Allergies and how to better manage them..

Singers often ask how to better manage allergies.  Here is how I manage mine:

How allergies work…

We all know that allergy symptoms belie an allergy to some “thing” – be it pollen, mould, dust, whatever it is. We know that contact with the allergen causes our body to react with symptoms like itchy eyes, itchy runny nose, hoarseness, head ache, etc..  Our response is often to take or apply something to help our bodies cope – which is a good thing and I’ll get to some remedies later. The part that we often neglect or don’t think to do is to first get rid of as much of the allergen as possible before medicating. All medications and remedies will work better if we first remove as much of the allergen as possible.

How to remove the allergens…

Some ways are obvious – if you’re allergic to pollen then you might not want to be outside a lot on a windy spring or summer day when plants are releasing pollen and the wind is whipping the it up and covering you in it. Or if you’re allergic to mould – make sure it’s not in your surroundings.. that can take some detective work as mould can easily hide in dark moist places.

Some less obvious or well known ways that we are exposed to allergens are..

Sleeping with the window open at night can seem like a good healthy idea – and it can be except if you’re allergic to one of the many plants that gives off most of its pollen at night. Nightly pollen counts can be just as high and sometimes even higher than in the daytime. If you’re waking up with allergy symptoms this may be the reason. Also, going to bed covered in the allergens that you were exposed to during the day will contaminate your bed and leave you sleeping with “the enemy”. Your hair especially is a good allergen collector and if you go to bed covered in pollen then you contaminate your pillow and bed and inhale it all night. If you’re not already and evening bather – try rinsing off in the shower before bed – head to toe, and start again with clean sheets and pillows.

Your nose…

Another place that collects allergens is your nasal passages. In fact it’s part of the your nasal passages job to collect particulates in the small hairs and normal amounts of mucus present in your nose. If you’re not already familiar with a neti pot – this will be one of your best discoveries. Go to your local drug store or grocery store with a good health section and purchase one. I suggest that you also purchase the pre-made packets of neti pot solution to use so you don’t have to worry about mixing the right amount of salt in the water you will use. Here is a link to a good “how to” video on using your neti pot. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lpnie02m93Q  It’s good to see someone else do it before doing it yourself. Basically it’s a way to wash out the nasal passages so that they’re clear of allergens before you go to bed or apply your nasal allergy medication. Now that your nose is clean – apply whatever nose spray remedy works for you. I use a prescription steroid nose spray that stays local to the nasal passage.

Your eyes…

Another place where allergens collect is in your eye lashes. Again, that’s part of the eye lashes job – to collect allergens so they don’t make it into the eye. When a little bit of allergen does get past the eye lash then we get itchy eyes, then we naturally want to rub them which in effect pushes much of the allergens caught in the eye lashes into the eye, exacerbating the problem. One easy way to wash your eyes is by using an eye cup that fits right over your eye from your local drug store.  They don't usually come with instructions.  What you want to do is fill it with water that you trust.  I use tap water, other people are much more fussy and use filter or distilled water.  Bend your head over the sink and put the filled eye cup over your eye and when it is in place, open your eyes in the water and look in all directions while blinking.  Rinse and refill the cup and repeat.  You may have to do it one or two times more in each eye, but no more than that. Another effective way to help your eyes during allergy season is to use No More Tears baby shampoo in the shower to wash your eyes.  For this method, you do not use an eye cup.  You apply a small amount of No More Tears (and no other shampoo can be used for this method) on to your finger tips and gently rub them into your eyelashes with your eyes closed.  The shampoo will naturally make its way into the eye and soften and substances that may be clogging up your ducts -- you want them open to produce eye cleansing tears -- and then shower the shampoo away with the warm water of the shower. Once my eyes are clean I use allergy eye drops. These are actually designed to relieve the itching caused by allergies and they will say so. Don’t just get normal Visine to “get the red out”, you need allergy eye drops. I’ve used the Bausch and Lomb version for a long time and it works well for me. After the washing, apply the eye drops to a clean, fresh, allergen-free eye!  When I do this, it is much more effective.

Your throat, lungs and head…

If your allergy symptoms come in the form of headaches, hoarse throat, or wheezy lungs then you probably take some sort of allergy medication for that which works well for you. If you don’t take something like that anymore because you’re afraid it will cause drowsiness or other unwanted symptoms – I would encourage you to try some of the newer medications on the market. They’ve made such great progress in this area since the days when Sudafed and Benedryl where your only options. Today’s medications are more targeted to the allergy and usual don’t knock you for a loop like those old ones did. And again – if you remove the allergens from your environment and your body, or remove yourself from the allergens (like staying indoors on windy days if possible) then whatever you apply will work so much better.