By Antoinette Grajeda
You can tell spring has sprung once plants start blooming, but those pretty flowers come with pesky pollens that can be troublesome for allergy sufferers.
“Allergies are diseases of the immune system that cause an overreaction to substances called allergens,” according to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America Web site. Allergies can be grouped by trigger, time of year or where symptoms appear on the body. These categories include indoor and outdoor allergies, latex allergies, insect allergies, skin allergies, eye allergies or food and drug allergies.
Jenny Campbell, a board-certified physician at Hedburg Allergy & Asthma Center in Rogers, said the most common food allergies found in children are milk, eggs, soy, wheat, peanuts and seafood. A food reaction can occur one to four hours after ingestion, and sometimes children don’t have an allergic reaction to a certain food until later on in life.
“The main thing that I don’t think parents know or realize is that they’re never going to have a reaction the first time they’re exposed to a food,” she said.
If someone suspects they have allergies, they can visit a physician who will ask for a good history of their symptoms and a list of allergens they may have been exposed to. To test for allergies, a drop of a suspected allergen is pricked or scratched on the surface of the skin of your back or forearm, according to the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology’s Web site. If you’re allergic to the substance, redness and swelling will occur at the test spot.
There are three options for treating allergies. The first is avoiding the things you’re allergic to. For example, someone with indoor allergies may be told to avoid pets, clean the kitchen, wash bed linens in hot water once a week, vacuum and dust the bedroom or place allergy covers on pillows and mattresses.
“We really focus on the bedroom because that’s where patients spend a third of their day,” Campbell said.
For people with outdoor allergies, she said patients should keep windows closed as well as rinse off and change clothing after being outside for long periods of time. Campbell noted that people tend to have more trouble with allergies here in Northwest Arkansas than other places because of the foliage.
“This is definitely an allergy hot spot,” she said. “It is a warmer climate and so we’ll start seeing trees pollinate sometimes even in December, but the end of January for sure.”
If avoiding allergens doesn’t work, the next step is medication. Campbell recommended over-the-counter medicines like Claritin and Zyrtec. She also said patients should be cautious of nose sprays and eye drops, which can sometimes make symptoms worse. If these medications don’t control symptoms, a doctor can provide allergy shots.

“They’re really the only thing that we have that actually changes their immune system to treat their allergies so we’re not just covering it up with medications; we’re actually fixing the problem,” Campbell said.
The shots work by exposing the patient to what they’re allergic to. By starting with small doses and increasing them, it desensitizes the body to the allergen, she explained. After three to five years of shots, 80 percent of people respond well and continue to respond even after the allergy shots are completed, she added.
These shots are helpful, but there are risks. Common reactions include redness and swelling near the injection site. Life-threatening reactions can also occur, which is why Campbell’s patients are asked to remain in the office 20 minutes after receiving a shot. If a patient has a severe reaction, physicians simply lower the dosage.
Even with the risk, studies have shown that allergy shots given to children may prevent them from becoming allergic to other allergens and it also may prevent them from developing asthma, Campbell said.
“Asthma is a disease of the lungs in which the airways become blocked or narrowed, causing breathing dif-ficulty,” according to the AAFA Web site. This chronic disease affects 20 million Americans and is strongly connected to allergies. About 80 percent to 90 percent of kids who have asthma also have allergies that trigger their asthma, and in about 50 percent of adults, the same is true, Campbell added.
“People that have asthma, it is important to get evaluated for allergies because avoiding those things that you’re allergic to can help improve not only your nasal symptoms, but your asthma symptoms as well,” she said.
In addition to avoiding allergens, asthma sufferers can use medications such as an inhaled steroid or leukotriene modifiers (pills). Patients are given maintenance medication that must be taken regularly in addition to rescue medications that can be taken during an asthma attack.
Physicians don’t know what causes asthma, but they can treat it so people can go about their daily lives, which can be particularly important for active children.
“We want children to be able to have a normal life despite having asthma so we just try to monitor them closely, get them on the correct medications,” she said. “We don’t want them to feel like they have to restrict their activities in any way and they shouldn’t have to.”
Parents wondering if their kids have asthma should look for symptoms such as coughing at night as well as any kind of wheezing or shortness of breath. The only way to know for sure is by visiting a doctor. Hedburg Allergy and Asthma will host a free asthma screening from noon to 2 p.m. May 16 at their office in Rogers.

FREE SCREENING
Hedburg Allergy and Asthma will host a free asthma screening from noon to 2 p.m. May 16, 2009 at its office in Rogers