Friday, May 7, 2010
Hello, welcome to the newest video in the Apple Per Day series, exclusively from Righttime Medical Care. In the latest installment, Dr. Graw discusses allergies, primarily of the outdoor kind, what to do to prevent them, and how to respond in the event that allergies may become an issue.
In springtime, when the first blossom occurs on a tree or a flower erupts, those of us who are allergic start to experience the symptoms of allergies. The symptoms can occur through the summer when the grass pollens erupt and into the fall with ragweed, and might not stop until winter when the first hard freeze occurs.
Winter allergens include dust, dust mites, and mold. Spring allergies are primarily associated with flowers and tree pollen.
Spring allergy symptoms are pretty easy to recognize – the sneezy, itchy, scratchy symptoms we all know. Most people complain of itchy and burning eyes, sniffing and sneezing and nose scratching. Some people may develop wheezing and coughing symptoms. You may even develop a crease on your knows or bags under your eyes from all of the congestion.
When the symptoms persists and are not improving with home remedies like over the counter antihistamines and eye drops, its time to see your physician. The physician will try to determine which allergen is causing the problem – is it an early spring blossom, a grass pollen, ragweed or all of them? They may use a skin prick test or complicated, but very modernized and easy to interpret, blood tests to determine the allergen responsible for your symptoms.
The number one treatment for allergies is avoidance. Your doctor may tell you to move to another part of the county. Obviously, that’s not practical. Secondly, they may recommend testing and evaluation of an allergy shot regiment. They will describe that to you and it can be life saving and important to take those allergy shots if you are severely affected.
What can you do to avoid allergies? If the pollen is heavy and can be seen on your dark car, you should probably close the windows, stay indoors with the windows shut and run your air conditioning. If you go outside, use cool compresses on your eyes if they are itching, try over the counter eye drops with antihistamines, try an antihistamine that makes you less drowsy and do not try to drive until you have taken the first dose and have determined if it will make you sleepy. Finally, sleep in an environment where you do not have the pollen continually bathing into the nasal mucosa, which can be stimulated by the allergens to cause the release of chemical mediators that lead to the other symptoms of itching, sneezing and coughing.
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