Smart approaches to spring allergies

What do 36 million Americans have in common with actresses Kate Winslet and Debra Messing and troubled pop star Britney Spears? If you guessed seasonal allergies, you’re right! Yes, even the glamorati (and the tabloid sweethearts) suffer from the same ailments that plague the rest of us.

Spring allergy symptoms, such as sneezing, sinusitis, and postnasal drip, occur when your immune system overreacts to airborne allergens such as mold, dust mites, and pollen, the fine dust produced by trees, grasses, and weeds. Taming spring allergies may require a many-pronged approach, which you should discuss and individualize with your doctor. Some guidelines to keep in mind include:

#1 Find Dr. Right.
The first step is to visit an allergist who can identify your allergic triggers (see box) and determine the best course of treatment for you. The good news is that this may not require a long series of injections, as there are many effective medications now available.

#2 Get the right meds.
• Start with OTCs. Over-the-counter oral and spray antihistamines and decongestants are the first line of defense against spring allergies, although they can make you drowsy. But nondrowsy formulas are just as effective, and nasal spray with cromolyn sodium is often helpful.
• Consider Rx options. There are many prescription remedies to choose from, and new drugs come on the market frequently. Ask your doctor which ones can help you most.
• Don’t wait. Start taking medication before spring allergy season hits. Your doctor may want to build up your dosage over time. During allergy season, if you know you’ll be coming in contact with one of your triggers (if you’re invited to a picnic in the park, for example), take medication before you leave home. If your symptoms are hard to control, reaching for OTC remedies after you start sneezing may not suffice. In such cases, “more aggressive treatment will be needed,” warns James Li, MD, professor of medicine and consulting physician in the division of allergic diseases and internal medicine at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.
• Immunotherapy shots. If your allergist determines that medication alone is not enough for you, immunotherapy injections are still a good bet. The shots contain a protein extract of the allergen, which diminishes your allergic response. After a few years, your allergy symptoms should lessen. Immunotherapy is ultimately successful in up to 90% of people with seasonal allergies and in 70% to 80% of people who suffer with allergies year-round.

#3 Make your home allergy-safe.
If you’re allergic to pollen, shut the windows and turn on the air conditioner. Buy a dehumidifier (keep house humidity below 50%), use a HEPA (High Efficiency Particulate Arresting) air purifier (in your bedroom) and vacuum cleaner, and put a HEPA filter on your furnace. To ease dust-mite allergies, use allergen-proof coverings for mattresses and pillows. There are many online sources for these products. Remove down (feathers) from your bed and consider removing the carpet from your bedroom floor.

#4 Reduce stress.
“We can’t say that stress directly causes or even aggravates the allergic response,” says Dr. Li. “But patients under stress may experience more trouble with their allergies. For example, poor sleep due to stress can be doubly aggravated by nasal congestion or an allergy-related cough.”

#5 Check pollen counts.
If you know pollen counts are high, limit your time outside. The National Allergy Bureau has pollen- and mold-counting stations across the country and posts results online at: www.aaaai.org/nab/index.cfm?p=pollen. These counts are also often given with your local weather forecast.

When it comes to easing allergy symptoms, what works for one person may not work for another. Here’s how three allergy sufferers found relief:

* Ernie Cote, 39, Dallas, Texas.
When Cote was a kid, he had to don pants and long-sleeved shirts on balmy spring days because if he so much as touched the grass, he’d break out in hives. In fact, until recently, Cote, a sales manager for a software company, woke up congested every day and suffered from frequent sinus infections that “completely knocked me out. I wanted to play with my kids and spend time with my wife,” he adds. “But I just couldn’t.” Cote tried various allergy medications and immunotherapy shots. He also bought allergen-free bedding, removed all the carpets from his home, and even kept his dogs shaved. Even so, he found that nothing really eased his suffering long-term. Every night before bed, he used his neti pot, a nasal irrigator that flushes out nasal secretions. “It kept me clear long enough to get some sleep,” he says. Finally, in a last-ditch attempt to find lasting relief, Ernie underwent surgery to enlarge his sinus passages. Last fall he also underwent another treatment that, combined with surgery, really seemed to work: steroid shots. “Within days, I was breathing freely,” he reports. “But,” he adds firmly, “I’m never getting rid of my neti pot.”

* Andrea King Collier, 51, Lansing, Michigan.
Collier, a motivational speaker and author of The Black Woman’s Guide to Black Men’s Health (Wellness Central, 2007), is allergic to dust and mold. Nevertheless, come spring, she feels compelled to rearrange her closets and clean the house. Unfortunately spring cleaning stirs up her allergens. “Mold and dust just knock me to my knees,” says Collier, whose allergies surfaced after her son was born 18 years ago. Now, she wears a face mask when she cleans, washes her hands often to make sure she doesn’t rub her eyes after coming into contact with an allergen, and has put a HEPA filter on her furnace. When she does encounter an allergen, she takes decongestants and uses eyedrops as needed. “And if I have to be at my best for work,” she says, “I know not to clean anything.”

* Tamara Garvey, 49, Ridgefield, Conn.
When Garvey was a child, every Girl Scout camping trip was a disaster. She would arrive at camp on Friday, start wheezing from her allergies to grass, mold, leaves, animal dander, and dust, and end up in the infirmary by evening. On Saturday, camp staffers would have to summon her parents to take her home. As the years went by, allergies continued to make her miserable. “I spent most of my time blowing my nose,” recalls Garvey, who works as an editor and has three children. Fourteen years ago, she got fed up and underwent immunotherapy injections. After 10 years, Garvey’s allergist declared her cured. Within six months, however, her allergies were as bad as ever. Her allergist resumed the shots, and after a month, she felt much better. “My allergist said I’m one of the few people whose allergies can’t be controlled in other ways, so I have to stay on the shots for the rest of my life,” says Garvey. “Because the shots make my life so much better, I’m willing to do it.”