Climate change is making allergy season worse: As warm seasons get warmer and last longer, more plants release more pollen for longer periods.
One of the biggest mistakes people make in the course of seeking relief from allergy symptoms is thinking they have an allergy when they don’t, says Jonathan Bernstein, a Cincinnati allergist and lead author on a recently published review article on allergic nasal symptoms.
The next time your immune system meets that pollen, it’s primed — and it reacts fast, unleashing hellfire on the invader within 30 to 60 minutes.
Also, if your symptoms don’t respond well to allergy medications, that’s a good clue you might not be dealing with an allergy, says David Shulan, a retired allergist who used to practice in Albany, New York.
Letting allergy symptoms run their course won’t “build immunity” to the allergen.
It’s not uncommon for people with seasonal allergy symptoms to just ride them out.
He recommends people with persistent seasonal symptoms actually start taking their medications before allergy season starts.
While some people advocate eating local honey to reduce allergy symptoms, several experts told me there isn’t great data to support this practice, but “the placebo effect is remarkably powerful,” said Shulan.
For many Americans right now, perhaps more than in the past, it’s a sniffly, snotty, itchy-eyed time.
When trees, grasses, and ragweed spew pollen into the air, usually in the spring (but really, all year round), the immune system overreacts, causing seasonal allergies. The severity of allergy season is increasing due to climate change, as more plants release more pollen for longer periods of time during warmer, longer warm seasons. Experts believe increased pollen levels are causing an increased number of genetically predisposed adults to become allergic to seasonal triggers for the first time, even though allergies are inherited.
You understand that it can be difficult to find relief if your airways are among those affected. With so much information available and a dizzying array of products, it can be difficult to know where to start and what is true.
These are some pointers to help you consider the cause of your symptoms and take action to put an end to the uncontrollably flowing liquid out of your head.
Allergies aren’t the only thing that can cause nasal congestion.
It doesn’t matter why people get sneezy and snotty; you should. A lot of things can cause this.
According to lead author of a recently published review article on allergic nasal symptoms and Cincinnati allergist Jonathan Bernstein, one of the biggest mistakes people make when trying to find relief from allergy symptoms is believing they have an allergy when they don’t. “So, are they correctly diagnosed first and foremost?”.
An imperceptible biochemical cascade with numerous moving components—many of which allergy drugs target—occurs when an allergic reaction is the cause of nasal symptoms. It is not the same as what occurs when the airways are simply irritated (due to dust, smoke, or perfume), infected (due to a cold or another infection), or responding to changes in pressure or temperature.
It is therefore impossible to treat a non-allergic cause with an allergy medication, and doing so may result in needless side effects, unnecessary costs, and frustration.
Most of the time, allergic reactions to pollen do not occur on the first exposure. Upon first encountering those microscopic particles, your immune system simply interprets the specific kind of pollen as an alien invader that it finds offensive. There’s a chance that your immune system will react in the moment, causing mild runny nose and sneezing. Right now, the most important thing it’s accomplishing is imprinting the invader’s memory in memory cells and training the rest of your immune system to overreact the next time it manifests. Sensitization describes this phase of the allergic reaction.
Your immune system is primed the next time it encounters that pollen, and it responds quickly, wreaking havoc on the invader in as little as 30 to 60 minutes. Mast cells, which release histamine, are among the important participants in this rapid reaction. This substance causes inflammation by dilatation of the nasal blood vessels, goosebumps the facial sensory nerves, resulting in sneezing and nasal itching, and stimulates the mucus-producing glands in the nose, which results in water everywhere.
If you have fever along with irritated airways, it’s more likely that you have an infection (probably a viral cold) than allergies. Here are some signs that your symptoms aren’t allergic. Additionally, according to retired allergist David Shulan, who formerly practised in Albany, New York, if your symptoms don’t improve when you take allergy medication, that’s a good indication you may not be dealing with an allergy. As a helpful next step, he says allergy testing may be recommended when medications seem inconsistently effective, or if they are effective but you are unable to identify your allergy or your symptoms are severe.
Pedro Lamothe, a pulmonologist at Emory University in Atlanta who treats and studies allergic asthma and lung disease, claims that severe symptoms are subjective. Severe symptoms, according to him, are defined as those that are resistant to treatment or interfere with day-to-day activities such as going outside or working. “.
It is best to have allergy testing performed by a physician who specializes in allergies if you decide to get tested. According to Bernstein, “You have to correlate it with the individual’s history and their exposure.”.
Allowing allergy symptoms to resolve on their own won’t cause the allergen to “build immunity.”. The next time, it only gets worse.
People who have symptoms of seasonal allergies often choose to wait them out. For a variety of reasons, some people force themselves to endure because they think it will lessen the severity of their subsequent allergic reactions.
Lamothe asserts that that is not the case. More chances for your immune system to become overreactive to a stimulus and retain that knowledge so it can react even more violently the next time around translate into more sensitization, or allergic reactions. According to him, allowing allergic reactions to progress won’t make you stronger; instead, it will intensify your reactions. “.
One more effect of delaying treatment for an allergic reaction is that, in the end, you’ll require a lot more medication to control your symptoms in their later stages than you would have if you’d treated the response earlier. According to Lamothe, “these drugs are far more effective at preventing the symptoms than at curing them once they’ve already begun.”.
According to Lamothe, it is preferable to halt the allergic reaction before the cascade begins and before the immune system becomes too intelligent for your own good. Ideally, the reaction should be avoided completely. He advises those who experience recurring seasonal symptoms to begin taking their medication well in advance of the onset of allergy symptoms. It could mean beginning the medication in February in Georgia’s relatively temperate climate.
For those who suffer from potentially fatal seasonal allergy-related asthma, being proactive is especially crucial. Because asthma is essentially an allergic reaction restricted to the lungs, wheezing, coughing, and shortness of breath are common symptoms of allergy-related asthma. The allergic reaction initiates in the upper airways, which include the mouth, throat, and nose, and progresses to the lungs.
Note how frequently you take your asthma medication if you have seasonal allergies that cause breathing difficulties, suggests Minneapolis allergist Cherie Zachary. Seek extra assistance managing both your asthma and allergies if you’re using a rescue medication (such as an albuterol inhaler) more than three times per week or if you’ve needed to take an oral steroid like prednisone more than once in the previous year, advises the expert.
People who suffer from allergy-induced asthma may become so accustomed to breathing heavily during specific seasons, or even all year round, that they forget it’s not typical to feel out of breath during everyday activities. This might be particularly true if a large number of people in their immediate vicinity are also having breathing difficulties. Elderly patients may delay seeking care even when they are extremely sick because they may have had negative experiences with the medical system or ineffective treatments.
That need not be a disincentive anymore. “We have good treatments now for allergies and asthma, which we certainly didn’t have 35 years ago,” says Zachary.
According to her, the lower your threshold for seeking medical attention if you experience uncontrollable symptoms during allergy season, the higher your risk of developing asthma related to allergies. Don’t ignore your symptoms, especially if you have asthma. “.
There ought to be a lower bar for treatment for certain risk groups since they are more likely to experience potentially fatal effects from pollen exposure.
The manifestation of seasonal allergies varies amongst US racial/ethnic groups. Although Black people were twice as likely as White people to visit the emergency room due to asthma exacerbations brought on by pollen, White adults are more likely than other races to receive a seasonal allergy diagnosis. In general, asthma of any kind, including severe and potentially fatal flare-ups, is more common in Black and Puerto Rican Americans than in the general population.
The causes of these differences are multifaceted, but they include factors such as how well people manage their allergies on a daily basis, which is linked to concerns about insurance coverage, trust, and access to healthcare. There could also be environmental factors involved: it is believed that exposure to air pollution and industrial toxins increases the risk of developing allergies and asthma, including pollen-related asthma. People of color may experience a higher incidence of seasonal allergies and their most severe effects due in part to higher concentrations of these pollutants in their neighborhoods and places of employment.
Zachary claims that there is a real correlation between redlining and risk factors.
You may not want to take an oral medication as your first line of treatment for allergies.
Experts offer numerous strategies for minimizing your face time with your specific allergen of choice. Proactive allergy management is always the best treatment.
As there is typically less pollen in the air before dawn, after sunset, and during or right after rain, Shulan advises limiting your time outside during peak pollen time, which is usually around midday. If the outside air temperature isn’t too cold, you can also consider donning a face mask, suggests Lamothe.
As much as possible, keep pollen from entering your house by cleaning your face, including your brows and any facial hair, changing into new clothes and shoes when you get home (and leaving them outside the bedroom), and maybe taking off your makeup, which pollen likes to cling to. Minimizing symptoms during the night can also be achieved by keeping bedroom windows closed and using an air conditioner, either with or without a separate air filtration unit. During allergy season, stay indoors if you usually hang your clothes outside to dry. Using saline nasal spray or nasal irrigation (such as with a Neti pot) to clean the surfaces of your upper airways can also be beneficial.
While there isn’t much evidence to support the suggestion that consuming local honey can lessen allergy symptoms, experts told me that “the placebo effect is remarkably powerful,” according to Shulan.
The variety of over-the-counter allergy medications available is literally overwhelming, and many people still require pharmaceutical assistance to manage their symptoms even with these preventive measures.
A nasal spray containing a corticosteroid is a good place to start for many people with moderate to severe seasonal allergies, advises Lamothe. These consist of mometasone (Nasonex), triamcinolone (Nasacort), fluticasone (Flonase), and budesonide (Benacort). These are comparatively low-risk because, unlike oral steroids, they only affect the inside surfaces of the nose and upper airways where they land. However, to prevent soaking the nasal septum and causing nosebleeds, point the spray nozzle outward when you spray. Don’t expect immediate results from these medications; it may take a few days to feel relief.
Faster acting antihistamines can be bought as oral pills, nasal sprays, and eye drops. Once more, the likelihood of systemic effects is lower for formulations that you do not take orally. First-generation oral antihistamines like diphenhydramine (Benadryl) are more likely to induce sleepiness than second-generation antihistamines like cetirizine (Zyrtec), fexofenadine (Allegra), and loratadine (Claritin). Cetirizine can be a little sedative for some people; the medication’s variant, levocetirizine dihydrochloride (Xyzal), does not have this effect.
Benadryl has a sedative effect that some people find enjoyable, but experts don’t recommend taking it frequently because of new research linking it to dementia. Additionally, they advise exercising caution when using decongestants: while occasional doses of pseudoephedrine are safe for many adults, they are not recommended for children and can increase blood pressure and heart rate. It is not advisable to use antihistamine nasal sprays, such as oxymetazoline (Afrin), for longer than a few days at a time because they can cause dependence.
According to Shulan, immunotherapy may be a viable option for you if allergy medications aren’t managing your symptoms or if you require more medication than you’d like to take. This treatment is most commonly known as allergy shots; it consists of gradually increasing the amount of the protein to which you are allergicly injected under your skin until your immune system no longer overreacts, which typically takes three to five years.
With more recent oral formulations, certain allergies can receive this treatment without the need for needles. As of right now, ragweed, grasses, and dust mite allergies can be treated with oral immunotherapy, according to Food and Drug Administration approval.
Additionally available for purchase at retail, oral allergy drops are frequently promoted as a “natural” remedy for allergies. However, Zachary notes that there is a lack of evidence to support the claim that these frequently expensive products improve rather than worsen conditions and that they are not FDA-approved. According to her, “natural is not always neutral.”.
