The overlooked symptoms of allergic disease can have long term effects on your health. Here are three steps to allergy relief that will have you feeling your best in no time.
IDENTIFY SYMPTOMS- Don’t ignore what your body is trying to tell you.
Untreated allergies can manifest as more than sniffles and itchy eyes. Headaches, painful sinus congestion, chronic cough and throat clearing, and sleep disruption are all classic symptoms of allergies. And, unlike the common cold, these symptoms often last longer than two weeks, cropping up time and time again. If left untreated, allergic disease can lead to serious, long term consequences such as recurrent sinus or ear infections, bronchitis, compromised lung function, sleep apnea, and chronic inflammatory disease. These symptoms are your body’s immune system over-reacting to allergic triggers.
IDENTIFY TRIGGERS- The first step toward effectively treating your allergy symptoms is to identify your allergy triggers.
This is accomplished by allergy skin testing performed without needles for allergens such as grasses, trees, weeds, mold, dust mites, foods, and more. After a thorough medical review, the allergist prepares your personalized testing panel that is applied without needles. In 20 minutes, a positive reaction in the form of a hive is recorded. The allergist is specifically trained in evaluating the results and developing a personalized treatment plan specifically for you and your lifestyle. Infants, children and adults can be comfortably and reliably tested.
You don’t need to be experiencing allergy symptoms at the time of your testing visit. Skin testing methods can accurately determine what allergens cause your symptoms, even if you’re not experiencing the symptoms.
CONSIDER TREATMENTS – Over-the-counter options abound but do little to address the root cause.
Antihistamines, decongestants, pain relievers, and even sleep medications: The wall of allergy relief aids at the pharmacy all aim to treat the symptoms, but playing the medicine guessing game can prove futile and expensive. Even if you are able to find the right combination to relieve symptoms side effects like drowsiness, nervousness, increased blood pressure, headaches, insomnia, dry mouth, constipation and blurred vision, are possible. Stop trying to do this yourself. Once an allergist identifies your triggers, she will develop a personalized treatment plan that may be as simple as avoidance measures, making some environmental changes in your home or an over-the-counter medication most effective for your allergic disease. There is also a broad range of prescribed medications that can be life changing for treating persistent allergy symptoms. In some cases when symptoms are persistent and/or incapacitating, immunotherapy in the form of allergy injections, drops or tablets may be prescribed. Immunotherapy is one of the most effective means of treating allergies, often resulting in near complete relief of symptoms.
Feel better. Sleep better. Look better. See an allergist.
One visit with the allergist will identify your allergic triggers and develop a treatment plan.
All the physicians of Allergy & Asthma Specialists are board-certified in allergy and clinical immunology. You can easily schedule an appointment at one of eight convenient locations, and we can usually determine the source of your allergies in a single visit using skin testing without the use of needles. To learn more, contact us today at 1-800-86-COUGH, or click here to visit our website with information on the location closest to you.
