Dr. Zachary Rubin

So pollen is one of the most common environmental allergens, whether it's from trees, grasses, or weeds that are wind pollinated, not the fresh cut flowers like roses.

When you sneeze with that, that's from the fragrance, not the pollen, because you don't get exposed to that regularly.

So that's your seasonal allergens.

The most common indoor allergens is typically dust mites, which are found anywhere where there are human skin cells and humidity, like in your bedding is the main one or carpeting is an example.

Usually it's pretty persistent.

If we're talking about environmental allergies, there is a shift that happens later in life where it goes from kind of this allergic rhinitis to non-allergic rhinitis where the

antibodies that cause the reaction start to fade over time, but you still have similar symptoms.

That happens with food allergies.

If you've got egg, milk, wheat, or soy, that can be outgrown usually.

But if you have something like peanut, tree nuts, or seafood, that's usually not outgrown.

It's more persistent.

We don't fully understand why that's the case.

Oh, those devices, whether it's a neti pod, a saline rinse bottle, anything that uses saline water to clean out the nasal cavities is very helpful for most people.

It can be a little hard to tolerate when you're first using it, but the concept is that as you're breathing the air,

constantly you're being bombarded by these allergens and irritants that will stay there because you have mucus that acts as a first line of defense.

It's like a wall that's sticky that traps all of these things and it stays there, but it can create swelling and inflammation that leads to all the symptoms that we're experiencing.

So by using these devices and rinsing your nasal passages once or twice a day,

it'll help you breathe a lot better, more naturally than having to rely on medications.

Or if you use nasal sprays, rinsing your nose first, then blowing your nose and then using it, it's much more effective because you're putting the medicine on the actual tissue.

So it's really, really effective to use those devices.