Seasonal allergies starting early this year

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VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Itchy eyes? Scratchy throat?

Those are the issues many people are dealing with during this first week of spring, and it’s all thanks to seasonal allergies.

“It seems that ever year gets progressively longer and worse for allergies; this year, it seems to be starting sooner than I can remember,” says pharmacist Pindy Janda with London Drugs.

“We’ve actually seen an increase in prescription drugs for allergies as early as mid-February,” she adds.

Janda tells us many people mistakenly think they are fighting yet another cold.

“We’re still in that transition period between winter and spring. We don’t have conventional weather, per se… we do get a confusion between the two. Our job as a pharmacist is to talk through the symptoms with the patients and see how long they’ve had them.”

If you are not sure of what you are dealing with, it’s probably a good idea to visit a doctor or pharmacist, who may go over your medical history.

“We usually do recommend an antihistimine because that usually covers most of the symptoms. It’s usually once-a-day dosing and it’s non-drowsy. But we will ask them… what they’ve used in the past because some patients will build up tolerance to the one they have been using,” says Janda.

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