Achoo! Spring is in the air. with the arrival of chirping birds, green grass and warm breezes comes pollen. and for anyone who suffers from seasonal allergies, this time of year often leaves them feeling irritated, congested and downright miserable.
How can you survive this year’s spring allergy season?
Toronto-based pharmacist Dipen Kalaria, director of Specialty Pharmacy Services at pharmacy.ca, a nationally recognized online pharmacy, offers some suggestions.
As an allergy sufferer himself, Kalaria says he’s tried a lot of different things.
“What I always tell any customer or patient that walks into the store is that you really have to control your symptoms, get ahead of them, and stay ahead. If they build up and you get really congested and really rundown, then it takes longer to clear them up,” Kalaria said in a telephone interview.
There’s no one allergy treatment that actually treats all the symptoms of allergies, Kalaria pointed out.
He recommends antihistamines for the runny nose, a decongestant for the nasal congestion, and sinus rinses can be used to help flush the pollen out of your sinuses and nasal passages.
“But some of those things take some time to work,” pointed out Kalaria, who has been helping Canadians treat allergy symptoms for the last decade.
For quick relief, Kalaria encourages people to turn to something commonly used to treat coughs and colds — a lozenge with metholyptus in it.
“It will actually relieve that scratchy, itchy throat that you have, as well as congestion, in a few seconds,” he said. “And in the meantime, you can take your decongestant and whatever else in order to get the symptoms under control for the long term.”
Don’t wait for seasonal allergy symptoms to flair up in full force before using products to treat them, Kalaria recommends.
“During allergy season, even if you’re feeling better, keep treating the symptoms,” he insisted.
“Many of the things work better as a preventive than they do as an active treatment. they will work as an active treatment once you have the symptoms,” Kalaria explained.
During allergy season, take an antihistamine every day — even if you’ve had a few good days, Kalaria recommended. Otherwise, as soon as you go out and the pollen reactivates your immune system, you’ll be back behind the symptoms. and in that case, it will take another couple of days to get back to being symptom-free.
A lot of people ignore their allergy symptoms, he pointed out, adding that they don’t realize the toll that allergy symptoms have on them.
“If you have allergies, it not only affects your ability to concentrate, but the havoc that it plays on the immune system makes you tired. People have difficulty sleeping,” he pointed out. “So there’s more issues than just having a little bit of nasal congestion. It actually really does impair your quality of life.”
Seasonal allergy suffers should do what they can to avoid pollen, Kalaria recommended.
Allergies are almost always worse in the mornings, he pointed out. That’s partially because there’s more pollen out in the air in the morning. Pollen levels peak between 6 a.m. and 10 a.m.
Keeping doors and windows closed will make a difference, Kalaria said.
Shower as soon as you get home, he recommends, because pollen will stick to your hair and to your clothes. and get out of the clothes and wash them.
A lot of people know that they’re allergic to their cat or their dog, but don’t realize that a cat or a dog can actually drag a lot of pollen into the house, as well, Kalaria said.
Because pets are so close to the grass, they tend to pick up lots of pollen, so he recommends wiping pets down after a walk to prevent them from bringing that pollen into your home. “And that will help moderate your symptoms,” he said.
There are simple ways you can alleviate your allergy symptoms to get on with your day, Kalaria pointed out. “There’s no need to suffer!”
Dr. Ian Wahl, a ChicagoHealers.com practitioner, offers the following tips for staying allergy-free during allergy season:
• Take a whole-food-based Vitamin C. Vitamin C acts as a natural antihistamine, he points out.
• Magnesium eases breathing. Some immunologists suggest taking 400 milligrams of magnesium daily helps with nasal allergies and breathing problems. If you want to supplement your diet with magnesium-rich foods, the best sources are nuts, beans, whole grains, green leafy vegetables, and bananas.
• Wear sunglasses when going outside. Allergic rhinitis, or hay fever, creates a certain amount of photosensitivity. Wearing sunglasses helps reduce your sensitivity to light and, in turn, helps your eyes from excessively watering.
• Drink a lot of cool water. It probably seems counterintuitive, to recommend drinking water with all of that liquid in your sinuses, nose and eyes. But rehydrating is one of the best ways to eliminate toxins from your body. Besides, it cools you down and provides some symptom relief.
• Check the local pollen count. If you have severe allergies, you might consider wearing a mask on days when the pollen count is unusually high.
• Stay away from dairy. “I know, it is summer and that means ice cream. But if you have hay fever, eating dairy will produce even more phlegm and make you feel worse,” Wahl warns.
• use your bathroom exhaust fan when taking a shower. this will help prevent the growth of mould in the shower. Cleaning your bathtub or shower liner is also important. better yet, replace your liner every month or two, if you have mould sensitivities or asthma, Wahl recommends.
• keep your dryer vent clear. Buildup of lint in the dryer vent will cause an excess of dust in your house. Have your vents cleaned regularly to avoid aggravating your allergy symptoms.
• use a vacuum with a HEPA filter. HEPA filter vacuums don’t recirculate back into the air the polluting particles that the vacuum has just picked up. make sure you have a true HEPA filter and not a HEPA-like filter, he cautions. You can tell by looking at the manufacturer’s test results of their filter. A true HEPA filter will have test results stating that .3 microns are 99.97% or above.
• Get rid of clutter. Allergy sufferers need to be especially careful about controlling dust in their homes. and clutter is a major source of dust and dust mites. If you can’t see your floors or walls in closets and basements, you have a clutter problem. just as clutter clogs your house and obstructs the free flow of energy in your home, clutter also clogs your nose and obstructs the free flow of life-giving air into your body, Wahl points out.
A therapy revolution is coming, according Allergic Living magazine. In a 20-page special section, titled “The Future of Allergies,” the magazine looks 10 years ahead — at everything from environmental allergies to food allergy and celiac disease.
• A “Pednut” vaccine that tricks the immune system into accepting peanut.
• Chinese herbal tablets that would prevent allergic reactions or asthma attacks.
• A hypoallergenic peanut plant.
• A hypoallergenic cat.
• Desensitization clinics for peanut, milk and egg allergies.
• A celiac pill that stops gluten from penetrating the small intestine.
• The emergence of gluten-free wheat in the marketplace.
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