What Are Symptoms Of A Seasonal Allergy
Seasonal allergies typically cause symptoms which may include runny nose, nasal congestion, itchy skin, sneezing, watery eyes and itchy eyes or ears. In rare circumstances, people may experience shortness of breath, wheezing and coughing. Some people who have seasonal allergies also have asthma. These individuals need to be aware that seasonal allergens could potentially worsen their asthma.
Can Hay Fever Cause A Rash
While other symptoms of hay fever are traced to breathing pollens and other allergens, hay fever rashes can often be traced to allergens coming in direct contact with the skin.
For instance, you may be touching various pollens in plants and flowers when youre working in your yard. When compounded by the fact that youre stirring up these pollens by working in flowerbeds, you have a recipe for a skin irritation that can develop into a full-blown skin rash or hives.
A rash may be mistaken for hives. Hives are generally caused by an allergic reaction to something thats been ingested or inhaled. However, hives can occur as a result of hay fever.
The first symptoms youll notice are itchiness and possibly red patches or eruptions on the skin. These look more like welts than bumps, with edges that are clearly defined. The surface of the skin will appear swollen, almost as if youve been scalded.
As time goes on, the spots may increase in size. They may even disappear and later reappear. Hives specifically tend to turn white when pressed.
How Can You Treat Back Pain
If youre suffering from back pain, there are several potential treatments to consider.
Medications, like topical analgesic creams and ointments, may offer pain relief. Analgesic medications are over-the-counter medications, such as aspirin or acetaminophen. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medications can reduce pain and swelling. These drugs often referred to as NSAIDs, include common over-the-counter medications such as ibuprofen and naproxen sodium. It is possible to get a stronger NSAID from a doctor.
If you have chronic back pain, additional medications may include muscle relaxants and even antidepressants. However, these options may not work for everyone.
Medications are just one treatment option. You may prefer to use hot or cold packs, or both, to ease a sore and stiff back. These packs offer a number of benefits. Heat helps reduce pain and muscle spasms, while cold reduces swelling and numbs more intense pain.
Exercise is another treatment option, especially if the cause of the problem is weight-related. However, it is important to note that while exercise can ease chronic pain, it is not ideal for acute back pain. Individuals suffering from either types of pain should seek advice and clarification from a doctor or physical therapist.
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What Are The Types Of Allergies And How Are They Treated
You can be allergic to a wide variety of substances including pollen, animal dander, mold and dust mites.
Pollen
Seasonal allergic rhinitis, or hay fever, is an allergic response to pollen. It causes inflammation and swelling of the lining of your nose and of the protective tissue of your eyes .
Symptoms include sneezing, congestion , and itchy, watery eyes, nose and mouth. Treatment options include over-the-counter and prescription oral antihistamines, anti-leukotrienes, nasal steroids, nasal antihistamines, and nasal cromolyn. In some people, allergic asthma symptoms can be caused by exposure to pollen.
Your symptoms can be reduced by avoiding pollen. Stay indoors when pollen counts are high, close your windows, and use air conditioning. Ask your healthcare provider about immunotherapy to treat pollen allergy.
Dust mites
Dust mites are tiny organisms that live in dust and in the fibers of household objects, such as pillows, mattresses, carpet, and upholstery. Dust mites grow in warm, humid areas.
The symptoms of dust mite allergy are similar to those of pollen allergy. To help manage dust mite allergies, try using dust mite encasements over pillows, mattresses, and box springs. Also, remove carpet, or vacuum frequently with a high-efficiency filter vacuum cleaner. Treatment may include medications to control your nasal/eye and chest symptoms. Immunotherapy may be recommended if your symptoms are not adequately controlled with avoidance methods and medications.
Molds
How Do Spring Allergies Affect The Skin
When an allergen enters your system, the immune system overreacts, attacking it as it would bacteria or a virus. This prompts the release of histamine, which leads to the symptoms youre accustomed to, including sneezing, itchy eyes, and sometimes, breathing difficulties.
That reaction inside your body can affect your skin, too, though, even if you didnt actually touch something that youre allergic to. In fact, skin conditions like eczema, psoriasis, and hives are likely to flare up right when your allergies do, as they are connected to the immune system, too.
There are other changes that may indicate an allergic reaction, including swollen or inflamed skin, puffy eyes, red skin, flaky skin, and even a dull or discolored hue to the skin. Skin allergies can even affect your scalp, causing it to itch or become dryer than usual.
If youre suffering from allergy symptoms on your skin, you could become more sensitive to certain products. Lets say that your skin is dry and inflamed because of allergy season. Suddenly you may notice that you develop a reaction to your makeup or cleanser. Your skin turns red or breaks out when it never did before. If this happens to you, it could be because the allergens disrupted the outer skin barrier just enough to make skin more vulnerable to the chemical or synthetic ingredients in that product.
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How Can I Prevent A Skin Allergy
The best way to avoid that rash is to steer clear of the allergen. Your doctor can help you figure out exactly what the cause of your allergy is.
You may get a patch test. Tiny amounts of allergens are put on your skin. Youâll be asked to keep that area dry. After a few days, those areas are checked to see if you get a reaction.
If you do touch a potential allergen, wash the area with soap and water as soon as possible. Get details on common skin irritants to avoid.
Allergic Reactions And The Susceptibility Of The Skin
While some skin conditions result from an allergic reaction, others make your skin more susceptible to them. For example:
- Atopic Dermatitis Your skin is susceptible to external irritants when you have eczema. As a result, its incredibly easy for your skin to feel dry and irritated, even when there arent any allergens immediately nearby. It also means that when allergens are present around you, your eczema may flare up, and you may experience symptoms like swelling, redness, and even patches of skin that appear crusty or ooze if scratched.
- Allergic Contact DermatitisAllergic contact dermatitis occurs when your skin comes in direct contact with an allergen. For instance, coming in contact with poison ivy, poison oak, and poison sumac can also cause a red, itchy rash from the oily coating covering these plants. The allergic reaction can come from touching the actual plant or touching clothing, pets, etc. that have come into contact with the oil.
- Urticaria Hives are an inflammation of the skin when the immune system releases histamine. Histamine causes small blood vessels to leak, which leads to swelling in the skin. Acute urticaria occurs after eating a particular food or coming in contact with a particular trigger.
- Puffy Eyes and Dark Circles Eye irritation is one of the most recognized symptoms of seasonal allergies. But the skin around them gets irritated too. Touching already irritated skin is the worst way to make your allergic reaction worse.
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How Seasonal Allergies Affect Your Skin
You can blame allergies for a lot of things, like itchy eyes, runny nose, sneezing, wheezing and scratchy throat, to name a few. Skin problems are another complaint you may be able to add to the list. Below is an overview of how allergies affect skin, how allergy-related skin problems can be prevented and the best course of treatment.
What Is Food Allergy And How Is It Treated
Food allergy or food hypersensitivity can develop to almost any protein or carbohydrate component of food. It most commonly develops in response to protein of the food dairy products, beef, wheat gluten, chicken, chicken eggs, lamb, and soy are commonly associated with food allergies in dogs. Food allergy can develop at almost any age. Food allergy may produce any of the clinical signs previously discussed including itching, digestive disorders, and respiratory distress. A dog may have multiple types of allergy, such as both food allergy and atopy making the exact diagnosis of a dogâs itching quite challenging.
“Food allergy typically does not respond well to corticosteroids or other medical treatments.”
Food allergy typically does not respond well to corticosteroids or other medical treatments. Treatment requires identifying the offending component of the diet and eliminating them. The most accurate way of testing for food allergies is with an elimination diet trial using a hypoallergenic diet. Because it takes at least eight weeks for all other food products to be eliminated from the body, the dog must eat the special diet exclusively for eight to twelve weeks. If a positive response and improvement of your pet’s clinical signs occurs, your veterinarian will advise you on how to proceed.
“If the diet is not fed exclusively, it will not be a valid test.”
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Your Allergies Can Cause A Sore Body
Some people suffer from hay fever or allergy-induced sinusitis in summer due to the higher pollen count or humidity. Symptoms like itchy eyes, coughing, runny nose and constant congestion are enough to wear anyone down.
Not only in your head and nose
For some, a mild sense of discomfort may be as bad as it gets. But, according to the Orthopedic Institute of Pennsylvania , some people who suffer from seasonal allergies may also experience severe joint, muscle, back and neck ache.
You may even experience a low-grade fever, which makes it easy to confuse your allergy symptoms with a cold or even flu.
The link between chronic fatigue, aches, pains and allergies was established decades ago. In a study published in The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, patients who complained of fatigue, low-grade fever, aches and pains also often reported either seasonal or food allergies.
How are pain and allergies related?
While seasonal allergies often affect the nasal region, and the symptoms are mostly above the neck, pollen can affect the entire body as your immune system goes into overdrive.
Allergies and joint pain
When you experience allergies, your body has higher inflammation levels than usual as your immune system reacts to pollen and your body attempts to flush out the allergens, according to the OIP. This can cause joint ache.
Allergies and body aches
Allergies and tiredness
Establishing the cause
Tips on managing your symptoms
Is It Allergies A Cold Or Something Else
Is It Allergies, a Cold or Something Else?
North Texans know that allergy season can last all year. There always seems to be something in the air that can cause a scratchy throat or itchy eyes. But what if the symptoms mean something else? Thats the thing with allergies the symptoms are just hazy enough that they cross paths with other illnesses. To know the difference, it helps to know the culprit.
Allergies are caused by an overactive immune system that sends your body into defense mode when something thats usually harmless, such as dust or pollen, is mistaken for germs. Your body releases histamines to go after the allergens, just as it does when fighting a cold. This can cause swelling in your nasal passages, a runny nose, cough, sneezing and itchy, watery eyes.
Colds, on the other hand, are caused by hundreds of different viruses. When one of these viruses gets into your body, thanks to contact with an infected person or contaminated surface, your immune system fights back. The response can come in the way of nasal congestion, a runny nose, coughing and/or sneezing.
How to Tell What You Have
Despite similarities , allergies and colds do have some differences. The most important one is that colds usually dont last longer than 14 days. Plus, they may bring with them body aches, a fever and a sore throat. If you still have symptoms after two weeks, you should check in with your doctor.
Could It Be Something More?
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How To Prevent Joint Pain During Allergy Season
There are many possible treatment options for allergies, which can keep joint and back pain at bay.
For airborne allergens, you might find relief through humidifiers, air purifiers, filters and conditioners. In addition, many people find that over-the-counter medications, prescription medications or a combination of both also offer relief.
Antihistamines are medications that help counterbalance the effects of histamine, the common substance in allergens that leads to allergy symptoms. Immunotherapy through allergy shots and anti-inflammatory nasal steroid sprays are another treatment option. These sprays work by reducing swelling and inflammation, which cuts down on mucus production. Nasal steroids work especially well when combined with antihistamines.
If joint pain occurs during allergy season, you can experiment with a variety of treatment options to find what works best for your joint pain. Over-the-counter medications such as Tylenol and Advil can work for mild pain. For acute pain, hot or cold packs might provide relief. Your doctor might recommend steroid shots, where medication directly into the joint to help reduce pain and inflammation.
Some individuals also find that physical therapy can help to strengthen muscles around the joint, which in turns strengthens the joint and improves range of motion.
How Your Ent Doctor Can Help
Allergy treatments with your ENT doctor can help:
- Reduce fatigue from overactivity of your immune system
- Make your quality of living healthier
- Reduce your cost of office visits, medication, and loss of work and school.
Allergy treatments that take you into a future without hayfever or itchy skin from seasonal allergies include:
- Allergy injections
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Hay Fever Season In The Uk
Hay fever season in the UK occurs at different times of the year depending on the main cause of allergy. You may ask yourself in the summer months What is causing my allergy symptoms?. There are three main types of pollen that cause seasonal allergies and these are:
- Tree pollen
- Grass pollen
- Weed pollen
Rainfall in spring plays a big part in the amount of pollen produced that season as drier conditions will prevent as much pollen being produced.
Many hayfever sufferers will want to avoid leaving the house during the times of the day when the pollen count is highest as this will help with their symptoms. Usually, pollen rises in the morning and falls in the early evening, resulting in the highest pollen levels in the evening.
Keep Outdoor Allergens Outdoors
Pollen and molds can hitch a ride on clothes, hair, and shoes. Keep them outside by removing shoes before you come inside. Store jackets and hoodies on hooks by the door. They are likely loaded with pollen that you dont want in the rest of the house. In addition, shower, wash your hair and change clothes when you do come inside.
Dont change clothes in the bedroom or leave pollen-coated clothes in the bedroom. Change clothes in the bathroom. The abundance of hard surfaces in a bathroom makes it easier to clean and remove pollen hitchhikers. When you spread pollen in your bedroom, you will just end up sleeping with it. Thats a bad idea.
Since pets can bring pollen and mold in on their fur, its a good idea to keep them inside as much as possible. If they do enjoy time outdoors with you, brush their fur frequently to remove pollen before it can come inside. Brush the pet outside.
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Questions To Ask Your Doctor
- Could anything else, such as a cold or the flu, be causing my symptoms?
- How do I figure out what Im allergic to?
- Is my allergy seasonal?
- I am allergic to _____. Am I at risk for any other allergies?
- What changes can I make at home to relieve my symptoms?
- Will any over-the counter medicines relieve my symptoms?
- What should I do if my symptoms get worse or dont respond to the treatment youve prescribed?
- Do I need to see an allergy specialist ?
How Are Allergies Treated
Although avoiding the allergen is an important treatment approach, it usually doesnt completely end the allergic reaction.
Medications such as antihistamines , decongestants , or a combination of over-the-counter and prescription medications, are used to treat your allergy symptoms. Nasal sprays such as topical nasal steroids , cromolyn sodium, and topical nasal antihistamines also can be used to treat allergy symptoms.
Asthma medications, which reduce allergy symptoms, include:
- Inhaled bronchodilators.
- Oral anti-leukotrienes .
- Injected medications, such as omalizumab , dupilumab , reslizumab , benralizumab , or Mepolizumab .
Immunotherapy or allergy oral immunotherapy is recommended if your symptoms arent adequately controlled with a combination of avoidance measures and regular medication use. This shot has been shown to be effective in properly selected patients with allergic rhinitis and/or allergic asthma.
Another treatment option is saline irrigation using a sinus rinse kit. These rinse kits are sold over-the-counter or can be made at home. To make your own rinse, combine one-half teaspoon non-iodinated salt with one-half teaspoon baking soda in eight ounces of distilled or boiled water. This mixture rinses out allergens and decreases the amount of inflammation they cause.
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