Do you suffer from springtime allergies? Don’t worry, you are not the only one dreading sneezing and sniffling. Here are some helpful tips and information on allergies and how to prevent them.

What are allergies?

An allergic reaction occurs when your body comes into contact with an allergen. Your body identifies this substance as harmful, even when it is not. Then, when you come into contact with that allergen again, it will react to it, causing allergy symptoms. Springtime allergies are most often due to tree pollen and in more humid climates, outdoor mold. Grass pollen is a big cause of summer allergies and weed pollen causes fall allergies.

What are the symptoms?

Allergy symptoms vary from person to person and depend on the particular allergy. Some common symptoms include itchy, watery eyes; sneezing; runny nose; and congestion. If your seasonal allergies are generally mild, nasal sprays and oral antihistamines can help manage the symptoms. If over-the-counter treatments do not reduce your symptoms, talk with a physician about a prescription or other treatment.

What steps can be taken to reduce allergy symptoms?

  • Start taking over-the-counter antihistamines when high pollen counts are forecasted, even before your symptoms start.
  • Stay indoors on dry, windy days. The best time to go outside is after a rain, which helps clear pollen from the air.
  • Keep windows and doors closed – Restricting the amount of outside air that comes into your home may help those with airborne allergen sensitivities.
  • Delegate lawn mowing, weed pulling, and other gardening chores that stir up allergens.
  • After spending time outside, take a shower to rinse pollen from your skin and hair and put on clean clothes.
  • Wear a face mask if you do outside chores.
  • Use air conditioning in your house and car.
  • Use high-efficiency air filters and change them frequently.
  • Keep indoor air dry with a dehumidifier.
  • Finally, do a deep cleaning of your home every spring.

We hope these tips help make your spring the best it can be. Patient First treats many illnesses and injuries at our urgent care centers including allergies. You can visit any Patient First center from 8am to 8pm, any day of the week – no appointment is needed.


Articles by tag

2020 2021-top-workplace 4th-of-July ACLS AED air-purification allentown Allergies Announcement Antibiotics anxiety Aspen Hill coming soon Asthma award awards back-to-school baltimore baltimore-child baltimore's-child baltimore-sun beach bedside-manner bel-air Best of Best urgent care Best urgent care VA beach best-for-families Bestof best-of best-of-2019 Best-of-2020 best-of-award best-of-awards bestofcountytimes Best-of-Jewish-times-winner Best-Urgent-Care Best-urgent-Care-Bowie-Blade-News best-workplace bethlehem Biking Black-Friday blog Blood-Donation BLS Blueberries Camping capital-gazette careers Cholesterol Circadian-Rhythm Cold cold-prevention colon-cancer concussion coronavirus covid-19 COVID-19-Test CPR cramp-prevention Dehydration dental-health Depression Dermatitis Diabetes drowning Drug Screening Dry-Skin eastern-pa easton Eating-Disorder employees employment Ergonomics E-Scooter exercise eye-health face-mask Fall fall-sports Farmer's-Market First-Aid Fitness Flu flu-season flu-shots food-storage food-swaps football For Men For Parents For Women for-moms for-parents fredericksburg Gastrointestinal General Generation-X-Health Gift-Ideas Goals Halloween hand-foot-and-mouth Hand-Washing Hanukkah harrisburg headache Head-Lice Health Healthcare health-history health-symptoms Healthy Living healthy-eating healthy-living healthy-swaps Heart Heart-Disease Heart-Health Heat heat-exhaustion heat-safety hiking Holiday holidays horizonBCBS horizon-blue-shield Hydration Illness Inclusivity Inclusivity & Accessibility inclusivity-&-accessability injury-prevention Insect-Stings insurance jetlag jobs Kidney Kwanzaa Laughter lehigh-valley life-support-class Lightning maryland Mask meal-prep mechanicsburg medical-records melanoma memory-retention Men's-Health mental-health Migrane millennial Millennials montco montco-pa montgomery-county montgomery-county-pa Mood Improvement Movember MRSA new jersey new-center new-jersey new-year New-Year's northern-va northern-virginia nova Now open in Annandale Nutrition Occupational Health ocean-safety osteoporosis outdoors Paddle-Sports PALS Parenting Parenting-Tips parent-tips patient-first pennsylvania pets philadelphia philly physicals poison-ivy poison-prevention Power-Outage Pregnancy probiotics Productivity Protein recipe Recipes registration resolutions richmond River running safety Safety Tips safety-tips Seasonal-Affective-Disorder shin-splings Sickness-Prevention simply-the-best skin sleep Smoke-Detector Smoking Snow soccer sore-throat south-jersey Sports Sports-Physicals spring-cleaning St.-Patrick's-Day Stitches strep Strep-Throat stress stress-managment Stroke summer summer-sports Sunburn Sunglasses Sun-Safety sunscreen Swimmer's-ear swimming TBI Teal-Pumpkin Teething Thyroid tick tips-for-parents top-physicians top-workplace Travel traveling-tips travel-tips Travel-Vaccines urgent-care Urinary-health vacation vaccinations vaccines Valentine's-Day Valentines-Day Video Vitamin-D volunteering Walking washington-dc washington-post washington-post-2019 Water-Sports Weight-Lifting wellness Winter Workouts Yard-Work Yearly-Physical