It’s the Season
Many people can breathe a sigh of relief, because
help for allergies is nearby
If you struggle with seasonal allergies, you know what to expect during the fall.
Central Texans are feeling the effects of ragweed and mold. Board-certified
physicians at Scott & White Healthcare locations diagnose and treat children
and adults throughout the year.
bout 20 percent of all Americans
suffer from allergies. Symptoms
like itchy, watery eyes and runny
noses can make people so uncomfortable
that they miss work or school and
experience difficulty in participating in
outdoor activities. As we head into the
cooler temperatures of fall, it also can be
difficult to distinguish between a cold or
flu and allergy symptoms—both of which
can make people suffer.
Scott & White Healthcare has
expanded its allergy specialty care beyond
the main clinic in Temple, TX, to
outpatient locations in Waco, Georgetown
(Sun City), Killeen, Bryan-College Station
and Round Rock. “We know how difficult
it is for patients and so we make every
effort to ease people through an
uncomfortable season like the fall,” says
John Dvoracek, MD, director of the
Division of Allergy, Asthma and
Immunology at Scott & White Healthcare.
“The key to addressing allergies is to
pinpoint the source, and thereby save time,
energy and money to manage it,” he says.
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Another component of treatment includes
understanding the role that allergy may
play in controlling asthma symptoms. The
division also treats patients with rhinitis,
drug and food allergies, sinusitis, hives and
swelling, chronic coughing and several
immune disorders.
The immune system’s response
A persistently runny nose with sneezing or
congestion and itchy, watery eyes are the
telltale signs of allergic rhinitis, commonly
called hay fever. It’s our immune system’s
way of asserting itself when the body
comes into contact with an unwelcome
intruder. The immune system is designed
to defend the body by destroying bacteria,
microbes, viruses, toxins and parasites that
one is exposed to by inhalation, eating,
bites or cuts. Sometimes, though, exposure
to a harmless allergen can trigger the
immune system to inexplicably interpret it
as a harmful invader and release histamine
and other chemicals to combat it. Because
of the chemicals released, we begin to itch
(becoming aware of the allergen), start to
sneeze (to keep it out of our noses), become
congested (to make it harder for the
allergen to get into our noses), and develop
a runny nose (to help wash it away).
Pollen is a common allergen, and here
in Central Texas it’s virtually a year-round
battle. Allergy sufferers may be sensitive to
weed pollen from late summer to early fall,
tree pollen from mid-winter to spring and
grass pollen from spring through summer.
Other allergens include animal dander,
dust, mold, insects, food, drugs or other
irritants that can affect the skin and the
respiratory and digestive systems.
Expertise to help patients
An allergist/immunologist is a physician
with extensive training in the diagnosis and
treatment of allergies, asthma and diseases
that affect immune system function.
Experience with interpreting tests leads
Scott & White allergists/immunologists to
the source of aggravation in a relatively
short amount of time. Skin tests are most
commonly used, while blood tests, X-rays
and other functional evaluations are
available as well. Scott & White patients
are pleased to learn that with skin testing,
the allergist can determine exactly what is
causing their distress and set them on a
path to management or recovery, often
during the course of one office visit.
Specialty physicians not only help
patients with common allergic rhinitis (hay
fever) symptoms but also address allergic
reactions such as hives (urticaria) and
swelling (angioedema). Hives affect the
surface of the skin, triggering localized
itching and burning, whereas swelling
occurs beneath the skin. It is often difficult
to identify the cause, and treating more
severe or persistent cases may require the use
of special medications, says Dr. Dvoracek.
“Immunologists also are instrumental
in evaluating chronic coughs, nearly half of
which are due to unrecognized asthma,
allergy, sinusitis or postnasal drip, all of
which may be triggered by allergy,” he says.
In contrast, a cold would be characterized
by acute or possibly severe coughing that
lasted from a few days to a week.
It’s clear that these physicians need to
be expert detectives who can study an
individual’s immune response, uncover
what has compromised its normal
functioning and offer the best
recommendations for healing.
Treatment options
Too often, allergy sufferers look to over-
the-counter medications for instant relief
of respiratory symptoms, unaware that
nasal sprays containing neosynephrine or
oxymetazalone can be habit-forming or
raise blood pressure. Dr. Dvoracek suggests
that if your symptoms don’t improve in
three days, you should see an allergist to
determine what is causing these reactions
and whether other options for treatment
would be more helpful.
While medicine can make the allergy
more bearable, desensitizati