Introduction
Asthma, allergic rhinitis and rhinosinusitis (sinusitis) all cause airway inflammation. Asthma affects the lungs and smaller air passages. Rhinitis and sinusitis affect the nose and sinuses. Many people suffer from two or all three of these problems. When you have more than one of these problems, a flare-up in one area may make the other problems worse.
Frequency
For people that live in the United States, 15-30% of adults have allergies, 12.5% of adults have sinus problems and 25 million US adults and children have asthma.
- Of people that have asthma, up to 38% have allergies.
- Of people that have sinus problems, 2-66% suffer from asthma.
- Of people that have sinus problems even though they have tried medicines and surgery, 68-91% suffer from asthma.
Treatments
Some medicines for sinus problems, allergy or asthma may help you to feel better. If those medicines do not help, other problems may get worse. You may need to see other kinds of doctors to help manage these problems. Sometimes surgery can help. A type of surgery for sinus problems [Endoscopic sinus surgery] may help both sinus problems and asthma.
There are many kinds of medicines that can help with allergies. Some things are nasal salt water rinses, nasal steroid sprays, nasal antihistamine sprays and oral antihistamines. Allergy shots (SCIT) and allergy drops (SLIT) can also help. (See Allergic Rhinitis).
The doctor that helps you with your asthma will want to use the smallest amount of medicine that will help you feel well. Medicines that help people with asthma include inhalers that let you breathe medicine into your lungs. Some of these medicines can last a short time and are for when you are having trouble breathing. Other kinds of medicines are meant for you to use every day and will last a long time. Some inhalers also have different kinds of medicines that work together to help you breathe better. What kinds of inhaler your doctor may give you depends on how bad your asthma symptoms are and how often you are having these symptoms. People that have bad asthma symptoms will sometimes get a type of medicine called oral steroids. New medicines have been developed that help people that have very bad asthma symptoms. These biological agents are medicines that block different chemicals in your body that can cause inflammation in your lungs. These special medicines are for the very worst kinds of asthma. Some of these special medicines will stop your body’s reaction to allergies. Other kinds of these special medicines will stop some kinds of chemicals that can cause inflammation or raise the number of certain types of cells in your blood. Some of these special medicines seem to work in other, different parts of your body and some of them can treat other types of problems, such as a skin problem called eczema or type of sinus problem called nasal polyps.
Aspirin-Exacerbated Respiratory Disease (AERD)
When people have asthma, sinus problems, and are allergic to aspirin all at the same time, they have a condition called AERD. AERD stands for aspirin-exacerbated respiratory disease. It used to be called Samter’s triad. People with AERD often start to have asthma as an adult. People with AERD get medicines that are very similar to people that have asthma and sinus problems. One other type of treatment is aspirin desensitization (See Aspirin Desensitization). This treatment is when small amounts of aspirin are given to a person and build up to bigger amounts of aspirin over a certain amount of time. This allows the body to build a tolerance to aspirin. This is often performed by a special type of doctor called an allergist. It helps reduce the inflammation that causes asthma and sinus problems. Some kinds of diets, such as a low-salicylate diet, are also being looked at to see if they may help people with AERD.
Summary
Many people suffer from both sinus problems and asthma, as well as allergies. All three are problems that affect the air passages. Treatment options may vary for each person.