Healthy Habits: Treating and Controlling Environmental Allergies

 As students head back to school, they will likely struggle with environmental allergies. Parents need to be extra careful this year and take additional precautions, as their children has been absent from the classroom and may encounter new substances in their environment that may trigger allergies.

Shirin Peters, M.D., Founder of Bethany Medical Clinic New York and mom of two, is on hand to help parents reduce allergy attacks, identify what factors may trigger allergies at school, and how to know if a reaction is due to allergies or something more serious.

You can learn more in this interview.

 

1. Why and how do people develop allergies? What exactly are environmental allergies, and how do they differ from other types of allergies, like seasonal?

Allergies develop when your immune system mistakenly identifies a foreign material such as pollen, mold, animal dander, or food as harmful and reacts against it. Environmental allergy is a broad category including allergies to many materials in our environment that can trigger allergies, such as pollen, dust, mold and pet dander. Seasonal allergy a subcategory of environmental allergy which refers only to allergic reactions triggered by various kinds of seasonal pollen.

 

2. How can people treat/alleviate environmental allergies without loading up on antihistamines? Can you offer some natural remedies?

One way would be to get allergy testing to identify your specific triggers and then take preventative measures to avoid these triggers. For example, when testing reveals a dust mite allergy, one way to alleviate allergy symptoms would be to purchase a quality dust-resistant mattress protector. Nasal saline spray and neti pot/nasal lavage are some other non-pharmaceutical measures to alleviate allergy symptoms. For skin allergies or a skin condition like eczema or psoriasis, try Arm and Hammer Sensitive Skin detergent, which is dermatologist tested and specially formulated for sensitive skin.

3. Are there natural ways to cope with/treat allergies (diet, physical activity, eliminating certain things from your diet or environment, or other lifestyle choices)?

If you have a food allergy, eliminating the food trigger will certainly help with allergy symptoms. If you have an environmental allergy, there are specific approaches to reduce your daily exposure and reduce your symptoms, which depend on your specific allergy triggers.

4. What can someone who has allergies do so they can get outdoors and enjoy the spring?

If they have pollen allergies the options would include daily antihistamine use during pollen season or weekly allergy shots over several months with an allergist, to actually reduce the allergy severity. 

5. Can people ever outgrow their allergies? Do they ever go away over time?

Yes an allergy can fade or completely resolve in time. But sometimes they do not improve. 

6. What are some common causes of environmental allergies -- flower, pollen, grass, animals, etc.?
Tree pollen, grass pollen, weed pollen, mold, dust mites, insect dander, animal dander.

7. What are some common signs and symptoms?
Runny nose, itchy eyes, sneezing, cough, sinus pain, headache, fatigue, abdominal pain or bloating after meals.

8. Can environmental allergies be prevented? If so, how?
Environmental allergy symptoms can be prevented by identifying allergic triggers through allergy testing, and then avoiding them.