Augusta Health doctor talks pollen and allergy prevention
Spring came early this year and it's peak allergy season, especially for those reactive to trees.
According to Dr. Heather Schultz, an Augusta Health emergency physician currently caring for patients at the urgent care facilities, pollen from the birch tree in our area causes the most allergic reactions.
Although it feels like pollen allergies got a head start, Schultz said she isn't seeing a rise in patients beyond what they normally see this time of year.
Shortage of medications and inhalers for asthma sufferers has not been a challenge when Augusta Health's urgent care nurses call in prescriptions at pharmacies.
"I have yet to have a pharmacy call me and say that they don't have any inhalers," said Schultz. "We see a lot of asthmatic symptoms worsen this time of year due to allergies. And so inhalers are something we prescribe a fair amount of, and we have not seen a shortage."
But there are other types of shortages affecting the pediatric population.
"There certainly has been shortages of a lot of medications that are typical staples," said Schultz. "We've run out of a lot of the pediatric antibiotics and we are short ocular antibiotics so there's few choices if you get a pink eye infection."
An ounce of prevention...
We asked Dr. Schultz what people can do to prevent a trip to urgent care.
"I would say, certainly, if you're already on a treatment plan through your primary care doctor for allergies, you want to continue with that treatment plan. Make sure that you get your medications refilled as needed and not allow yourself to run out of medicines."
If you are not on prescribed medication and want to try something over the counter, Schultz recommends nasal steroids made by FirstLine. If you have symptoms such as watery eyes and a runny nose, antihistamines can help, too, she added.
There are many weather apps to choose from. Schultz said she uses Weatherbug and likes the app's option called "the air you breathe."
Don't forget to change your air filters.
"This time of year, in modern homes, there's an intake filter in the home and pollen can come in through there," said Schultz. "So people want to make sure that they change out their home air filters." To take it a step further, she recommends getting an air purifier to filter out the particles that do get through.
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This article originally appeared on Staunton News Leader: Augusta Health doctor talks pollen and allergy prevention
