Health Report: Managing your allergy symptoms

FAIRBANKS, Alaska (KTVF) - As the spring season hits Alaska, so too do seasonal allergies, including hay fever.

These irritations can be extreme and uncomfortable, not to mention the toll they can take on your tissue supply.

Luckily, Dr. Jay-Sheree Allen a family medicine physician with the Mayo Clinic has some ways to manage symptoms.

“Your immune system can overreact or create antibodies to fight things that aren’t necessarily as harmful as it thinks,” Allen said.

According to Allen, it’s helpful to think of it as an overreaction to foreign bodies, like pollen or ragweed. “That causes those symptoms you’d experience, like a runny nose, watery eyes, sneezing.”

Triggers include exposure to tree, grass, weed pollens and other plants.

Allergies can’t be cured, but often symptoms can be relieved.

Allen says to try to avoid exposure, use a nasal rinse, and ensure that air around you is clean. Decongestants may also help. “Maybe you need a filter in your home, and sometimes even a humidifier can be very helpful if it’s really bad.”

It’s advisable to see an allergist if you can’t get relief.