Allergies can be complicated and expensive to manage. Use these advanced tips to find affordable allergy treatments.
Allergies are a hassle, even more so if you are allergic to multiple things. Trying to find relief can quickly drain your bank account between allergy tests and prescription medications. If you have seasonal allergies or a mild allergy to environmental irritants you may be able to save money and better manage your symptoms. Severe allergies that cause anaphylaxis can be life-threatening. Those need medical management by an allergist.
Figure Out Your Triggers
Blood-based or scratch-test type allergy tests are the standard way to determine what you are allergic to. These can test for specific types of plants, trees, or grasses in your area, and common triggers like animals, house dust, or mold. If you seem to flare up at the same time every year, your allergy could be due to a plant pollen or mold issue. Keeping symptom notes to identify days or weeks that are the worst can help determine what is your trigger.
When you are having a particularly bad day, check the local pollen forecast. This may help identify if trees, grasses, or other plant categories are producing large amounts of pollen at that time. Keeping notes may also help identify certain weeks of the year when you always have problems. In this case, when you know ahead of time that allergy problems will be coming, you can begin medication before those irritants emerge.
Pollen.com provides a pollen forecast that can be useful for identifying and anticipating bad allergy days. For making notes on seasonal allergies, a calendar app may be your best option. This allows you to identify problematic days throughout the entire year with notes to log details. There are also various allergy apps that may help.
If there are suspect foods that may be causing allergy problems, a food elimination trial may help. Elimination diets can be useful for food intolerances and sensitivities, not just true allergies. Food intolerances or sensitivities can cause a number of non-allergic problems such as headaches, bloating, and other unpleasant problems.
Avoidance
Avoiding your triggers once you know them can be a significant tool in managing allergies. If a certain time of year or a type of pollen causes problems, closing up your house will significantly reduce symptoms. Running heat, air conditioning, or a fan, rather than opening windows may be enough for some people to not need medication.
Pollen masks can prevent pollen or other irritants from being inhaled, lessening the potential for an allergic reaction. Masks come in a variety of styles that are a significant improvement over old-style paper masks.
If dust mites or similar allergens are a problem, washable textiles and dust covers can help. Furniture that can be easily dusted or wiped down such as leather may be easier to keep clean. Mattresses and pillows can use dust covers if the problem is severe. Replacing wall-to-wall carpeting with wood or a similar solid surface flooring can cut down on allergens and make cleaning easier. Running a forced air furnace can kick up dust and allergens in your home. During times of the year when you need some warmth but may not need to run the furnace, a radiator space heater or electric baseboard heater can add heat without blowing dust and allergens into the air.
Using a home filter system can reduce irritants in the air. Whole-house filtration systems are available but expensive. Good quality portable air filter units can be used in the rooms you spend the most time in. Bedrooms, living rooms, or offices may benefit from an air filter to reduce allergens. A less aesthetically pleasing but cheap solution is a box fan and a forced air furnace filter. This setup will reduce pollen and other particulates in the air. We suggest these allergen-grade filters. Adjustable window filters can be used to allow airflow while keeping allergens out of your home.
Medications
There are a wide variety of over-the-counter allergy medications. Many of these used to be prescription only with a painful price tag. Zyrtec, Claritin, Allegra, and more recently Xyzal are available over the counter. All of these have generic versions. Generic Xyzal is harder to find and typically the same price as the brand version. Generic Zyrtec, cetirizine is considerably cheaper than the brand name. Generic Allegra, fexofenadine is more expensive than some other generic antihistamines but may work when others do not.
Generic Claritin, loratadine is the cheapest of the non-drowsy over-the-counter antihistamines. It is considered a good one to try first as it has fewer side effects. Diphenhydramine (aka Benadryl) can cause drowsiness but may be an option if you need something short-term or that isn’t relieved by the non-drowsy options. If you are unsure what option may be best or have other questions, a pharmacist should be able to help you select an option or look up potential interactions with other medications.
Allergy nasal sprays are another option if nasal allergies are your worst symptom. Most OTC nasal sprays for allergies are steroid based. These can have problematic side effects, though less so than oral steroids. There are few OTC allergy nasal sprays without steroids. Nasalcrom is one nasal spray without steroids. This spray needs to be used for a period of time before it is effective but can provide some amount of immediate relief. A newer antihistamine-based nasal spray went over the counter recently, Astepro is now available without a prescription. For an over-the-counter steroid-based option, Flonase and Nasacort have both come down in price considerably. Generic versions of these nasal sprays have also come on the market at lower price points.
Natural Options
Some herbal options can reduce the need for allergy medications or in the case of less severe allergies, may provide enough symptom relief alone. This blend of turmeric and quercetin works well for nasal allergies. Quercetin can have an antihistamine effect. Vitamin C can have an antihistamine and anti-inflammatory effect. Stinging Nettle can have an antihistamine effect.
For more severe allergies or options beyond what is available over the counter, most primary care doctors can help or refer you to an allergist if needed. This may be something that can be resolved with a telemedicine visit, potentially saving a considerable amount in the process.
Test Yourself
If you are wondering if you have allergies to specific things there are ways to test without an expensive office visit to a specialist and thousands of dollars of lab tests or scratch tests. Self ordered tests through a diagnostic lab such as Quest or LabCorp can test for a variety of allergens. Quest Diagnostics has a food allergy panel for around $209 plus $6 for the doctor’s order. They offer a basic or expanded environmental allergy panel ranging from $239.00 to $399.00. They also have specialized tests for shellfish, nuts and a gluten (celiac) test. These do require that you live somewhere that has a Quest Diagnostics collection facility.
Another option are at home tests. Most of these have you collect a small blood sample at home with a finger prick and send the kit to their lab. The Everlywell environmental allergen test kit is $198.00 and tests for 40 common allergens. The 5Strands Food Intolerance test kit tests for 640 food allergies and intolerances. The kit costs $144.00.