• Cover your mattress with a dust mite cover.




Helpful Resources: Guide to Allergy Relief This is a great site for finding options for allergy relief. It has relief options broken down into specific categories, including food allergies, dust, hay fever, dairy, etc. This is a perfect guide to allergy relief. Allergy Relief This site discusses options for allergy relief, including medications from over the counter drugs to prescription. There are also shopping links for air filtration systems, and more. Claritin This is the site for Claritin. It is a top of the line allergy relief medication. It has some great links for learning about allergies, including allergy symptoms and how to find relief for those. Allergy Shots This is a site from Mayo clinic that discusses the option of getting your allergy relief from shots. It talks about what allergies benefit from shots, how shots work, and why allergy shots are a good option. Allergy Relief This site provides allergy relief in the form of vacuums and air purifiers, If your air is cleaner it eliminates or greatly reduces the symptoms of airborne allergens, making life easier. Allergy Products This site provides information for people with allergies so that they can buy the best products to help combat the symptoms of allergies, from air purifiers to HEPA vacuums. There are also links for more allergy information Zyrtec This is the zyrtec site offering consumers education and products to help with allergy symptom relief. It has tips for avoiding allergies, as well as medication options for relief of symptoms. All Your Allergy Needs This is a great resource for one stop shopping for all of your needed allergy relief products. It includes low allergen bedding, air purifiers, medications, etc. It has all the allergy relief products with easy ordering. Gaining Relief This site helps those that suffer from mold, dander, pollen, or dust find allergy relief. It provides information about how to gain relief, and what products to get, and which to avoid. Natural Ways to Find Allergy Relief This is a fantastic site for learning natural ways to control your allergies and find natural allergy relief. Allergen control is the key, and it teaches some realistic options for finding symptom relief.



• Monitor the humidity in your house with a humidistat and use a dehumidifier in summer.
• Wash your bedding once a week or steam clean it with a vapor steam cleaner to kill any accumulation of dust mites.
• Use a high-grade furnace filter to eliminate air pollutants in your home.
• Use a good HEPA vacuum . Be sure to vacuum frequently and well.
• Use a first class HEPA air purifier. It will trap the tiny lung-penetrating particles - the kind that cause all the problems once they get into your bloodstream.
• Minimize the surfaces on which dust collects to keep home more allergen free.
• Use a vapor steam cleaner to rid your home of chemicals accumulated through years of cleaning with household chemicals.
• The air outside is nearly always better quality than the air inside, so give your house a good airing every day.
• Wash your hair at night during the pollen season so that pollen does not drop onto your pillow at night where you can breathe it in.
• Keep pets out of your bedroom or the place where you sleep.
• Do the little things that make a big difference in your home, such as change or wash your furnace filters, clean your humidifier, change your air purifier filters on schedule and change the bags and filters on your vacuum.
• Dust with a damp microfiber cloth or vacuum at least twice a week.

Besides keeping your home as dust and allergen free as possible to help with allergy symptoms, you may need additional things for allergy relief. If you are already suffering the symptoms of allergies you will want treat them and then work to not experience them again. One of the best treatment options is medication. So, let's take a look at medication for allergy relief.

Medication

When you are in the midst of an allergy attack, all you can think of is allergy relief. This relief can come in one of two forms, an over the counter medication, or a prescription from a medical professional.

Most people who suffer from regular allergies are experts at using the OTC drugs from the pharmacy. However, many allergy sufferers do not use this option for allergy relief. Let's look at why. It used to be that if you took an OTC you could do little else that day because they made you drowsy, however, now you can get non-drowsy formulations that let you get on with your life, without the insatiable desire to nap. The other reason many do not use medication for allergy relief is that it can be a pain to remember to take your medication at the same time each day. However, now you can also get one-a-day type products that don't force you to keep to dosing schedule of many times daily.

Of course a great option for allergy relief is a prescribed medication. Some medications take a couple of weeks of treatment before you start seeing or feeling their affects, others are more immediate. If you are already suffering from symptoms, a faster acting treatment is a better option. However, if you are trying to be proactive about allergy relief then you can start taking medication a few weeks before allergy season.

For those that do not want to pay the expense of brand name prescription drugs, generic drugs are a great option. Often many generic brand products contain the same 'active' ingredients as higher priced name brands. Your doctor may be able to recommend a less expensive generic version. You can also consult the pharmacist. They will know and be able to tell you the newest medical compounds and help you pick the right product for you.

A liquid form of Benadryl is always a good idea for those who suffer from allergies and want allergy relief. A liquid form goes quickly into your system and can help stop a reaction in its tracks.

One of the best ways to find allergy relief is to know what kind of allergy symptoms you will have. For example, if you have watery eyes, an anti-histamine is your best option. If your nose is stuffy then a decongestant allergy medication is a better option.

It is important to find allergy relief through forethought. If you know you are going to be outside where there is a lot of pollen, you don't want to take an antihistamine when you get there. Take it an hour or two ahead of time. This can allow the anti-histamine to be circulating in your system, in advance of your exposure, and can reduce or eliminate the resulting reaction.

If your allergy symptoms are severe it is always a good idea to go to the hospital and get emergency allergy relief. Sometimes you will be given a shot of a strong, fast acting allergy medication, but then will be told to take an over the counter type medication for a week following to ensure the allergen gets out of your system.

What people sometimes forget as allergy sufferers is that a reaction can take some time to work its way out of your body. So, do not think that just because your symptoms clear up that you can stop taking your medication or doing what you are doing to get relief, you should continue it through the course of the treatment cycle.

Allergy shots are another option for allergy relief. However, this is not going to result in instant relief, rather help you find long term relief from allergies. In fact, it takes a year of allergy shots before the physician will evaluate their effectiveness.

Allergy shots are a form of treatment called immunotherapy. Each shot contains a tiny amount of the substances that trigger allergic reactions, which helps your body and immune system to become accustomed to the allergen, and thus not react to it, or at least not as strongly. You will get just enough allergen to cause a stimulation of the immune system, but not enough for a full blown reaction. Basically, your immune system will build up a tolerance to the allergens, and allergy symptoms will diminish over time. The thing to know about this option for allergy relief, however, is that the buildup phase can take up to seven months, and you will get shots one to three times a week. Each shot will have a little bit more of the allergen, and your immune system will get more and more sensitized to the allergen. So, this option takes consistency, time to visit your physician, and is often an expensive method. One this phase is over, you will go into the maintenance phase, which generally lasts three to five years or longer. You will get a shot about once a month.

Allergy shots are commonly used to control symptoms triggered by:

• Seasonal allergies. If you have seasonal allergic asthma or hay fever symptoms, you may be allergic to pollens released by trees, grasses or weeds.
• Indoor allergens. If you have year-round symptoms, you may be sensitive to indoor allergens such as dust mites, cockroaches, mold or dander from pets such as cats or dogs.
• Insect stings. Allergic reactions to insect stings can be triggered by bees, wasps, hornets or yellow jackets.

When you want allergy relief remember the following steps:

1. Prevention: This includes keeping your environment as allergen free as possible.


2. Pro-activity: This means taking an anti-histamine or decongestant BEFORE you encounter the allergen.


3. Maintenance: This means keeping with your treatment even if you are feeling better.