Allergies: do this every evening

Its that time again: Seasonal Allergies…..your nighttime routine!

I thought I would switch gears a little today and perhaps discuss something that may feel more personally pressing than Covid-19: and that is seasonal allergies. Adults are always surprised when they develop allergies (and asthma) late in life but it happens all the time. Especially in Maryland. The old joke to new arrivals used to be “Welcome to Maryland, I give you three years to develop allergies!” If you got away with five years you were lucky.

It may surprise you to know that what you do in the evening is the most important thing you can do as far as controlling your symptoms.

First, before you go to bed you want to wash the pollen out of your nose, however you choose to do that. Could be you use Simply Saline or take a shower, breathe in some steam etc but you don’t want to take it in your nose to bed with you. If you use a steroid nasal spray like flonase you want to flush with the saline first and then use it.

Secondly your hair, if you wash it or cover it you will not be spreading pollen all over your pillow to breathe in all night.

Sometimes during the allergy season people get nose bleeds, this is because the mucosa is irritated or dry and easily rubs off. A simple solution is to put a little Vaseline with the tip of your little finger at the opening to your nose. This stops the mucosa from being dry and tearing so easily. Normally you would do this right before bed, after all the other measures you’ve taken. Steam of course also helps to avoid the mucosa from being dried out, especially if you have been blowing your nose all day.

Usually the over the counter anti-histamines will control symptoms for 24 hours, if they don’t a little Benedryl at night can also help and you will sleep soundly. For some reason the Kirkland brand of  Loratadine doesn’t work as well and it can make you feel loopy! If you are going to use that particular brand I suggest you take it in the evenings.

If all the over the counter medications are not working you can call in for a short term prescription to get you through the season. Either for itchy eyes: drops or for more systemic symptoms: Singulair.

FYI Allergies can be associated with a lot of fatigue.

Prevention? Our good friend Vitamin C helps with this as well. Interestingly during the allergy season sufferers can tolerate much higher doses than they can in other seasons. That’s your body’s way of telling you that you need it, if your stool gets too soft you are taking too much.

Avoid aspirin during the allergy season if you get a stuffy nose, it increases the production of nasal polyps which can lead to getting (unnecessary) surgery.

Why do you sneeze? Your body is trying to expel the irritant. How does it lead to sinus infections? The accumulation of mucous in the airways backs up into the sinuses and sits around like a stagnant pond (sinus congestion) and when bacteria jump in and multiple you end up with a bacterial sinus infection.

P.S Corona likes the respiratory tract too so keep it covered outside J