Manage Your Seasonal Allergies

From spring to winter, each season is filled with exciting times and moments worth remembering. Still, for many, a new season can come with annoyances, like sneezing or itchy eyes.

While you may expect a fair share of allergy symptoms to ruin your day throughout your friends' favorite seasons, managing your allergies properly during the season can keep you comfortable and confident outdoors, even if it's just for a little bit.

Dennis Rademaker, DO, an allergist with the Franciscan Physician Network Family Wellness Center in Munster, explains how you can manage your seasonal allergies.

When Is Allergy Season?

It's right to consider your allergies around specific times of the year. Still, allergies are more about how your body reacts to changes in your environment.

"Seasonal allergies usually occur at specific times of the year," Dr. Rademaker said. "It's usually repetitive, so year in and year out, we have pollen around the same time. It typically causes an intense increase in allergy symptoms, impacting people three years of age and up."

Dr. Rademaker explained that seasonal allergies usually require several years of exposure yearly before patients start developing symptoms.

"Allergies affect about 10 to 30 percent of the population," Dr. Rademaker said. "In our area, people can experience allergy symptoms around tree pollen, grass pollen, weed and ragweed. So, it depends on when those pollens are elevated."

These pollens are elevated around specific seasons throughout the year, including:

• Tree pollen allergens in the spring
• Grass pollen allergens in the summer
• Ragweed and mold allergens in the fall

What Are Common Seasonal Allergy Symptoms?

Dr. Rademaker explained that there are several common symptoms of seasonal allergies, some of which can be more intense. Some symptoms include:

• Sneezing
• Runny nose
• Nasal obstruction
• Nasal itching
• Palate itching (itching at the top of your mouth)

"Some people do a clicking noise to try to relieve their itching of their soft palate," Dr. Rademaker said. "A lot of this leads to postnasal drip and coughing."

He explained that people with allergies can also experience irritability and fatigue. These can disrupt sleep patterns and cause impairment at school or work.

"It's more than just a nasal disease, really," Dr. Rademaker said. "It's kind of a global disease. As for eye discomfort, there's itching, tears, burning and swelling around the eyes. They develop allergic shiners, which are bluish tint to their eye sockets."

Dr. Rademaker also explained that younger children may not blow their nose properly, which can result in ill parents visiting his office following their child's allergy symptoms.

"There's also the allergic salute, which is when patients push their hand up their nose to try to get relief from the itching and drainage," Dr. Rademaker said.

He also explained a newer and more specific condition related to the food you eat.

"A new condition recently discovered called oral allergy syndrome where patients get an itchy mouth and tongue after eating certain foods, especially during the allergy season," Dr. Rademaker said. "The body confuses, pollen allergy with the foods that have those same allergens in them. Bananas, fruits, avocados, apples are pretty common with oral allergy syndrome."

How Are Seasonal Allergies Diagnosed?

Even though recognizing a pattern of symptoms and illnesses throughout each year is one way to identify seasonal allergies, there are other methods to help diagnosis allergies.

"Sometimes the diagnosis is kind of obvious when a patient with allergy symptoms visits at a specific time every year," Dr. Rademaker said. "That's pretty much seasonal allergies. Sometimes it can get a bit confusing with the crossover of the pollens between seasons."

Dr. Rademaker explained that allergists can do skin testing on patients with prolonged allergy symptoms that last beyond the season.

"Skin testing involves pressing allergen into the skin and waiting 15 to 20 minutes to read the reactions," he said. "It's the most accurate and sensitive test that we have.”

Dr. Rademaker explained that sometimes a skin test cannot be performed on a patient because of their skin type or allergy medicine.

"If we can't do a skin test, we'll do blood testing, which is RAST testing, and that measures the body's IgE against specific allergens," he said.

Are There Treatments For Allergies?

While staying indoors can be an effective way to avoid seasonal allergy symptoms, there are ways to manage those symptoms if you want to spend some time outside.

"The first thing I tell patients is to prioritize avoidance, but they don't like to hear that because that means being indoors during our nicest time of the year," Dr. Rademaker said.

Dr. Rademaker explained that if you would rather be outside to enjoy the season, great over-the-counter products are available to help manage your allergy symptoms.

"Antihistamines are effective for 24 hours with low drowsiness and very few side effects," Dr. Rademaker said. "They primarily work for sneezing, itching and runny nose symptoms. Examples of antihistamines are Claritin, Zyrtec and Allegra."

Dr. Rademaker also mentioned using nasal steroid sprays like Flonase, Nasonex or Rhinocort, which usually work better for congestion, swelling and post-nasal drip.

He explained that some antihistamine options include controlled substances, so you'll have to sign to obtain them. Some antihistamines may affect blood pressure and sleep patterns.

"Also, there are many eye drop choices on the market now, and they're very effective against allergy symptoms," Dr. Rademaker said.

Dr. Rademaker explained that other prescription products like Singular Montelukast can help with congestion alongside the antihistamine medications that you're using.

For patients who aren't a good fit for any of these medications, Dr. Rademaker explained that they'll consider oral steroids instead.

"You have to use oral steroids cautiously because they have a lot of other side effects," Dr. Rademaker said. "It can raise your blood sugar along with other long-term side effects. So, those are kind of a last resort."

How Can Immunotherapy Help With Allergies?

Allergy shots are surprisingly common, so you may have heard stories about them during a conversation with peers. Still, they're not the only immunotherapy available.

Dr. Rademaker explained that there are two approved types of immunotherapy, both of which aim to desensitize patients and reverse their allergies.

Allergy Shots

"With subcutaneous immunotherapy or allergy shots, we give the patients allergens that they are known to be allergic to in small doses and gradually increase it until the body tolerates it," he said.

Immunotherapy of allergies starts weekly and eventually monthly within a five-year program. Still, Dr. Rademaker explained that this method is usually for people allergic to multiple things.

Allergy Pill

Sublingual immunotherapy is a newer treatment where patients place an allergen pill under their tongue daily at home. Dr. Rademaker explained that they'll start with this immunotherapy three months before the allergy-causing season starts.

"We have sublingual immunotherapy for grass and ragweed pollen allergies so far," Dr. Rademaker said. "Around February, a patient visits the office and takes a tablet under their tongue for grass pollen, and then uses that therapy until June. It's the same thing for ragweed but therapy usually starts in June and goes until October. So, it usually takes three seasons to desensitize."

Are Allergies Worse At Night?

There's a reason that you're still rubbing your eyes and sneezing at the end of the day during your allergy season.

"Even after the allergen or pollen you were exposed to throughout the day is gone, the inflammatory reaction continues," Dr. Rademaker said. "So, that reaction is most noticeable in patients at night. Our bodies produce chemicals help control allergies. With this, adrenaline is one thing that's higher during the day than at night."

Dr. Rademaker explained that exposure to your allergens may affect your sleep patterns, but consistently taking your medicine can help at night and throughout the day.

 How Can I Get Ahead Of Allergy Season?

If you've lived with allergies, you'll likely know when you start to catch allergy symptoms outdoors, so it's best to get ahead of the season with the right mindset.

"Early treatment is essential," Dr. Rademaker said. "Don't wait till the season is in full effect and your allergies are really bad before you start your medicines."

Dr. Rademaker also shared how using your medicines together is important when possible.

"It doesn't hurt to keep the house closed up and run the air conditioning, during the season," Dr. Rademaker said. "If you've been outdoors for any extent, return home, shower and change your clothes. Get the pollen off your body. And definitely seek help if symptoms don't get better right away."