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10 Things To Help With Your Seasonal Allergies This Spring

10 Things To Help With Your Seasonal Allergies This Spring

Spring means flower buds and blooming trees — and if you’re one of the millions of people who have seasonal allergies, it also means sneezing, congestion, a runny nose, and other bothersome symptoms. Seasonal allergies — also called rose fever, grass fever, hay fever, and allergic rhinitis — can make you miserable. But before you settle for plastic flowers and artificial turf, try these simple strategies to keep seasonal allergies under control.

To reduce your exposure to the things that trigger your allergy signs and symptoms:
  1. Stay indoors on dry, windy days. The best time to go outside is after a heavy rain, which helps clear pollen from the air.
  2. Delegate to others lawn mowing, weed pulling and other gardening chores that stir up allergens.
  3. Remove clothes you’ve worn outside, and shower to rinse pollen from your skin and hair before bed.
  4. Don’t hang laundry outside — pollen can stick to sheets and towels.
  5. Check your local TV or radio station, your local newspaper, or the Internet for pollen forecasts and current pollen levels, but remember that these counts represent up to 3 days prior to the announcement.
  6. Start taking allergy medications before your symptoms start. Tree pollen sensitive people should start in early March and grass pollen in early April.
  7. Close doors and windows at night or install pollen screens.
  8. Avoid outdoor activity in the early morning when pollen counts are highest.
  9. Keep indoor air clean using an AC or HEPA air cleaner (the AC does as good a job as the HEPA filter). Remember to change the filter on an AC monthly during pollen season.
  10. Keep indoor air dry with a dehumidifier.

Several types of nonprescription medications can help ease allergy symptoms. They include:

  • Oral antihistamines. Antihistamines can help relieve sneezing, itching, a runny nose, and watery eyes. Examples of oral antihistamines include loratadine (Claritin, Alavert), cetirizine (Zyrtec) and fexofenadine (Allegra ).
  • Oral decongestants such as pseudoephedrine (Sudafed, Afrinol, others). These can provide temporary relief from nasal stuffiness.
  • Nasal sprays
    • Cromolyn sodium nasal sprays can ease allergy symptoms and don’t have serious side effects, though they are most effective when you begin using it weeks before your symptoms start.
    • Saline Solution. Rinsing your nasal passages with saline solution (nasal irrigation) is a quick, inexpensive and effective way to relieve nasal congestion. Rinsing directly flushes out mucus and allergens from your nose.
    • Topical nasal steroids. A variety is available over the counter such as Nasacort, Nasonex, Rhinocort, and Flonase and is very effective if started early.

For many people, avoiding allergens and taking over-the-counter medications is enough to ease symptoms. But if your seasonal allergies are still bothersome, don’t give up. A number of other treatments are available.

Allergen immunotherapy can be a good option. This therapy has the advantage of desensitizing people to the allergens rather than covering symptoms with medicines. A variety of immunotherapies are now available including traditional allergy shots, sublingual allergy drops, and recently approved for some allergens, allergy tablets. Over time, the immunotherapy reduces the immune system reaction that causes symptoms.

Advanced Specialty Care’s Board-Certified Allergists can help you determine which treatment would be best for you or your child. Visit our offices in Danbury, New Milford, Ridgefield and Norwalk in Fairfield County, CT.


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Multi-Specialty Private Practice with six locations in Fairfield County, CT