“Can seasonal allergies be fixed?”

Seasonal allergies, also known as allergic rhinitis or hay fever, cannot be permanently "fixed" or cured in the traditional sense, but they can be effectively managed to reduce symptoms and improve your daughter's quality of life. Seasonal allergies are typically caused by exposure to allergens such as pollen from trees, grasses, and weeds, which trigger an immune response in sensitive individuals.

While seasonal allergies cannot be permanently eliminated, there are several strategies and treatments available to help manage symptoms:

Allergy Medications: Various over-the-counter and prescription medications can help alleviate allergy symptoms such as sneezing, runny nose, itching, and congestion. These medications include antihistamines, nasal corticosteroids, decongestants, leukotriene receptor antagonists, and allergy eye drops. Your daughter's healthcare provider can recommend the most appropriate medication based on her symptoms and medical history.

Allergen Avoidance: Minimizing exposure to allergens can help reduce allergy symptoms. Encourage your daughter to stay indoors during high pollen days, keep windows closed, use air purifiers with HEPA filters, and shower after spending time outdoors to remove pollen from the skin and hair.

Allergy Shots (Immunotherapy): Allergy shots, also known as allergen immunotherapy, can be effective in reducing the severity of seasonal allergy symptoms over time. Immunotherapy involves receiving regular injections of allergens to desensitize the immune system. It is typically recommended for individuals with severe allergies or those who do not respond well to other treatments.

Sublingual Immunotherapy (Allergy Tablets): Sublingual immunotherapy involves placing allergy tablets under the tongue to desensitize the immune system to specific allergens. This treatment is an alternative to allergy shots and is available for certain allergens such as grass pollen.

Environmental Control Measures: Implementing environmental control measures, such as using allergen-proof mattress and pillow covers, washing bedding regularly in hot water, and vacuuming carpets and upholstered furniture frequently, can help reduce exposure to indoor allergens like dust mites and pet dander.

While seasonal allergies cannot be permanently fixed, effectively managing symptoms through a combination of medications, allergen avoidance, and other strategies can significantly improve your daughter's quality of life during allergy season. Working closely with her healthcare provider to develop a personalized treatment plan can help ensure that she receives the most appropriate and effective care for her seasonal allergies.

Thank you for your question. Seasonal allergies can be managed to variable degrees depending on individual sensitivities to a particular allergen (agent), or to a family of similar agents. Your medical practitioner can best advise you on specific management. I recommend that simple approaches be undertaken before commencing medications. Examples of simplistic approaches include ensuring that potential cofactors are eliminated, or at least decreased to the extent possible by decreasing exposure to suspected agents ie. pollens, by closing windows, using air conditioning where practical, or choosing the time of day you go outdoors and under what conditions. Medications often used belong to the antihistamine family of medications. These should be selected with the assistance of your physician or nurse practitioner. Earlier formulations of antihistamines possessed substantial side effects that caused drowsiness, dry mouth, adverse effects upon ability to urinate and importantly degrading learning skills in children, or fact or operational retention skills in adults. Other classes of medications can be deployed to supplement antihistamine control of seasonal allergies. When seasonal allergies affect lung function, it is important to ask your medical advisors for their advice. Given that our society invokes freedom of choice with options for over the counter purchase, you may become bogged down with selection of agents. I strongly advise against taking multiple agents simultaneously, or not allowing sufficient time to elapse for wash out of antihistamine byproducts, some of which remain pharmacologically active and will therefore potentially cause more adverse side effects in the presence of other medications used for symptom control. Please ask you physician or nurse practitioner for their recommendations on how to proceed with your management of seasonal allergies. Thank you for your very practical question on seasonal allergy treatment or management.