Spring has arrived and allergy season is also now upon us. Symptoms of seasonal allergies come in a variety of different signs: sneezing, itchy eyes, runny nose, sniffles, coughing, wheezing, rashes and snorting lasting a couple of weeks or longer. Allergens vary but these happen usually because we have very sensitive or ticklish airways that react to a particular trigger. This happens because our immune system mistakenly thinks our body is under attack by these triggers and these manifest as allergy symptoms.
There are different types of triggers but the more common ones during spring are going to be pollen, mold and dust mites. Other triggers can include dander, viruses, cold, clothing, toys (stuffed animals), perfume, pollution, latex and weather changes.
Eczema is a skin condition that presents as dry scaly patches that can get inflamed and weep when there is a trigger like a viral infection, skin contact with a known trigger.
Asthma starts in the lungs and the tubes and airways react to allergens by constricting making it difficult for children to breathe.
The best way to manage allergies is to identify them and avoid them. We can do this with the my help or a pediatric allergist’s. Unfortunately, some allergens like pollen here a little too hard to avoid so we need some medication to help control our reactions. We need to take note that some allergy medications will need a few days to work because they need to reach a certain level in the blood before they are able to give their best protection for us. Most pediatricians will keep you on allergy medication as long as your exposure is present. So if you are allergic to a type of pollen then you may be on allergy medicine for the entire spring season and then off the medicine in the fall.
Talk to me if you have any of the signs or symptoms we talked about, and we may be able to find out if you have allergies. Hopefully, we can even test for the particular triggers you will need to avoid, and if they are unavoidable, we can probably control your symptoms with medication.
Enjoy the beautiful weather, friends.
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