Allergy Season

Fall is officially in full swing and for me that means it is also allergy season. Although I am not an Atlanta native, I’ve lived here on and off for 13 years. When I was in school I would hear stories about the high pollen count - especially in the spring and it would have no effect on me whatsoever. Allergies were not something I grappled with or so I thought. For most of my life I have had various respiratory issues and I think it just became the norm - sniffles and congestion were just a part of my everyday experience. Until I had a true respiratory infection and I was told that it was a result of allergies that were untreated. Now that I know I have allergies, even if my symptoms seem mild, I do everything I can to keep them at bay because if I don’t, an infection is not far away.

For me this means treating my allergies at the first sign of them and using preventative measures to keep them from progressing to an infection. To do this I take a trip to Walmart and stock up on the essentials for allergy season. Walmart has a variety of products available. Over the years I’ve discovered that finding what works is trial and error, products that work for friends may not always work effectively for me. My personal favorite is Advil allergy sinus. This helps prevent congestion and running nose for me. Left untreated I can experience terrible sinus headaches and I am not interested in suffering through that misery!

I’ve also found that when I travel by plane, my allergies kick up so I take some preventative measures when I travel. Spending hours in recirculated air with people who may be sick and spreading germs, I keep Airborne with me and take it before, during and after I travel. On my last trip I was sitting next to a man who clearing had some type of respiratory thing going on. It was kind of funny because I was leaning far away from him trying to keep the germs from reaching me! I am so thankful that I didn’t get sick and I’m convinced that Airborne helped prevent it!

I also keep tissues on hand for myself and my son. 

He goes to school and if you don’t know, that place is a hotbed for infection! Luckily we have dodged sickness so far this school year but I want to be ready just in case. And with my allergies randomly acting up, I need tissues to keep my runny nose under control until my medication kicks in!

Although I have allergies, by taking over the counter medication, I keep them under control and prevent them from becoming an infection. This is something I’ve learned over time because for the longest I’d just deal with all of the symptoms thinking they’d just pass and inevitably they’d just become worse. As they say “an ounce of prevention of prevention is worth a pound of cure” and Walmart has everything I need during allergy season!