Pura Vida / Living

For Ticos, the term "pura vida" is an expression of happiness, optimism, and living life to the fullest. It is impossible to visit Costa Rica without hearing this phrase continuously.

This Edition

1. Gringo Gardners in Costa Rica

2. Our New War Against Whaling

3. Vasomotor Rhinitis

4. Tico Expressions

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• Health Tips for Hot Tub Enjoyment

• Fiercely Feminine

• Wisdom from Albert Einstein

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• Contact Dermatitis

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• What You Eat Has the Power of What You Can Achieve

See all Pura Vida articles which are translatable into 12 different languages, top 4:

For months or years, people suffer from what appears to be hay fever (allergic rhinitis). The stuffy nose, postnasal drip, sinus congestion, occasional sore throat and cough seem identical to the symptoms suffered by relatives, neighbors, or co-workers. Patients finally seek an allergy evaluation for the symptoms, only to be told after an examination and tests they don’t have allergic rhinitis at all, but a condition called vasomotor rhinitis (VMR).

VMR is a disorder of the linings of the nose, throat, and sinuses. Medical science still knows little about this disorder except that it is an abnormality of the control of blood flow to the sensitive areas.

Medical science knows more about allergic rhinitis than about VMR. The allergic variety of rhinitis is a condition in which the body’s protective system overproduces the substance IGE. This overproduction is an inherited trait of allergy sufferers. IGE identifies many common substances (such as foods, dust, and ragweed) as foreign “invaders” in the body and engages them in violent chemical battles. During these episodes the victim suffers the classical symptoms of allergy.