man it is difficult to avoid passive smoking in private places as well as public places. In public places like bar or a hotel the person sitting near to you, may be a smoker and at least there will be one smoker in every houses. Just the mere smell of smoke left in the room after the smoker has left the room will be enough for an allergic person to develop inconveniences that has to be treated in a nasal allergy clinic. In short, it is not possible to avoid smoke, even though it is the right method to keep yourself away from such allergies.