May is Asthma and Allergy Awareness Month. Although it's no longer May, it's important to be aware of allergy symptoms and ways to deal with them.
- More than 50 million Americans experience some type of allergy each year.
- Indoor and outdoor allergies can cause sneezing, sinus swelling, itchy, watery eyes, shortness of breath, an itchy, runny, or blocked nose, and even hives.
- Allergic rhinitis, often called hay fever, affects 6.1 million children and 20 million adults.
- It is important not to wait to begin managing allergies and allergy symptoms.
- How to tell the difference between COVID symptoms and spring allergies.
I had a chance to learn more in this interview.
How prevalent are allergies in the United States and what are the most common allergies that tend to have cold-like symptoms?
In the United States, close to 60 million people suffer from various types of allergies each year. These allergies can range from seasonal allergies like tree and grass pollen to environmental allergies like pets, mold and dust mites. Regardless of what someone is allergic to, the symptoms can often end up looking similar to the common cold. According to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America (AAFA), allergies are the 6th leading cause of chronic illness in the US.
How can people differentiate between allergies and colds or Covid??
The short answer is it's really hard to differentiate. Typically, those diagnosed with COVID-19 do not have sneezing, a top allergy symptom, and those with allergies never experience a fever or overall body aches or chills, which are common symptoms of COVID-19. Most allergy sufferers have had their symptoms for a prolonged period of time whereas symptoms of COVID-19 come on rather suddenly.
What are some of the safest ways for adults and kids to find relief?
One of the absolute safest ways to find long-term relief is through allergy drops. They involve no needles, no chance of a severe reaction and they can be taken at home by children as young as two years old and of course adults as well. In general, they're a great solution for the entire family.
There are also a variety of cleaning tips, like making sure to clean carpets well, wipe down pets and their paws, as well as removing shoes when coming in from outside, as well as general tips like showing before bed to wash pollen off your hair and body, but these just minimize allergy symptoms and don't provide long-term relief. 3
While antihistamine use is OK here and there for temporary relief, we don't recommend taking these on a regular basis as many people do. Taking over the counter medication every day for years is not what we recommend for our patients and especially not for kids, as several studies show that long-term antihistamine use has negative side effects.
Why is it important to take care of allergy symptoms early?
When you address allergy symptoms and find a long-term treatment plan you avoid years of hassle with unnecessary allergy symptoms with no end in sight. We see quite often that allergies can lead to secondary sinus and ear infections, which just means more medication, like antibiotics. Additionally, allergy symptoms contribute to a lack of concentration in both adults and children, leading to poor performance at school and work, not to mention that untreated allergies in children have an extremely good chance of developing into asthma, which can be a dangerous condition and timely to manage. Considering how easy it is to find out what you're allergic to and get customized treatment - it's actually much easier to take care of your allergies than spend a lifetime battling them.
Aspire Allergy & Sinus
Known for making new and innovative allergy therapies available, Aspire made allergy drops a household name when they launched in 2012 and just recently introduced an exceptionally fast way to treat allergies, the ExACT Immunoplasty procedure . This procedure treats allergies in just eight weeks, rather than years.
For more information, please visit https://www.
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