With so many allergy medications out today, you have to wonder just what allergy medicines do. To understand how allergy medications work you must first understand what an allergy is. You see, an allergy is very different than a virus or bacteria. In fact, allergy medications are not used to treat a foreign substance that may be harmful to you. It is actually used to treat symptoms caused from your own immune response.
So, it is actually your body’s reaction to things like pollen, and mold that make your nose runny and your eyes watery. You see, your body reacts to a substance called histamine creating all of those unpleasant effects we treat with allergy medications.
To counteract the effects of allergies, many people take over the counter antihistamines. These allergy medications may be effective for treating allergies. However, these allergy medications can also have a sedating effect. Fortunately, prescription antihistamines may be able to ease the symptoms of allergies without the sedative effects common with over the counter allergy medications.
In addition to antihistamines, people use a variety of allergy medications. These include steroid nose sprays and decongestants. However, decongestants are meant to reduce the running noses but sometimes end up doing the job to well. That is, it can dry you up. Nose sprays on the other hand, are great allergy medications.
If however, you have trouble finding relief with conventional allergy medications. You can choose to undergo immunotherapy. This is a series of shots that are given periodically to build up your resistance. Although this may eliminate a person’s need to take allergy medications, it does involve a lot more hassle. In fact, in the beginning of immunotherapy shots are given weekly. After you complete this phase, you are then required to have monthly injections to keep your resistance lowered.
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