Staff writer
Georgia Templeton had all the symptoms Thursday morning - itchy throat, red, watery eyes and sneezing.
She was miserable.
It's that time of year.
Allergies are back for the 21-year-old Mt. Pleasant Township resident and many others around the world.
She is allergic to pollen, grass, dogs and cats. However, that hasn't kept her from having pets or working at a golf course.
Luckily for her, she can control her allergies with medicine, including nose spray and eye drops. She took Claritin Thursday morning when she felt so bad - and it worked.
"I'm pretty good right now," she said Thursday afternoon.
At least one out of every five Americans suffers from allergies, according to WebMD.
Common causes of allergy symptoms include food allergies to things such as peanuts or milk, and seasonal allergies resulting from grass, weeds, tree pollen or various molds. Cat, dog and dust mite allergies also can cause those symptoms.
But what makes someone allergic to any of those items or animals while others are not?
Allergies are almost always genetic, said Michael Palumbo, a doctor with Allergy and Clinical Immunology Associates in Washington.
Children have one-third to one-fourth chance of developing allergies if one of their parents has allergies and one-half to two-thirds of a chance of developing them if both parents have allergies, said Nikhil Davé, physician at Allergy and Asthma Care in Charleroi and McMurray.
Palumbo said people can develop allergies later in life. However, they usually don't outgrow them. Instead, patients learn how to deal with the symptoms better, he said.
This time of year is when Palumbo sees the most patients. Some, who have perennial allergies, such as those related to pet dander or dust mites, come throughout the year.
However, the tree pollen season just finished, and the grass pollen season is upon us. Weed pollen will be here in the fall.
Seasonal allergies cause the most acute symptoms, Palumbo said. The symptoms occur because white blood cells are attacking pollen to get rid of it, he said.
For most people, over-the-counter medicines to fight allergies will work, Palumbo said. However, some need stronger prescription medicines, he said.
Patients usually come to an allergist after they've already been treated by their family doctor, Davé said.
He said when patients receive allergy shots, they get a shot of the blocking antibodies of what they are allergic to, with the hopes that they will become desensitized.
He recommends allergy shots for five years. After that period, patients can become desensitized to allergies. Allergic reactions can come back, but it's difficult to predict how long that might take, Davé said.