What Are My Allergy Treatment Options?

There’s no cure for allergies, but treatment can improve your quality of life

Whether you're dealing with hay fever, allergic dermatitis, or another allergy, you need treatment. Treatment options will depend on the type of allergy, its severity, and your unique needs.

The treatment that brings relief may be a prescription medication selected for you by an allergy specialist, over-the-counter (OTC) treatments, home remedies, avoiding your triggers, or a combination of approaches.

Here you'll learn everything you need to know to proactively address your allergy and feel better. You'll find out the treatment options, how your symptoms dictate the treatment you need, home remedies and lifestyle changes to consider, medication options, and more.

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What Are Allergy Treatment Options

If you're dealing with an allergy, the good news is that are some great strategies that can help. Such treatment can include the following:

  • Allergen avoidance: The key is to determine what substance (allergen) is causing your allergy and to try to stay away from it. That may mean avoiding any foods you're allergic to, staying inside to avoid pollen, keeping humidity low to avoid mold, or using bedding and pillow covers to reduce dust mite exposure.
  • Using medications: You can find many OTC medicines to help you ease symptoms, as well as prescription medications that may reduce swelling or itchiness or even block an allergen from setting symptoms in motion.
  • Undergo immunotherapy: This helps to keep the immune system from overreacting to allergy triggers by giving you small doses of allergens over time. Allergy shots or drops can be given for a variety of allergens but not for all.
  • Take emergency epinephrine: In the event that you are having a severe life-threatening allergic reaction (anaphylaxis), you can give yourself a premeasured epinephrine shot at the first signs of a reaction in order for this to be effective. This can work for insect bites, food allergies, issues with drugs or medicines, and latex.

Allergy Symptoms: How to Tell What Treatment You May Need

Allergies can be unpredictable. Some people may only have slight issues, while others may have a pronounced reaction to the same substance. What's more, allergies can affect various parts of the body.

Someone with a pollen allergy may have nasal symptoms while a person with allergic contact dermatitis may be contending with an itchy rash, scaly skin, and blisters on the skin.

Mild 

Some allergy symptoms are common and mild. These are symptoms that you can often manage on your own, with a run to your local drugstore an antihistamine for a decongestant:

  • Sneezing
  • Watery or itchy eyes
  • Runny nose
  • Coughing
  • Skin Itchiness
  • Nasal and ear congestion
  • Clogged sinuses
  • Facial pressure, headache
  • Scratchy throat

Severe

Even mild symptoms like sneezing or a runny nose can become debilitating when they are constant. Likewise, a prescription cream may be needed if itching is all you can think about or your rash is beginning to weep.

If OTC medications are insufficient to reduce your symptoms, you may need to turn to an allergist who can prescribe a stronger medication or immunotherapy.

You should also be aware of severe allergic symptoms. These can indicate that you're having an anaphylactic reaction and include the following:

  • Wheezing
  • A swollen red rash that may blister or peel
  • A feeling of tightness in your throat or chest
  • Swelling around your tongue, mouth, lips, or face
  • Difficulty breathing

If you're experiencing these severe symptoms, you must go to the nearest hospital for treatment.

Home Remedies and Lifestyle Changes

You can take many steps on your own to alleviate your allergy symptoms using practical home remedies.

For food allergies, avoidance is key. Learn how to read food labels to avoid the triggering food in all of its forms. Be diligent when dining away from home to ensure the food isn't being used in any dishes you consume.

For respiratory allergy symptoms (allergic rhinitis, hay fever), keep airborne allergens such as pollen, dander, dust mites, and mold from triggering allergies using the following methods:

  • Watch pollen counts, and avoid time outside during pollen peaks and windy days that can stir up the allergen for you to breathe in.
  • Wash bedding frequently to launder away pet dander, dust mites, and other allergens.
  • Regularly vacuum to remove allergens that you may inadvertently track inside.
  • Switch to a high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) air filter to keep allergens like dust and pollen from circulating inside your house.
  • Replace carpeting with hard surface floors since carpets can retain allergens.
  • Use fans and dehumidifiers to keep moisture down and mold away.
  • Rinse your nasal passages with saline to clear away any allergens that may be lingering there and bring symptom relief.

Atopic dermatitis is affected by how you treat your skin. Some things that can help include:

  • Apply moisturizer to the skin two times per day.
  • Limit bath time to under 15 minutes.
  • Keep fingernails cut short to stop scratching.
  • Use coal tar soap to help reduce inflammation and itching.

Talk to a healthcare provider about whether supplements may help, such as the following:

  • Butterbur leaf extracts have been touted for treating hay fever, although the evidence is inconclusive.
  • Quercetin has been shown in the lab to keep immune cells from releasing histamines, which is a substance that causes allergic symptoms. Quercitin may reduce allergic symptoms such as watery eyes, runny nose, hives, and facial swelling. While this was proven in the lab, there's no proof of its effect on humans.
  • Bromelain, found in pineapples, is a natural anti-inflammatory agent. It has been known to tamp down sinus inflammation and nasal swelling and may also be effective against hay fever.

Common Allergy Medications

OTC medications that treat allergies include:

  • Steroid nasal sprays: These can relieve nasal congestion and inflammation, sneezing, and runny nose. They must be used daily, sometimes twice daily, for a few weeks to be effective. Brands include Nasacort (triamcinolone), Flonase (fluticasone), and Rhinocort (budesonide).
  • Antihistamine nasal sprays: These block the effects of histamine and help with runny nose, sneezing, and itching related to allergies. OTC brands include Astelin (azelastine hydrochloride), Astepro (azelastine), and Patanase (olopatadine).
  • Decongestant nasal sprays: These reduce nasal swelling and congestion by constricting blood vessels. Some brands are Afrin oxymetazoline), Dristan (oxymetazoline), and Zicam (oxymetazoline). They should not be used for more than a few days at a time, however, since overuse can sometimes lead to rebound swelling and nasal congestion.
  • Saline sprays: These help keep the nose moist and flush mucus but have no active ingredients to address symptoms.
  • Oral antihistamines: Histamine is released by immune cells when triggered by an allergen. It expands blood vessels and causes swelling, producing effects such as a stuffy nose, watery eyes, and sneezing. Antihistamines block this from happening, particularly if you take them before exposure to an allergen. Oral antihistamines include Allegra (fexofenadine), Claritin (loratadine), Xyzal (levocetirizine), and Zyrtec (cetirizine).
  • Oral decongestants: These reduce pressure in nasal tissues and nasal stuffiness. They can work right away and last for hours. Brands include Sudafed (pseudoephedrine) and Sudafed PE (phenylephrine). However, products with phenylephrine are not considered effective at clearing up congestion, but are still safe to take.
  • Hydrocortisone cream: For cases of contact dermatitis, atopic dermatitis, or eczema, this cream can reduce itching and swelling. OTC creams have a strength of up to 1%. Higher strengths require a prescription.

Prescription Medications 

If OTC medications are insufficient in relieving allergies, then it's time to bring in the big guns—potent prescription medications. Determining which is right for you will depend on several factors, such as the kind of allergy you have, how severe it is, and your individual needs. Fortunately, these tend to work for most people.

Here are some of the prescription options:

  • Antihistamines: In addition to OTC antihistamines, Clarinex (desloratadine) and others are available by prescription.
  • Decongestants: Prescription options may be available besides OTC options.
  • Leukotriene inhibitors: If your body senses an allergen, it releases a substance known as leukotriene. This, in turn, may cause your nose to run or make you cough. Leukotriene inhibitors block this substance from being released and causing allergy symptoms. Common leukotriene inhibitors your allergist may prescribe include Singulair (montelukast), Accolate (zafirlukast), and Zyflo (zileuton).
  • Corticosteroids: These reduce the inflammation that results when your body responds to an allergen. Common prescription corticosteroids include Medrol (methylprednisolone), Prelone (prednisolone), and prednisone.
  • Nasal steroids and nasal antihistamines: You may have immediate symptoms to contend with and overarching inflammation. An antihistamine may address the acute symptoms, and a nasal steroid the long-term inflammation. While each has OTC options, some are available only by prescriptions.
  • Topical calcineurin inhibitors: These creams, applied to the skin, reduce inflammation, itch, and excess bacteria on the skin associated with eczema. They may be used together with a topical corticosteroid. There are currently two agents available, which are Eidel (pimecrolimus) and Protopic (tacrolimus).
  • Mast cell stabilizers: These agents help to keep mast cells from degranulating and releasing histamine with conditions like eye allergies (allergic conjunctivitis). Examples are Patanol (olopatadine), Zaditor (ketotifen), Elestat (epinastine), Optivar (azelastine), and Lastacaft (alcaftadine).
  • Injected epinephrine: When a severe allergy causes an anaphylactic reaction, epinephrine can treat it.

Surgeries and Specialist-Driven Procedures

While medications and other common treatments can control allergies in most cases, sometimes it's necessary to step things up and consider more aggressive treatment when allergy symptoms persist. Here are some other approaches you may be encouraged to try.

Immunotherapy

The purpose of immunotherapy is to train the immune system not to overreact to substances such as pollen, insect venom, and dust mites. It works by incrementally introducing more and more of the substance to your system. In turn, your immune system becomes less reactive to them.

The common ways for allergy immunotherapy to be given are by allergy shots (injection) or sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT) with allergy drops or tablets placed under the tongue. Not all allergies can be addressed with immunotherapy.

Bronchial Thermoplasty

Asthma is sometimes triggered by an allergy. Those with severe asthma that doesn't respond to medications may be a candidate for bronchial thermoplasty. This procedure uses thermal energy (heat) to destroy some of the smooth muscles that otherwise would constrict your airways. With less smooth muscle, the number of asthma attacks can diminish.

Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) 

You may choose to supplement more traditional treatment for allergies with an alternative approach. Research shows that the traditional Chinese medicine practice of acupuncture may help people with allergic rhinitis.

With acupuncture, extremely thin needles are inserted at various points of the body along what are called meridians. It is believed that energy known as Chi flows through these meridians. The idea is to use the needles to direct the flow of energy, which could be helpful in relieving allergic symptoms.

Most studies have been inconclusive. However, one small study comparing the use of traditional acupuncture to sham acupuncture treatments for seasonal allergic rhinitis showed that those who underwent the real treatment experienced an improvement in their quality of life. Talk to a healthcare provider about possible benefits and risks.

Talk to Your Healthcare Provider Before Taking Allergy Medicine

While you may be eager to get allergy treatment started, first check with your healthcare provider or allergy specialist. While allergy treatments can relieve symptoms, they may also cause side effects. Those who should take particular care include:

  • Pregnant people
  • Those with high blood pressure
  • Those with heart problems

Also, anyone who has an underlying health condition should check with their healthcare provider to confirm this is safe before moving forward with treatment. They are there to help you navigate treatment and find the best approach.

Summary

Allergy symptoms can be relieved by allergen avoidance, OTC medications, prescription medications, and immunotherapy. Treatment will depend on your symptoms, allergen triggers, and reaction severity. Talk to a healthcare provider to determine what treatment is best for your condition and circumstances.

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Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
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By Maxine Lipner
Maxine Lipner is a long-time health and medical writer with over 30 years of experience covering ophthalmology, oncology, and general health and wellness.