Living with allergies can be difficult. Symptoms can mess with your day-to-day life or, in some cases, be life-threatening. Even if your allergies only show up seasonally, symptoms can impact your health and well-being. Fortunately, there are treatments that can help.

Whether you have allergies to pollen, pets, food, or medication, these treatments may offer relief and peace of mind.

What Allergy Treatments Are Available?

Avoiding an allergen may be one way to prevent yourself from having a reaction. But if you can’t steer clear of an allergen, these treatments may help:

  • Medication
  • Immunotherapy
  • Nasal washes
  • Artificial tears

What Types of Allergy Medications Can Help?

Several over-the-counter (OTC) and prescription meds may be able to ease your allergy symptoms or prevent them completely.

Antihistamines

These are ideal to treat sneezing, runny nose, and itchy eyes. They work by stopping histamines, which are chemicals in your immune system that can cause allergic reactions. 

Most antihistamines are available OTC at your local drug store. Others are only given by prescription. They come in different forms, such as nasal sprays, pills, eyedrops, syrups, and lotions.

Azelastine (Astepro) is a well-known nasal spray antihistamine. Naphazoline, Pataday, tetrahydrozoline, Zaditor, and are popular OTC  antihistamine and decongestant eyedrops. Other common antihistamines like diphenhydramine and loratadine are taken by mouth.

You can take oral antihistamines for eye allergies, but they may make your eyes feel dry or make your symptoms worse. They also may make you drowsy. Some that may make you sleepy include:

  • Brompheniramine (Ala-Hist IR, Dimetane, Disomer, J-Tan, Veltane)
  • Chlorpheniramine (Aller-Chlor, Chlo-Amine, Chlor-Trimeton, Polaramine, Teldrin Allergy)
  • Diphenhydramine (Aler-Dryl, Allergia-C, Allermax, Altaryl, Banophen)
  • Hydroxyzine (Atarax, Hypam, Orgatrax, Vistaril)

Oral antihistamines that are less likely to make you feel this way include:

  • Cetirizine (Zyrtec)
  • Desloratadine (Clarinex)
  • Fexofenadine (Allegra)
  • Levocetirizine (Xyzal)
  • Loratadine (Alavert, Claritin)

Corticosteroids

These medicines reduce inflammation to ease your allergy symptoms. They can also prevent symptoms, meaning that they can stop them from happening. 

Specifically, corticosteroids can help treat seasonal hay fever. They come in creams, nasal sprays, eyedrops, pills, inhalers, and injections. 

Mometasone (Nasonex) is a well-known corticosteroid nasal spray (also known as a glucocorticoid spray). Prednisone (Deltasone) is a popular corticosteroid taken by mouth. Other corticosteroids include cortisone (Cortone), hydrocortisone (Hydrocort), and methylprednisolone (Medrol).

If you’re using eyedrops for allergies, your doctor may suggest corticosteroid eyedrops for swelling, itching, and redness.These eyedrops are only available with a prescription. Don’t use them for more than two weeks unless your doctor says so. 

Decongestants 

If your allergies cause you to have sniffles, decongestants may lessen swelling so you don’t feel so stuffed up. 

Decongestants come in nasal spray and pill form. Pseudoephedrine (Sudafed) is a well-known oral decongestant. A popular nasal spray decongestant is oxymetazoline (Afrin). Ipratropium (Atrovent) is another nasal spray that relieves sniffles but not congestion or itching from allergies.

Nasal sprays may help for a few days, but they can also cause congestion to get worse,  something called the rebound effect.

Oral allergy medicines that include an antihistamine and a decongestant include:

  • Cetirizine and pseudoephedrine (Zyrtec-D)
  • Desloratadine and pseudoephedrine (Clarinex-D)
  • Fexofenadine and pseudoephedrine (Allegra-D)
  • Loratadine and pseudoephedrine (Claritin-D)

Vasoconstrictor eyedrops are also considered decongestants. That’s because they  affect blood vessels in your eyes and lessen redness and itching. They’re available OTC. You must use these drops several times a day, but don’t use them for more than two to three days because they can cause a rebound effect. 

Recently, the FDA stated that it wants to remove phenylephrine, an ingredient in nasal decongestants such as Sudafed and Dayquil. Doctors say the ingredient doesn’t work in pill form. Some medications only include phenylephrine, while others include phenylephrine along with acetaminophen or dextromethorphan – other ingredients that are effective.

Be careful if you’re considering a decongestant because they can be harmful if you have certain medical conditions like high blood pressure, prostate enlargement, glaucoma, or hyperthyroidism. In those cases, check with your doctor before taking a decongestant.

Leukotriene inhibitors

These are also called leukotriene receptor antagonists or leukotriene modifiers. They block leukotrienes, which are chemicals that cause allergy symptoms. These medicines are prescription oral medicines commonly used for asthma and hay fever. 

Montelukast (Singulair), zafirlukast (Accolate), and zileuton (Zyflo) are popular leukotriene inhibitors.

Mast cell stabilizers 

These stop your body from releasing histamine. Their goal is to prevent allergies. Mast cell stabilizers are often recommended if you don’t respond well to antihistamines. 

These medicines are available as nasal sprays and eyedrops. But they don’t offer relief right away. The medication needs to be taken for several days before you see results, including the eyedrops.

The nasal spray cromolyn (Gastrocrom) is a commonly used mast cell stabilizer. The active ingredients in most mast cell stabilizers are cromolyn sodium, lodoxamide, nedocromil sodium, and pemirolast potassium. 

Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs)

NSAID eyedrops can ease itching and inflammation from an allergic reaction. Ketorolac (Acular, Acuvail) is a liquid eyedrop that differs from oral NSAIDs like ibuprofen.

Immunotherapy for Allergies

If you have a difficult time controlling your allergy symptoms or you want to prevent allergy reactions, your doctor may recommend immunotherapy. 

Immunotherapy exposes you to small doses of an allergen and increases the dose over time. The goal is to teach your body not to react to an allergen.

There are three main types of immunotherapy: allergy shots, oral immunotherapy, and biologics.

Allergy shots. Also known as subcutaneous immunotherapy (SCIT), these injections expose you to small amounts of an allergen that go up over time. Your doctor will watch you for any life-threatening reaction during the injections.

Oral immunotherapy. This is called sublingual immunotherapy treatment (SLIT). It’s similar to how shots work. SLIT involves putting a small amount of the allergen under your tongue so it absorbs in your body. Like allergy shots, SLIT is ideal for pollen, dust mite, grass, and ragweed allergies. 

SLIT treatment for dust mites includes house dust mites allergenic extract (Odactra). For ragweed, your doctor may use short ragweed pollen extract (Ragwitek). A sweet vernal, orchard, perennial rye, timothy, and Kentucky blue grass mixed pollens allergen extract (Oralair) can be used for grass allergies, and a Timothy grass pollen allergen extract (Grastek) can be used for grass-pollen allergies. SLIT can also be used to help people with peanut allergies. Your doctor may suggest peanut allergen powder-dnfp (Palforzia).

Biologics. These medicines, which are made from living organisms like cells, change your immune system to treat allergies such as asthma, hives, and food allergies. Omalizumab (Xolair) is an FDA-approved treatment for food allergies, asthma, and hives. Dupilumab (Dupixent) is for asthma, sinus pressure, and allergic skin conditions. Mepolizumab (Nucala) treats asthma and sinus discomfort.

Treatment for Life-Threatening Allergies 

If you’ve been exposed to an allergen by accident that can be life-threatening, an epinephrine pen can be a life-saver. This prescription medication is used to stop a severe allergic reaction known as anaphylaxis or anaphylactic shock, a reaction that can occur from nut allergies or insect bites. 

During anaphylactic shock, your blood pressure may drop, you may have trouble breathing, you might vomit, or you may have a skin rash. The reaction can lead to death. This is why having epinephrine on hand is critical.

To use epinephrine, you inject the pre-filled syringe into your body or use the epinephrine nasal spray to stop the severe allergic reaction. 

Nasal Washes 

OTC saline washes can be effective at treating nasal allergies and head congestion. The ingredients are typically made of water and salt or saltwater (sodium chloride). Some include baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) or have moisturizers like aloe. Pay attention to ingredients to see what’s added.

You can use a premade solution or make your own and use a nasal device to ease swelling in nasal passages and keep them moisturized. This can improve airflow and give you some relief.

Artificial Tears

OTC eyedrops can ease eye allergens by moistening your eyes and essentially rinsing allergens out of the way. This may not give you enough relief if you have ongoing eye allergies, but it may be a good solution to rinse away irritants.

Allergy Medications for Kids

If your child has allergies, be sure to read the labels on the medication package especially if you buy something from the drugstore. Some allergy medicines can be used in children as young as 2. They may have different dosing instructions based on the child’s age.

Show Sources

SOURCES:

Allergy & Asthma Network: “A Complete Guide to Allergies,” “How are Allergies Treated?”

Cleveland Clinic: “Antihistamines,” “Cortisone tablets.”

Mayo Clinic: “Allergy medications: Know your options,” “Anaphylaxis,” “Corticosteroid (ophthalmic route).” 

NHS: “Corticosteroids (steroids).”

FDA: “FDA Proposes Ending Use of Oral Phenylephrine as OTC Monograph Nasal Decongestant Active Ingredient After Extensive Review,” “Odactra,” “FDA Approves First Medication to Help Reduce Allergic Reactions to Multiple Foods After Accidental Exposure,” “Know Which Medication Is Right for Your Seasonal Allergies.”

Yale School of Medicine: “Phenylephrine, a Common Decongestant, Is Ineffective, Say FDA Advisors. It’s Not Alone.”

RxList: “Hydrocortisone.”

Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America: “Allergy Treatments.”

Science Direct: “Mast Cell Stabilizer.”

American College of Allergy, Asthma, & Immunology: “Allergy Immunotherapy,” “Saline Sinus Rinse Recipe,” “Eye Allergy,” “Eye Drops.”

MedlinePlus: “Ketorolac Ophthalmic.”