Fall allergies
Allergies are more common than ever. According to the American Academy of allergy, Asthma, and Immunology, allergic disease is the 5th leading chronic disease in the U.S. among all ages. Allergies are the 3rd common chronic disease among children under 18 years old. This time of year it's fall allergies. I talked with Dr. Danny Douglas with Allergy, Asthma, and Sinus Center in Myrtle Beach recently. He says this time of year, it's the mold spores and weed pollen that affects most people. Symptoms include itchy watery eyes, sneezing, post nasal drainage, and sinus infections. Dr. Douglas tells me when over the counter medications won't give you any relief, it's time to see a Board Certified Allergist. He says treatment usually starts with medications, such as antihistamines, or decongestants. The next step would be adding a nose spray. "If a patient fails to respond to either an antihistamine or decongestant or medicine, typically we'll go to the next level, to add another pill, such Cingular or to think about allergy shots if they fail that last level of treatment." Dr. Douglas went onto say that allergy sysmptoms can have a negative impact on your life if left untreated, especially when it comes to children. "Or if it's a child, how they perform in school...Their attention span, or their general behavior, we we know allergies can make you feel weak and fatigue and can make you feel kind of irritable as well, probably because you're loosing sleep, nose is stuffy, you have headaches, those things all together make a person not really feel well about themselves, that's the time to seek a professional to help to intervene." So, don't suffer, seek professional help if you or your loved one has allergies.
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on 11/13 at 04:04 PM
