Allergy Medicines – How to Deal with Hay Fever?

In the time of spring you can see two kind of people. People enjoying the good weather and people with red itchy eyes sneezing all the time. If you are in the second group you are a victim of allergy.

Allergy is a defect in the immune system which makes our body overreact to some substances. There are several kinds of allergy but the hay fever also known as allergic rhinitis is the most common of them. I wasn't allergic until I was 18 so for several springs I thought I was just having flu. Then I started suspecting maybe I was allergic so I decided to take an allergy test.

Allergy test is also called a prick test because they are opening little pricks on your arm and allergens are touched to your skin (pollens, grass, cat, mites and many more allergens). You can observe the results of the allergy test yourself. Some of the pricks immediately grows bigger and gets itchy. So the doctor checks after 20 minutes and marks the red scary pricks and tells you which allergens you are reacting to. Getting the allergy test is crucial because you have to know which allergens you must stay away from. I went there with hay fever and I learned that I am allergic to pollens, grass and cats.

The most important issue in allergy treatment is staying away from the allergens. Having the allergy test is the key factor to know what to stand away from. If you have hay fever or you are allergic to any kind of grass or pollens you should be careful at the spring time. Try to avoid going outside at daytime especially when it's windy. When you are sitting indoors instead of opening windows try to use air conditioners with pollen filters.

Allergy medicines are a key factor of getting rid of hay fever. As I explained before allergy is a defect of immune system overreacting those allergens. What the allergy medicines do is; preventing your immune system to react to those substances. There are several types of allergy medicines.

Antihistamines are taken from mouth and they dissolve in your blood (usually in half an hour) and antihistamine drugs relieve you by blocking receptors in your blood. One side-affect of antihistamines is they cause drowsiness and you can't concentrate to your work or school. It is also said that those drugs affect learning at children. There are several antihistamines which you can try and decide which one works best for you. I can advise you Claritin which makes the less drowsiness at me.

There are also corticosteroid nasal sprays which you can use without the side effect of antihistamines. I just started using those nasal sprays and I can say that they save life. I've been using Nasonex this season and I've seen that it stops sneezing immediately. I strongly advise nasal sprays because they give an immediate relief and don't cause any drowsiness. If you can't find Nasonex, Rhinocort is also an advised nasal spray.

There is also an alternative medication which is called "Allergy Shots" (immunotherapy). Allergy Shots is giving increased dosages of allergens injected to body and causing body to adjust itself to the allergen. This allergy medication is commonly used if the person needs to be in contact with the allergens all the time.

Allergy is a disease you have to learn how to live with. However you should always be cautious, if you are exposed to allergens too much time you allergy can turn into asthma and you may miss your days of hay fever.