Elizabeth Cohen: Fall allergies kick in


	CNN's Elizabeth Cohen

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Allergies 101

ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- Fall's arrival means a new phase of seasonal allergies.

CNN Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen talked Monday with anchor Carol Costello about fall's main allergens and how to treat them.

COHEN: Carol, this is a subject near and dear to my heart because I suffer from fall allergies, and I can tell you, a lot of people think there really aren't fall allergies. They think allergies are in the spring when all the flowers are out and that kind of thing, but in fact, you can really have some pretty terrible allergies in the fall.

Let's take a look at what some of the symptoms are of fall allergies. Of any allergies, really.

Itchy nose, eyes and throat. Teary eyes, stuffy nose and "machine gun" sneezing. Well, you might wonder what "machine gun" sneezing is, so I'm actually going to demonstrate it for you. It's -- it just keeps going. You don't stop. You don't take a breath. Before actually I got treatment for my allergies, I used to do 14, 15, 16 sneezes in a row.

And in the fall, there are various things that people are allergic to. It can be ragweed, sage, thistle, mold, dust mites, and those little dust mites can get into the ducts of your house, and then when you turn the heat on, as we do during the fall, it just blasts those dust mites and the mold into your house. So that is another reason why we have fall allergies.

COSTELLO: How can you tell if you have allergies or you have a cold?

COHEN: There are a couple of things that you can look for.

First of all, when you have a cold, you feel sick for like three to five days and then you get over it.

When you have an allergy, you are sick for weeks.

When you have a cold, you feel sick. You feel kind of achy. You might have a fever.

When you have an allergy, you don't really feel sick. You just feel itchy.

When you have a cold, you have this thick mucous coming out of your nose.

When you have allergies, it's very thin, and you can see through it.

And doctors are trained to see the difference.

COSTELLO: Is there any way you can prevent yourself from becoming allergic to something like ragweed?

COHEN: There are certain things that you can do to prevent it from really getting out of hand.

For example, stay inside in the early morning and the late afternoon, and that can help because that is when it is going to be the worst.

Keep the windows closed in your house. I've found that helps quite a bit.

Dust often. Keep a clean house.

Clean your heating filters because that's where the dust mites and the molds can live.

Wash your hair often. Apparently, your hair can act as a mop. So you go outside, and your hair collects all this pollen and ragweed.

COSTELLO: OK. Before we go, one quick question -- Allegra or Claritin?

COHEN: Well, I have to be honest. Some of those drugs work beautifully for some people. I know some people swear by them, but for some people, they don't work at all.

Sometimes you need to move on to something bigger, like a steroidal nose spray or even to shots. So that is important. Just because you see ads for something does not mean it is going to work for you.

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