It's Springtime!
And you know what that means... Seasonal allergies

Each spring, I counsel patients on how to prevent and treat seasonal allergies. The bottom line: over the counter (OTC) medication works the vast majority of the time to control symptoms.

The first line medication I typically recommend is a nasal steroid spray such as Flonase, Nasacort, or Rhinocort.

Some patients don't like the idea of a nasal spray, or they have nosebleeds from the medication. In that situation, I recommend one of the many antihistamines available OTC:

cetirizine (Zyrtec)

loratadine (Claritin)

fexofenadine (Allegra)

or levocetirizine (Xyzal).

And if your symptoms are primarily eye itching and watering, then an OTC antihistamine such as Opcon-A or Patanol eye drops can usually control those symptoms.

Luckily for us, allergy season usually only lasts about 4-6 weeks!