BELLEVILLE – As the weather shifts once again, a lot of people are experiencing allergies. One local physician has advice on how to handle these symptoms — and when to seek treatment.
Dr. Angie Harris, a BJC Medical Group family medicine physician at Belleville Memorial Hospital, explained that seasonal allergies can be treated proactively. She encourages patients who know they have spring allergies to stock up on over-the-counter allergy medication and begin taking these meds before symptoms develop.
“If someone has allergies and it’s seasonal, like they know every spring they get like this or every fall they get like this, it’s a little bit easier to be more prepared, meaning you could start treatment early before the season comes in,” she said. “If you know that spring is bad for you, if you know that the fall is bad for you, you want to start with the antihistamines and the nasal steroids ahead of time.”
If Harris sees a patient in January or February who typically presents with spring allergies by March or April, she will encourage that patient to start taking over-the-counter medications on a daily basis to avoid severe allergy symptoms.
Zyrtec, Claritin and Allegra are “preventative medicines, or maintenance medicines,” she explained. You can start these medications before symptoms appear instead of waiting for symptoms to peak.
Meanwhile, a medication like Benadryl “works really fast” and will provide relief, but typically also comes with drowsiness. By taking maintenance medicines consistently, you can avoid the side effects of a more “acute” medicine like Benadryl.
Harris added that these oral antihistamines work well with intranasal steroids like Flonase; in fact, they’re “synergistic.” These medications are a great way to manage allergy symptoms.
But Harris understands it can be difficult to tell whether you’re experiencing allergies, a cold or another illness that requires antibiotics. They have similar symptoms — drainage, sneezing, itchy and puffy eyes, etc. — but a cold typically resolves in one to two weeks.
If you’re still experiencing symptoms after that, it might be time to try an allergy medication. Either way, a cough might linger for a few weeks.
Some people believe children can “grow out of” their allergies. Harris disagrees with this idea.
“I don’t think that people truly grow out of allergies,” she said. “I think they mature and they know what their triggers are, and so they are better at avoiding those triggers the older they get.”
Young kids might not catch on to the fact that they experience symptoms every spring or every time they’re around cats. But adults start to notice these patterns and can either avoid the triggers or take over-the-counter medications as needed.
However, you can acquire new allergies. If this spring is particularly bad or you’ve noticed more persistent symptoms than usual, try an allergy medication.
And if that doesn’t seem to work or symptoms aren’t improving, you can always make an appointment with Harris and take a deeper look at what might be causing these symptoms.
