Allergic disease is the sixth leading chronic disease in the United States, affecting more than 20% of the population. Fortunately, the medical community has effective tools for managing both symptoms and the underlying causes. Allergists recommend avoiding triggers (the allergens and irritants that provoke symptoms) as a first line of defense. Prescription medications are the next step.

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Looking for a sure cure for allergies? You may as well be looking for the Fountain of Youth. Just as medicine offers no surefire way to reverse aging, medicine offers no surefire cure for allergies. Avoiding triggers remains the best way to control allergies. Medications and other care may get you through the worst symptoms. But what happens when an allergen can’t be avoided, or a prescribed medication isn’t doing the trick? In these cases, your health care provider may recommend allergy shots — the closest thing to an allergy cure available today.

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“My antihistamine makes me so sleepy.”
“This decongestant keeps me up all night!”
“My sister destroyed her nose with over-the-counter nasal sprays.”

To self-medicate or not to self-medicate … is that the question? Of 481 people with hay fever surveyed by the Allergy Respiratory Institute of Colorado in Denver, 92% reported ongoing self-medication, either with over-the-counter or prescription drugs. From a health point of view, this isn’t necessarily good news. In fact, if you take over-the-counter drugs for your allergies more than a few days a year, talk to your doctor about switching to prescription allergy medication. They’re quite a bit safer than what you can buy yourself over the counter.

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You soak in the tub and slather on moisturizing cream, but keeping your skin hydrated and healthy is only part of your eczema treatment plan. Since environmental factors can also trigger symptoms such as itchy, red, irritated skin, it’s worth your time to pinpoint the things that may be making you itch and scratch. That way, you can stay as far away from them as possible. The National Jewish Medical and Research Center, a leading authority on allergies and immunology, offers the following tips for avoiding common eczema triggers:

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When hay fever season arrives, you may be looking for relief from allergy symptoms. What are your choices? Medication may treat symptoms after exposure to an allergic trigger, like pollen. But with antihistamines and decongestants come side effects that can interfere with day-to-day activities. In an effort to avoid side effects, as well as to try something new, many people are turning to complementary care: therapies, treatments, and products outside the field of Western medicine, used in conjunction with your regular treatment plan.

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The National Asthma Education and Prevention Program (NAEPP, a project of the National Institutes of Health) recommends that your health care provider give you a written asthma action plan that outlines several peak flow zones. Each zone is based on a percentage of your own personal best peak flow rate, and each specifies which medication (or other action) to take when your reading is in that zone. It might help you to do the math ahead and jot down the range of readings for each zone.

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As a parent, the task of making sure a child with asthma understands his or her medication falls to you — ready or not. Once you master what different asthma medications do, you’ll be better prepared to keep tabs on whether your child knows when and how to use them independently.

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You’re enjoying an evening out with friends when your chest suddenly tightens. You cough. Then the wheezing begins. These warning signs are all too familiar: they signal an impending asthma episode. Knowing your early warning signs helps you reduce the severity of an asthma episode. But wouldn’t it be better if you could spot trouble earlier?

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