Keeping Allergies Under Control | Ask the Expert: Ear, Nose and Throat with Dr. Smedley at Utica Park Clinic

Spread the love

Question:

My allergies seem to be at their worst this time of year. In addition to taking my medication, is there anything else I can do to help keep them under control?

Answer:
The most important thing to understand about seasonal allergies is that symptoms can definitely be improved with proper management. Here are some ideas that have helped many of my patients:

1.) Medication. With seasonal allergies, you can often identify the time of year that your allergies are the most severe. For me, it is the grasses that are present in the summer months. Daily use of a second generation antihistamine pill (cetirizine, loratadine, or fexofenadine) combined with a nasal corticosteroid spray (fluticasone, flunisolide, triamcinolone, beclomethasone, mometasone, or budesonide) leading up to and throughout this time of year, help immensely with my symptoms. If that is not enough, there are also nasal antihistamine sprays that can be prescribed to further control your symptoms. The antihistamine pills and a few of the nasal steroid sprays are available over the counter. As with any medication, be sure to use them only as directed and ask a doctor if you have any concerns or questions.

2) Avoidance. This part is often overlooked but is crucial to proper allergy management! A nose-full of grass from cutting the lawn can give you symptoms for a week…then you need to cut the lawn again! Some patients find that wearing a mask while mowing, and most particularly when dumping the grass, is just the trick to keeping their allergies at bay. The same thing applies to working in any dusty or dirty environments. Also, once you are finished, make sure to shower off the dust and grass that is on your body. Wearing the clothing and carrying the grass and dust with you for hours longer will further aggravate your symptoms. You may also find that certain times of the day are worse than others, so adjust your schedule to not be outside when your symptoms are most severe. Windy days (plenty here in this great state) certainly stir up the allergens!

3) Nasal hydration. A runny nose is a dry nose. That may sound crazy but the mucosal lining of the nose feels so much better with some moisture! Think of what happens to your hands when they are irritated. They get dry and cracked. They feel better with moisturizers. The best moisturizer for your nose is a simple nasal saline spray or gel. It comes in many forms but the key is to use a few sprays in each nostril two to three times a day while your symptoms are at their worst. This also works wonders for recurring nose bleeds, known as epistaxis. Be nice to your nose and keep it hydrated!

A word on nasal sprays: The septum is the dividing wall between the right and left side of your nose. Spraying toward the septum can cause a great deal of irritation, including pain and bleeding. It is better to aim away from the septum. The floor of the nose runs parallel to the roof of your mouth, so don’t spray straight up your nose.

Instead, point straight back, and slightly away from the septum. I tell my patients to use their right hand to spray their left nostril. This naturally causes the spray to stay low and away from the septum. Also, sniffing too hard draws all of the medication past the areas of the nose that you are trying to treat and down the back of your throat where it is not helpful. If you immediately taste the medication you spray, try it without sniffing or wait one to two seconds after you spray before you sniff. This allows optimal delivery of the medication to the mucosal lining of your nose.

5) Finally, Chronic Rhinosinusitis (CRS) often overlaps with Allergic Rhinitis, or what are commonly called “allergies.” The research shows that early identification and proper intervention can lead to great savings in terms of health care costs, time off of work and impact on daily living. Don’t hesitate to get evaluated if your nose and sinuses are causing you problems. The solutions may be much easier and closer than you think!