Anyone who suffers from allergies knows how hard it can be to suffer through them. At their worst, persistent allergies can cause other conditions, such as sinus infections and chronic bronchitis. They can also tell you that it’s hard to avoid all the different environmental triggers out there if you suffer from seasonal allergies more than food issues.
Some of the symptoms are worse than others, but the cough might be one of the hardest to get rid of. It can come up quickly and cause intense bouts of coughing and wheezing or can be a constant, nagging issue due to post-nasal drip that you just can’t shake.
Well, that all stops today. We are going to give you tips to use to get rid of that allergy cough and keep it away. It’s never fun to suffer from allergies, but there are steps you can take to relieve some of the issues.
What Are Allergies?
Allergies are a physical response from your body due to an outside or foreign substance. Your immune system reacts to a common allergen like pet dander or pollen by releasing histamines, which cause an inflammatory response. Allergens can be environmental, like pollen from flowers or dander from weeds, or from foods like peanuts or soy.
When your body comes into contact with these substances, it triggers a physical response within your body. Internally, you will make antibodies to fight this foreign substance. Even though it’s not actually harmful, whatever substance you react to, your body has deemed it to be harmful.
The allergy symptoms, such as a runny nose or chronic cough, are your body’s responses to the substances that your body has labeled as harmful. These symptoms can range and vary depending on the type of allergy you are dealing with.
For example, food allergies won’t necessarily cause a runny nose but could show themselves through other issues like hives or anaphylaxis. Hay fever, or the allergic response to environmental and seasonal allergies, won’t include a life-threatening trigger like this.
What Do Allergies Do to the Body?
Allergy symptoms range and vary depending on the type of allergy you are dealing with. Let’s look at the main categories of allergies and break down the different ways they will show themselves.
Signs & Symptoms of an Allergic Reaction
Symptoms aren’t the same or a blanket statement for allergies. You will have different symptoms depending on the type of allergy you have come into contact with.
For food allergies or allergies to medications, it’s common to see these symptoms:
- Hives
- Rashes
- Swelling of the face or throat
- Anaphylaxis: a serious condition that can be life-threatening
For bee stings, one might experience these reactions:
- Hives
- Swelling
- Shortness of breath
- Anaphylaxis
For environmental or seasonal allergies (allergic rhinitis), one might expect common symptoms akin to the common cold:
- Runny nose
- Wheezing
- Excess phlegm
- Coughing
- Sinus congestion
- Sneezing
- Sore throat
- Foggy brain
- Watery eyes
- Itchy nose and/or throat
Why Do Some Symptoms Linger?
You may notice issues with sinus congestion or a persistent cough that just won’t go away. These can happen due to mucus buildup in your nose and sinuses, but it could also be from you exacerbating your allergies.
With seasonal allergies, remember that certain days and certain times of the day are harder to manage symptoms on compared to other times and days. You might have to schedule more activities indoors in the summer or keep your windows closed in the fall.
If you notice that your allergy symptoms won’t stop even with some remedy on your part, you may be exposing yourself to more than you realize.
Which Allergies Make Us Cough?
The allergies that are most commonly associated with a persistent, dry cough are environmental or seasonal allergies known as hay fever. But why?
This is because this category of allergies creates symptoms that are most commonly associated with a cold or flu virus.
You will end up with a stuffy nose: Mucus buildup in your sinuses, and that mucus has the potential to drip down your throat, causing soreness and irritation. That irritation can present itself by causing the need or sensation to cough periodically throughout your day.
It can also occur just by breathing in foreign substances. Since your body is sensitive to these materials, breathing it in will create an instant nagging physically throughout your body. One of those physical issues is coughing due to the substance making it to your throat.
Home Remedies and Tips To Stop Coughing
The type of cough associated with allergies is hard to manage and becomes annoying when you can’t seem to find relief. These different tips and tricks can help you eliminate the symptoms of allergies and relieve your cough quickly.
The best part is they’re easy things to do and don’t require much extra effort, so you don’t have to worry about carving out a lot of time to get rid of that cough.
Warm Beverages
Drink hot teas or warm beverages when you’re dealing with a persistent cough. They will break up any mucus that is building up in your chest and throat so that it doesn’t constantly tickle the back of your throat and cause you to cough.
Warm drinks will also soothe the back of the throat better than a cold beverage will, so you can get a little relief from any pain or discomfort that coughing has already caused you.
Honey and Lemon
Honey and lemon mixed with warm water may also provide much-needed relief for a throat that is raw and painful from coughing. The lemon will help kill bacteria or germs in your throat. The honey will coat your throat and make it less painful when allergies tickle your sinuses and cause wheezing and coughing.
OTC Medications
There are many OTC (over-the-counter) medications that you can take to relieve the symptoms of seasonal allergies or allergies associated with hay fever. These cold and cough medicines will help clear out sinuses and nasal passages. Many also have a cough suppressant or expectorant to keep the throat from going raw due to coughs.
Antihistamines like Claritin and decongestants like Sudafed are available to purchase for both children and adults. Before taking anything new, talk to your healthcare provider about the possibilities and which will be the best choice for you and your family.
Nasal Sprays
There are also nasal sprays that work similarly to OTC medications to help relieve the symptoms associated with hay fever. They will block the receptors in your nose and help reduce the effects of allergies. If you can prevent or reduce the amount of congestion and sinus pressure, you can lower your chances of post-nasal drip and keep coughing to a bare minimum.
Lozenge
A throat lozenge or cough drop is a great way to get fast relief from the effects of coughing. It works by releasing medicine, usually the common ingredients in an OTC medication, that will work in a few ways.
One will coat the throat with a soothing medication to comfort a raw throat. A second will help clear out nasal passageways to allow better breathing, and a third will help suppress coughs for the future, so your throat can begin to heal.
There are also cough drops on the market for children, but the effects of lozenges can wear off really fast. As such, lozenges are considered more of an immediate and short-term solution.
Aromatherapy
Aromatherapy uses the active qualities of all-natural essential oils to help block triggers of allergies. Through the use of specific scents and aromas in different oils, your brain will block receptors that react to allergy materials that you come into contact with. It is a natural way of aiding your body to promote the proper responses to these harmless foreign substances.
It can be a long process finding the right combination of oils that work perfectly against allergies, but thankfully, we’ve done the hard work for you in the form of our AllergyPatch.
These stickers are full of all the right essential oils to give you up to eight hours of relief from the symptoms of allergies. They’re safe to use for both adults and kids and go on clothes, not skin, so you won’t have to worry about them bothering or irritating skin.
Avoid Common Causes of Allergies
It may prove a little tricky, but one of the best ways to stop coughing due to hay fever is to avoid things in the air that trigger your allergies. These can include dust mite particles, pollen, pet hair, and more. During certain seasons and times of year or day, you may have to stay inside more often or plan activities indoors to avoid pollen and dander in the air.
For instance, if you’re an avid hiker and love to be outside, check weather reports for wind or other air quality conditions to determine if a hike will work for your sinuses. Some days you may have to rearrange plans at the last minute, but that’s better than being miserable all day.
No Dogs in the Bed
Keeping pets (and pet dander) out of your bed can also help to reduce allergy symptoms. They may love to cuddle, and you love the warm snuggles. But, unfortunately, those four-legged friends carry around all the dander and pollen from the outdoors around on their fur. This means you are breathing it all night if they sleep in your bed.
If making them sleep in their own beds away from you is not an option, consider pet-friendly wipes before bed. You can clean the day off their coats and not have to worry about constant exposure to your allergens while you sleep.
How To Pinpoint Your Allergens
Most people probably know that they either have environmental allergies or not, but there are tests to determine exactly what you are allergic to. As adults, it may not seem as important, but allergy testing can help parents find out what could be bothering their little ones so they can avoid those triggers.
Here are the two most common tests that doctors will administer:
1. Blood Test
The first step in allergy testing is usually a blood test. Doctors and allergists will do this in-office to determine what you are allergic to. This test will determine how allergic to certain substances you are, but that isn’t a good measurement of what you will respond to when presented with the allergen.
Once you have done a blood test and doctors determine that you do have allergies, they will refer you to an allergy specialist to do the next round of tests.
2. Prick Test
After a blood test and referral comes a prick test. With this test, a specialist will scratch your skin with different allergens to determine the intensity of your symptoms. Many times this is done for food allergies, as they can be deadly.
However, for kids and adults who are hypersensitive to environmental allergens, providers may opt for this test too.
Get Relief Quickly
This read should give you a great headstart in fighting that itchy and scratchy throat from allergies. While it is still a good idea to speak to your healthcare provider for a long-term plan for combating the symptoms of allergies, getting relief from that persistent cough needs to happen fast to reduce pain and discomfort. It’s time to feel better and get back to life.
Sources:
Allergies - Symptoms, side effects, and causes | Mayo Clinic
8 ways you're making your seasonal allergies worse | Doctors Hospital
