If you've battled allergies year after year but just cannot find any real improvement
it may be time to investigate if there are other sources of your problems.
Dr. Madan Kandula is here today to chat about something else that complicates things for
ninety percent of all people who suffer nasal congestion due to allergies.
Great to see you this morning.
Great to be here.
Thank you so much.
I think this is important to talk about because I think some people just grow to accept oh
I have allergies or oh I have chronic sinus problems or sinus infections even, but sometimes there's
another answer.
Yeah there usually is.
I mean there's sort of the common misperception that you know there is nothing that can be
done and I just have to suffer from this and you know there's a limit on what can be done
but most people haven't even come close to exhausting or exploring all the options that
are there.
Yeah or getting true relief and seeing true improvement so how many people do you estimate
cause I always wonder about this this seems like this time of year everybody has allergies
but are there some numbers in terms of how many people have this?
So it's a lot.
Seasonal allergies affect about 50 million Americans and then there are many folks who
have both seasonal so seasonal means just the obvious thing come spring come summer
come fall you're noticing issues but then most folks who have seasonal allergies also
have perennial allergies meaning year round allergy issues so it gets really confusing
cause the most common question I get is well I'm always stuffy how could it be allergies
well it may be you might be allergic to something year round it's obviously springtime when
things are blooming that's a little more cut and dry.
But again there's sort of the what folks think they know and there's the true knowledge or
the true truth that's there and often times there's a disconnect.
And I think there's a lot of confusion some of those year round allergies are things I
suffer from mold, dust.
Dust is real common.
All those kinds of things that can even be in our own homes.
It's interesting to think there are so many people who are suffering and treat it with
over the counter remedies or things where they're really not getting the relief they
need.
And sometimes it's actually anatomical problem.
Yeah often times.
So sort of the low down on allergy issues is that if you have a stuffy nose because
of your allergy issues allergy medications are not going to really do much for that so
allergy meds do a pretty decent job of sneezing, itchy, runny those sorts of things.
The antihistamine type things.
Antihistamines great but if you're feeling stuffy either seasonally or perennially then
almost assuredly there is something else in the mix and that something else is that things
are shutting down.
And so really what allergies are are your bodies reacting to things that it shouldn't
when your body reacts to things that it shouldn't then it tries to shut them down.
To shut them down it just tries to close things off and so some folks get that you know acutely
where suddenly you have a stuffy nose but if that's happening day after day or season
after season then the body just sort of wants to shut it down.
Keep that stuff out.
It's its own mechanism a defense mechanism of just sort of let's just try to keep just
stop breathing and so then we're not going to have the allergy stuff in our nose anymore.
Is the congestion then that goes along with your allergy problems is that a sign that
maybe you should have it checked out.
Absolutely I mean so you know again if you're doing fine and you know your meds and things
are working or you can just avoid certain things wonderful if it's not then by all means
get it checked out a lot of folks sort of I guess the other sort of flip side of the
coin is folks who get checked out it's sort of well what are they doing to check you out
I mean so the problem is a lot of times you go in and then see urgent care or primary
care doc and they're going to want you back on those same meds that you tried before and
it's just a circle of not particularly helpful information.
And frustrating.
Yeah absolutely.
And I always think of you as ear, nose, and throat specialists which I know that you are
but part of what you do I feel like is really looking at the overall breathing problems
that someone has.
Yeah absolutely we've got a board certified allergist on staff so really for us it's a
matter of just you know for folks who see us it's like come in we'll figure it out you
don't need to worry about you know trying to figure out what's going on if it's an anatomic
issue we're going to identify it we're going to offer options to potentially correct that
a lot of our options nowadays we can do in the office.
If it's purely an allergy issue which is really rare that someone has got purely allergy issues
without any anatomy issues but if it's purely allergy issue but then wonderful we've got
medications we've got different medications than what are there over the counter but then
there are other treatments for allergies other than just medication so you can actually retrain
your body to stop reacting to that stuff and so for our patients it's really you know let's
get it all in front of us let's figure out what's going on anatomically what's going
on allergy wise and then let's get a game plan together on what's the right fit for
you so for some folks procedures are the last thing they want to consider.
That's great.
And vice versa for other folks it's I want to try to get things open and then I'll deal
with my allergy issues that's great you know so it's not one size fits all but if you don't
understand what's going on and you don't understand your options how can you you know sort of
really get to where you need to be.
And is it clear to you through testing or your observation of people is it clear to
you if it's an allergy problem or if it's anatomical or both?
We can make it clear but sometimes some folks don't want to go through the testing and okay
we'll try to figure it out but if we need to know we'll know we can figure it out definitively
anatomic allergy or both and treat you know the issues at hand.
Do you also work with someone's primary care physician after you take a look at them to
kind of work with that doctor and physician to kind of come up with the right treatment
plan?
Absolutely.
I mean once we have a game plan and that plan if it's going to b the procedural side of
things we need to take care of that but if it's more just sort of maintenance then that's
something we can certainly get a game plan together and sort of we don't want to push
folks away but make sure that they're doing well and it's an easy kind of cruise control
kind of a thing.
And I think very much the case is that people suffer during the day and a lot of people
have sleeping problems related to these breathing issues too.
Absolutely.
You have a couple of free events coming up next week one is on Tuesday and one is on
Thursday so ADVENT's physician experts are going to have this free public program on
the difference between allergy, sinus, and asthma issues.
As well as minimally invasive treatment options that are available now including private one
on one meetings.
So make sure you take advantage of this all you need to do is register because it's free.
The first one is happening next week Tuesday, April 25 at 6 pm at their Wauwatosa location
the other one is Thursday the 27th at 6 that's in Mequon.
To register go to advent.md/event-form or call 414-771-6780.
The have one office on Mayfair Road in Wauwatosa and another one on North Port Washington Road
in Mequon.
Always great to see you.
Always great to be here.
Thank you so much.
Thank you.