How to Ease Seasonal Allergy Symptoms

One of the most effective and straightforward strategies is reducing your exposure to allergens like pollen or dust. Here are some easy ways to do so:

Keep track of pollen. Monitor local pollen counts and try to stay indoors between 5 a.m. and 10 a.m. on days when counts are highest, says the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.

Take a bedtime shower. This helps wash off pollen that has collected on your skin and hair during the day so that you’re not sleeping with allergens.

Use an over-the-counter (OTC) saline nasal spray. This helps clear a clogged-up nose and wash out pollen and other allergens that may have accumulated there. You can use these products as often as you want, says Sandra Hong, MD, an allergist at Cleveland Clinic, but it’s a particularly good idea after you’ve been outdoors and before bed. (But skip nasal decongestant sprays, or use them only for a couple of days, because they can cause rebound congestion.)

Keep your pets out of the bedroom. Pet fur can harbor pollen, so even if you’re not allergic to your cat or dog, it’s a good idea to keep them off your bed—and if possible, out of the room entirely—especially if they spend time outdoors.

Mow your lawn regularly. Short grass is less likely to release pollen than taller grass. If possible, have someone else mow it. If you do it yourself, wear a face mask (like an N-95 filter mask) and sunglasses to prevent pollen from blowing into your nose, mouth, and eyes. Regularly clean your gutters and downspouts, too.

Run the air conditioner. “You want to keep doors and windows closed, so no pollen can get in,” Lockey says. An air purifier might help, too: See our air purifier ratings and buying guide. Here are four air purifiers designed for an extra-large, large, medium-sized, or small room that did well in our tests.

Avoiding allergens might not always be enough. Here’s a rundown of common medications and when it’s appropriate to consider them.

Steroid nasal sprays: A good place to start is to consider a steroid nasal spray such as fluticasone (Flonase), triamcinolone (Nasacort), or mometasone (Nasonex)—all available over the counter and also in generic form. Daily use throughout the allergy season can help reduce nasal inflammation and combat a runny or stuffy nose, says Amber Luong, MD, a professor of allergy medicine with the McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston. But this is best started at least two weeks in advance of the season because it can take time to begin working, according to the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology.

It’s important to use these medications properly to get the benefits. “You want to direct the spray to the outer wall of your nostril, which is the part that gets swollen,” says Mario Rodenas, MD, an allergist at Yale Medicine in New Haven, Conn. “If you can taste the spray in your throat, chances are you’re using it incorrectly.” (If you have glaucoma, talk to your ophthalmologist first because these medications may increase ocular pressure.)

Oral antihistamines: Rita Kachru, MD, chief of clinical immunology and allergy at UCLA Health, recommends OTC oral antihistamines like cetirizine (Zyrtec and generic), levocetirizine (Xyzal and generic), loratadine (Claritin, Alavert, and generic), and fexofenadine (Allegra and generic). Older antihistamines like diphenhydramine (Benadryl and generic) are far more likely to make you sleepy, and some have been linked to a higher risk of dementia. Still, the newer ones can lead to drowsiness in older adults, so if you’re older, you may want to take a dose that’s smaller than normal.

Though the newer antihistamines all appear to be equally safe and effective, some people may respond better to one than another. So if, for example, cetirizine doesn’t seem to help, try fexofenadine or loratadine, Hong says.

You can also take an OTC oral antihistamine for a week or so while you wait for a steroid nasal spray to begin working, but after that, there’s little reason to regularly take both an oral antihistamine and a steroid nasal spray.

“Research shows that it isn’t any more effective than using a steroid spray alone,” says Mark Dykewicz, MD, director of the allergy and immunology fellowship program at St. Louis University in Missouri and an author of practice guidelines for the treatment of seasonal allergies published in 2020.

Antihistamine eye drops: For itchy, watery eyes, OTC antihistamine eye drops such as ketotifen (Alaway) or olopatadine (Pataday) can help—and quickly—says Donald J. Dvorin, MD, an allergist with the Allergy and Asthma Doctors in Mount Laurel, N.J.

Antihistamine nasal sprays: If you’ve been faithfully using a nasal steroid for a couple of weeks and you’re still uncomfortable, the guidelines recommend adding in a daily nasal antihistamine spray such as azelastine (Astepro and generic), available OTC, or prescription olopatadine (Patanase and generic).

“A nasal antihistamine seems much more effective than taking a pill by mouth,” Lockey says. “It may be that since it goes directly into the nasal passages, the nose gets a much higher concentrated dose.”

Still not finding sufficient relief from seasonal allergy symptoms, and/or have year-round allergies that are very bothersome? An allergist can do skin testing to first make sure that you actually have allergies.

“Sometimes nasal symptoms can be due to nonallergic rhinitis, which means they are triggered by irritants like smoke, pollution, or perfume,” says Jacqueline Squire, MD, an allergist at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Fla. In those cases, the prescription nasal spray ipratropium (Atrovent) can reduce a runny nose.

If you do have persistent allergy symptoms, you might find immunotherapy useful. This prescription treatment involves exposing you to ever-larger amounts of allergens, gradually increasing your tolerance.

Traditional immunotherapy is delivered via regular shots—often for three to five years—and can help with seasonal and year-round allergens. “Over 80 percent of the time, people experience relief,” Hong says. The shots carry a small risk of a severe allergic reaction, so you’ll need to have them in a doctor’s office.

If your seasonal allergies are to grasses and/or you’re allergic to dust mites, you might look into a newer prescription option: sublingual immunotherapy, or SLIT. Here, you typically place a dissolvable tablet containing purified extracts of allergens under your tongue.

Currently, four treatments approved by the Food and Drug Administration are available: Odactra, for house dust mite allergies; Oralair, for five different grass pollens; Grastek, for Timothy grass allergies; and Ragwitek, for ragweed allergies.

“This is a really good option for people who are allergic to these types of pollen but aren’t seeing improvement on nasal and antihistamine sprays, or develop other complications from these allergies, such as sinus infections or asthma,” Hong says.

For grass and ragweed, you’ll need to begin treatment about three months before these allergens pop up. If you’re using them to treat dust mite allergy, you’ll stay on them year-round. SLIT may cause mild side effects, such as an itchy or irritated mouth and throat, and nausea or abdominal discomfort. Severe reactions appear to be quite rare.

If you have asthma along with allergies, ask your allergist about prescription drugs called leukotriene modifiers, such as montelukast (Singulair or generic). They block chemicals in your body that can worsen allergic symptoms. The biological omalizumab (Xolair) can help if you have severe seasonal allergies along with asthma.