Allergy Shots

Don't worry, this article will only hurt a little.

Immunotherapy was developed based on the theory that postulates that increasing exposure to allergens can help one develop a tolerance to said allergens. A vaccine including small doses of allergens such as grasses or dust will be injected into your arm, and will trigger a minor immune response, and this process will be repeated weekly for months, even years, until signs of allergic reaction are reduced.

While the general effectiveness of immunotherapy has been demonstrated though empirical evidence, it does not work with the same rate of success for everyone. I had allergy shots for 5 years and never saw a reduction in symptoms, but a friend of mine saw marked improvement in a year and nearly all allergic response gone in a few more years.

If you have allergies, it would behoove you to speak to your allergy specialist about getting shots because right now it's the closest thing we have to an actual cure. While it will probably cause you some temporary discomfort, it does have a good success rate and could improve your life considerably.

Just remember to bring your favorite book or iPod to the office, because after having the solution administered, you generally need to be monitored for 15 or so minutes just to make sure you don't have a severe reaction. If you do have a reaction, the office or clinic will have emergency procedures in place to ensure that you will be okay.

Nasal Sprays

Thumb tibes you ged a plugged nose.

It happens to the best of us, regardless of the measures we take to reduce exposure to allergens. You'll wake up in the morning with a dry mouth and throat with your nostrils completely or partially closed. You try to gently blow your nose, but that only makes things worse. You try to apply air pressure by plugging your nostrils and blowing, but that only opens them up for a moment. That's when you strike!

There are generally going to be one or more of three active ingredients in your average nasal spray:

Saline: salt-water can often help to alleviate the symptom of dryness and can help to flush your nose of some of the schmutz that can build up. It's very helpful and doesn't contain anything close to processed chemicals. This would be the best for low to moderate congestion and dryness.

Antihistamine: You had to see this one coming. When you apply a spray-antihistamine to the inside of your nose, you're introducing a local which can compete with histamines for receptors, reducing the allergic reaction.

Decongestants: This is your atom bomb in the situation. If you can't breathe out of your nose at all, you can apply the pressure above and then apply something like Afrin to each nostril. The chemicals constrict blood vessels in the nose, forcing the swelling in the lining of the nose down. Please note, however, that nasal decongestants are only intended to be used short-term. Long-term use of nasal decongestants can do damage to the mucous membranes of the nose, causing more permanent congestion symptoms. You don't want that, so please use nasal decongestants as ordered by your doctor.

Personally, the best nasal spray I've ever used is Afrin "Extra Moisturizing", which likely has more of a saline solution than other types of Afrin. I've never used it more than two days in a row and I only use it a few times during the fall when my nasal congestion is at its worst, but it's been highly successful in treating my symptoms.

Wait, There's an Allergy for That?

There will be times when you come across someone that names an allergy of theirs that sounds, quite simply, fictitious. One of the following is a real allergy:

"I have to wire my house for ethernet because I'm allergic to wifi."

"I'd love to get back into shape, but I'm allergic to jogging."

"Scotland sounds like a lovely place to vacation, but I'm allergic."

Can you guess the real allergy? The answer may surprise you. It's jogging. Yes, really. There's a condition called vibration allergy, which can be triggered by the movements and friction of jogging. Unfortunately, there's probably no master list of every confirmed allergy in the world, so we're left guessing the difference between people being silly (like wifi allergies) and people with a serious medical condition.

What does this mean? It's better to be safe than to be sorry. If someone tells you he or she has an allergy to gasoline or rubber, do what you can to make sure they're not exposed. My grandmother is allergic to gasoline, and it means that she needs someone else to pump her gas. It's not her fault at all, so the skepticism that she faces really isn't grounded in reality.

Skepticism sometimes means admitting that the absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.