When seasons change: Managing allergies with ease
4/24/2025 by Tessa Hessedal, APRN, C.N.P.
With warmer weather, nature blooming and increased time outdoors, many people experience symptoms of allergies. Seasonal allergies, also known as hay fever or allergic rhinitis, can cause a variety of symptoms including:
- Sneezing.
- Runny or stuffy nose.
- Itchy or watery eyes.
- Itchy throat or ears.
- Postnasal drip.
- Coughing.
- Sinus pressure.
- Headaches.
- Fatigue.
Why do you experience symptoms when others do not?
Symptoms typically occur during specific seasons when pollen levels are high, such as spring with tree pollen, summer with grass pollen, or fall with ragweed pollen. Other common allergens include indoor and outdoor fungal spores, dust mites, pet dander and cockroaches. These allergens can cause symptoms all year for some people.
Allergy symptoms are caused by the body's immune response. Your body releases histamines. The best way to decrease symptoms is to avoid the allergens and disrupt your body's response to them with antihistamine medications.
Avoiding allergens
- Monitor local pollen counts and avoid outdoor activities on high pollen count days. Windy weather spreads pollen farther. Pollen levels are usually highest in the morning and early evening.
- If you are outdoors, shower and change clothes when you go back inside. Avoid hanging laundry outdoors.
- Keep the windows closed and the air conditioning on. Consider a bedroom air purifier with a HEPA filter.
- Air humidity in your home should be between 30% and 50%.
Decreasing symptoms
Several medications called antihistamines are available over the counter to help. Ideally, you should start taking these before you're exposed to your allergens. Drowsiness is the most common side effect, but most 24-hour antihistamines cause much less drowsiness. These medications include loratadine (Claritin), cetirizine r (Zyrtec), and fexofenadine (Allegra).
If your healthcare clinician has cleared you to take an antihistamine, follow the package dosing instructions. More medication will not give you better results and may be dangerous.
Other medications and remedies
Saline nasal rinses with a rinse bottle or neti pot plus saline packets made for this purpose used with distilled water. Rinsing twice daily helps clear nasal passages and flushes out allergens.
Intranasal steroids such as fluticasone or Flonase, triamcinolone acetonide or Nasacort, and budesonide or Rhinocort.
Topical eye antihistamines like ketotifen fumarate (Zaditor or Alaway) for eye symptoms. Often, treating the nose will improve eye symptoms.
If you have other symptoms not listed above or your symptoms are severe, consider visiting your healthcare clinician for further evaluation. Prescriptions are also available. Severe symptoms may require a more detailed workup or referral to an allergist.
Tessa Hessedal, APRN, C.N.P., is a nurse practitioner in the Department of Family Medicine. She practices at Mayo Clinic Express Care in Rochester, Minnesota. Her interests include acute care, managing upper respiratory symptoms and antimicrobial overuse. She enjoys outdoor activities, teaching students and spending time with her family.