What Makes Allergies Worse: Some Common Mistakes

When your eyes water and burn and your nose keeps running, the last thing you want is to do something that makes allergies worse. But, we’re busy people. When our lives are full with educating our kids, keeping a home, and maybe even working part-time, it’s easy to make mistakes. We don’t mean to make choices that cause our symptoms to worsen. We just forget or get distracted. Sometimes we don’t even know that we are causing our own misery. So, to help you, let’s talk about what makes allergies worse so you can avoid those things.

a woman standing outdoors sneezing and making her allergies worse

What Makes Allergies Worse

You Eat Food that Makes Allergies Worse

Did you know that the proteins of certain foods are remarkably similar to the pollen proteins in common allergens? An example of this is the similarity between birch tree pollen and celery, apple, peach, carrot, pear, plum, and cherry. If you eat a lot of these foods, you may make your tree pollen allergy worse. This can cause you to have a reaction in your mouth, nasal cavity or esophagus. This reaction could be itching, swelling, extra mucus, or coughing and sneezing. If your allergies seem to worsen after certain meals, it may be worth noting this. You may also want to try preparing the food a different way. Experts say that peeling or cooking some foods may help. If not, then it may become necessary for you to avoid that food completely during certain times of the year.

You Wait to Take Medicine

A lot of allergy experts are now letting people know that they should be taking preemptive measures when it comes to their allergy symptoms. This means that they get medicine and take it as soon as they possibly can. When my son was diagnosed with seasonal allergies, the doctor told him to start taking over-the-counter medication the minute his nose itched. That way, the effectiveness of the drugs are realized a lot more quickly so that you don’t have to wait a period of time for the drugs to work. That means less downtime and more productivity for you.

Your Eyes are Vulnerable

One thing that people don’t realize is that pollen is extremely small, so it can enter your body through a variety of means. A vulnerable point of entry into your body is through your eyes. When you’re out during allergy season, it would be a good idea to wear some eye protection that can help keep pollen away from your eyes. Even just wearing glasses that have more contact with your face can reduce the amount of pollen you come in contact with by a noticeable amount. To help with this, it’s also a good idea to be mindful of touching your face after being outdoors. Always wash your hands thoroughly and even consider washing your face with a splash of water after being outdoors.

What Makes Allergies Worse: Surprisingly, Using Too Much Medication

It’s important to keep track of how much medicine that you’re using. A lot of people abuse their medication which can result in illness, or discomfort from overexposure to the drug components. More is not better. If a medicine is not working, stop using it and get a new prescription or try a new over-the-counter medication. Be sure to follow the directions.