What treatments are available?

In addition to over-the-counter drugs, there are numerous medicines and therapies for the treatment of allergy. Your doctor or specialist is best able to determine which treatment has the most chance of success for you. Avoid contact with the allergen The best way to prevent allergic symptoms is by avoiding all contact with the allergens. However, this is easier said than done. It is, for instance, impossible to eradicate the house dust mite. However, it is possible to keep contact with the mite allergens to a minimum. If you are allergic to your pet, you would be well-advised to find it another home. If you react allergically to peanuts, do not eat them. If you love strawberries but they give you a rash, then stop eating them. Also watch out for food that contains ingredients to which you react allergically. Fruit drinks or cake may contain strawberries, for instance. Symptomatic treatment The purpose of a symptomatic method is to alleviate the symptoms, the complaints. It does nothing about the cause of the complaints. Examples of symptomatic methods are what are known as antihistamines (often tablets) or nose sprays containing hormones (corticosteroids). Those drugs attempt to suppress the symptoms. When you stop taking the medication, the symptoms usually come back. Causal treatment Causal treatments are designed to remove the cause rather than the symptoms. After all, if the cause can be remedied, the complaint no longer requires attention. There is a therapy that can reduce sensitivity to allergens and sometimes make it disappear altogether. This therapy is called specific immunotherapy or hyposensitisation. The answer to the next question and the Causal treatment section provide more information about this.