4 Tips for Relieving Seasonal Allergies
It never fails. As soon as you trade in those winter coats for light jackets, or shorts for longer sleeves, you start feeling that tingle in the back of your throat and the itching in your eyes. Your seasonal allergies have come back with a vengeance.
Sniffling, sneezing, and watery eyes all seem to be par for the course come fall and spring for you, but you don’t have to suffer in silence. Here are X tips for dealing with seasonal allergies so you can go to work, to school, and enjoy life:
Make a Plan
If your allergies are triggered by pollen, ragweed, grass, or other outdoor irritants, a big part of managing your symptoms is managing your exposure to the allergens. Before you decide to spend a day outdoors, check your local news for their allergy trackers. If the count of your irritant is high, it may be best to save your activities for another day.
When deciding to do yard work, avoid dry, windy days, as these days can circulate more of the irritants that trigger your allergies. If possible, delegate yard work to someone else so you can avoid exposure altogether. If that’s not possible, wear a mask when mowing, raking leaves, or gardening.
Keep the Outdoors Out
When you’re outdoors, even for short periods of time, pollen and other irritants attach to your shoes and clothing. On high allergen days, remove your clothing when you come indoors and toss it straight into the washing machine. Also, keep a pair of indoor slippers or shoes right by the door and, if possible, leave your shoes outside. If you can’t keep your shoes outside, take them off immediately and don’t let them leave the area by your door.
During seasonal flare-ups, you will need to be diligent about keeping your house clean. Dust and vacuum regularly. If you can, avoid sweeping and instead vacuum your hard floors. Change your furnace and air conditioner filters regularly, and use high-efficiency filters whenever possible to help filter allergens from the indoor air.
Rinse Your Sinuses
The mucus inside your nasal passages catches lots of allergens, which is why you sneeze frequently during allergy season. An inexpensive and easy way to help flush them out of your nose is with a saline rinse.
Choose either pre-packaged saline solutions or a neti pot for your nasal flush, and use only distilled, sterile water. The water should also have been either previously boiled and cooled or filtered using a filter with an absolute pore size of 1 or smaller. After using the neti pot or squeeze bottle, rinse it with similarly sterile water and leave it to air dry.
Go Over-The-Counter
Non-prescription antihistamines and decongestants can help alleviate a lot of the sinus pressure and congestion that comes along with seasonal allergies. Finding the right mixture of medications can be tricky, so consult with your doctor if you have questions about what’s safe, what will work best, and what you should try next.
Treatment for Pet Allergies in Mississippi
At Mississippi Asthma & Allergy Clinic, we don’t want you to shut yourself indoors when your seasonal allergies flare up. Our skilled physicians at our five convenient locations throughout Mississippi - Jackson, Meridian, Oxford, D’Iberville, and Ridgeland - can help you find the cause of your seasonal allergies and create a care plan to alleviate your symptoms so you can live your life.