There are many allergy medications on the market which can make it bewildering for a
patient to know what to get and whether it is safe to combine more than one type of allergy
medication.
Here we will explain in a simple understandable way how an anti-histamine differs from a steroid
nasal spray differs from all the rest.
To begin, we will use a water balloon to represent the mast cell inside a person’s body which
is responsible for allergic reactions.
To prevent an allergic reaction, you do NOT want the water inside the balloon from getting
out.
The water itself represents the chemicals including histamine that trigger an allergic
reaction such as a sneeze, runny nose, itching, etc.
Allergic substances like ragweed are symbolized by needles that are trying to pop the water
balloon.
Got it?
Oral Anti-Histamines
Anti-histamines include a large category of oral medications like zyrtec, allegra, claritin,
benadryl, xyzal along with other generic equivalents.
These drugs basically flood the air with plugs which attach to the tip of the needles making
it more difficult to pop the water balloon.
The different types of anti-histamines are like putting different color and shape plugs
on the tip of the needles.
Steroid Nasal Sprays
The other common category of allergy medications are steroid nasal sprays which include flonase,
nasacort, rhinocort, sensimist, nasonex among others.
These nasal sprays work by decreasing the overall number of water balloons present…
and it takes a week or 2 for it to accomplish this population decrease.
Anti-Histamine Nasal Sprays
Anti-histamine nasal sprays (astelin, patanase, astepro) work the same way as the oral version.
However, whereas the oral medication can only go where blood flow is present, a nasal spray
is able to get those plugs into additional areas where a blood stream is absent… like
the surface of the nasal cavity.
Leukotriene Inhibitor (Singulair)
Singulair is an interesting medication in that it decreases the overall amount of water
inside the balloon.
So even if the balloon pops, not as much water or allergic chemicals are released thereby
minimizing an allergic reaction.
Cromolyn Nasal Spray (NasalCrom)
NasalCrom works by making a balloon’s skin tougher so a needle can’t pop it as easily.
Too bad this superpower doesn’t last very long requiring repeated coatings for it to
work well.
Saline Flushes
Flushing the nose with saltwater is like washing an area clean of any needles.
However, when a person breathes in and out, more needles keep entering the area.
Vitamin D
Vitamin D has been found to play many different roles in health.
When it comes to allergy, it seems function by telling a hyperactive balloon factory to
decrease the overall production of balloons to a more “reasonable” level.
Nasal Decongestants and Mucinex
Decongestants like sudafed and afrin nasal sprays work as damage control after a whole
lot of water balloons have popped.
They function by trying to limit the water damage that will occur by redirecting it away
from important areas like the nose.
Mucinex also functions as damage control.
It basically works by adding clean purified water to dilute out the bad nasty water released
by the water balloon.
Can More Than One Allergy Medication be Taken?
YES!
A person with SEVERE allergies is like having 5 times more water balloons that need to be
protected compared to an individual with mild allergies.
A very bad allergy season is like having a thunderstorm of needles raining down.
So a severely allergic individual in a very bad allergy season will find that taking one
or even two allergy medications will do almost nothing.
In this situation, you need to marshal multiple medications that work synergistically to minimize
water balloon pops from a thunderstorm of needles.
Oral and nasal spray antihistamines to flood the air and ground with plugs.
Steroid nasal sprays to decrease the number of water balloons out in the open.
Singulair to decrease the volume of water within the balloons.
Vitamin D to tell the immune system factories to please decrease the overproduction of balloons.
NasalCrom to given the water balloons a temporary superpower of thicker skin.
Saline flushes to try to clear the area of needles while it is still raining needles.
And finally, damage control with sudafed and mucinex to either redirect or dilute out the
dirty water released by the water balloons that have popped.
Of course, avoiding a thunderstorm of needles in the first place would be the best course
of action, especially if you are a water balloon.
For the individual, that would be to avoid at all costs anything you are allergic to.