Common Seasonal Allergy Medications and How They Work

Learn about your options for controlling seasonal allergy symptoms.

Do you suffer from hay fever or seasonal allergies? You don’t have to just suffer through all that sneezing, snuffling, coughing, itching, and dripping. There are many different options for medications and treatments that can control or even prevent your symptoms.

Over the Counter Options

Typically, an allergy sufferer’s first line of defense is some kind of over the counter medication. The main options are:

Antihistamine Pills: When you come in contact with allergens, the body’s immune system responds by producing proteins to neutralize the threat. One of these proteins, histamine, often settles in your respiratory tract and causes symptoms like itching, swelling, and, mucus production. Antihistamine pills help control histamine so that your sinuses don’t get irritated every time you encounter allergens.

Nasal Sprays: If sinus congestion is your most troublesome allergy symptom, a decongestant nasal spray can help. These medications work by constricting irritated blood vessels in the nose to help open up sinus passages.

Eye Drops: Eye drops with active ingredients like tetrahydrozoline or naphazoline help relieve itchy, watery eyes by shrinking inflamed blood vessels in the eyes. There are also some antihistamine eye drops available that treat eye symptoms in a more sweeping way.

Prescription Medications

When over the counter medications don’t provide enough relief, it’s time to consider a prescription medication. These medications are often just stronger antihistamines or decongestants. However, some prescription allergy medications also contain a corticosteroid element which helps control swelling, itching, and dripping better than an antihistamine or decongestant alone.

Prescription medications provide better relief, but they also come with more significant side effects. For this reason, prescription allergy medications are typically only used for short stretches of time during the worst part of allergy season.

Allergy Shots

Most allergy medications are only able to control symptoms, not stop allergic reactions. Allergy shots, aka immunotherapy treatments, are the exception to this rule.

The treatment works by introducing small amounts of an allergen into the patient’s system, allowing the body to build up a tolerance for the allergen. Over the course of a few months, the amount of allergen used in the treatment is increased to build a stronger tolerance. Shots must be continued for several years to ensure lasting and reliable results.

This treatment can be costly and time-consuming, but it can provide lasting relief from seasonal allergies. It is often the best option for individuals whose symptoms are poorly managed by prescription medications, or who have such severe side effects that these medications are impractical.

Visit Our Allergy Doctors Today

It is never too early to start making a plan for controlling your seasonal allergies. If you have never had your seasonal allergies professionally diagnosed, we highly recommend you do so now. Please contact one of our clinic locations now to make your appointment and get the best possible care for your allergies.