After over-the-counter antihistamines, whats the next step in treating chronic allergies

I had to go to an allergist & get all those needle pricks in my back. It felt like a thousand & it took several trips. I wound up with hay fever & being allergic to several kinds of dust & lost of other silly things I cannot avoid. I take a daily preventer, plus a nasal inhaler, plus a pill twice a day. It is a pain, & right now the inhaler does give me some relief but by the middle of the day I am back to sneezing & quite uncomfortable. I also have been put recently on steroids. The bad thing for me is that it also affects my asthma. I do not know how the two relate, but they do. I have chronic hay fever & asthma. I do everything to keep pollen out of the house but there is no ''cure''. It just a pain in the a$$. I've tried injections & they work for a while. The best thing for me is steroids but they tend to make me gain weight. I am on them now but only for 7 days. Then in 7 days they review my symptoms again & decide what course of action to take..it is just a pain in the a$$!!! Good luck!!!

Allergy is a chronic condition. It can be controlled but not cured. It is caused by a defect in the immune system. Generally, allergy symptom control is a 3 pronged approach & medication is not the ''next'' step it is the last step. Sounds like u need to go back two spaces. Before u even leave ''Go'' u need to know exactly the proteins that trigger ur reactions (in allergy the immune system mis-identifies certain proteins). ''Hayfever'' is general. Have u been tested to know the specific plants? The reason that is important is because the first step is avoidance. You can not avoid it if u do not know what it is. You can refer to pollen maps on the internet such as Pollen.Com which can give youa 3 day pollen forecast. It is important to stay inside when pollen counts r high. You need to keep windows & doors closed & run a good air filter. Also, keep pets inside because they bring pollen in on their fur. Stay in when it is windy & stay indoors early in the day. This is when pollen counts r high. Pollen counts r lowest right after rain. If u must be outside, wear a mask. When u come inside, take a shower, wash ur hair, & change ur clothes because u r going to be loaded with pollen & u do not want to spread it all over ur house. The second step for plant allergen is immunotherapy. That is where u get injections specifically formulated for ur particular allergens. Some people will tell u that if u take a tablespoon of raw honey produced within a mile of ur house that it will work as immunotherapy. There is little empirical proof of this claim. The pollens that cause allergy r not generally produced by plants that bees visit in their quest to produce honey. But, it does not hurt to try, cause honey does taste good! Third & lastly is use of medication to control symptoms when avoidance & immunotherapy need some assistance.
Get to an immunologist or allergist & they can help u get real relief

if the otc aren' t helping maybe you have food allergies. even if you take the shot if you eat what you are allergic to they wo not help. keep a food dairy for two weeks. everything that goes in your mouth write down and how you feel after you eat. now go back and look, read what you wrote. how does that dairy product or corn or whatever make you feel? i have food allergies to corn and wheat.

Yes. It works. They even can give it as drops under the tongue, but in the US, some insurances will only cover the injections even though the drops work just as well.

See an allergist and get skin-tested. Then they will talk about treatment.

My mother is going through this problem, & it very much depends of the type of allergy.

If it is a non-specific allergy, they will do shots, however.

If ur allergies cause shortness of breath, they will give u a less-effective inhaler instead because the injection has been known to cause respiratory problems.

rock & a hardplace. trouble breathing & less effictive medicine or more effective medicine that may CAUSE trouble breathing.

Good luck with ur decision & hope u get to feeling better!

Yes they still have the shots for some allergies. You need to go and see a allergist so they can give you the battery of shots to find out what you are allergic to. They may are may not at that point give you a shot for you particular allergy.

Allergies stink, medicines mask it. hopefully one day people will get to the root cause, probably our own immune systems, and really help us repair them.. in the meantime, take as little of that OTC poison as you can.