DENVER — It’s the return of allergies in Colorado and it’s shaping up to be an active season this spring after a winter that brought lots of snow across the state. Denver7’s Jason Gruenauer spoke with Dr. Mark Montana, Medical Director at CareNow Urgent Care and shared what allergy sufferers are seeing and offered treatment tips to help ease the sneezing and watery eyes.
Jason Gruenauer, Denver7
Dr. Mark, I got to ask you, what is the latest on this year's allergy season?
Dr. Mark Montana, Medical Director CareNow Urgent Care
That's a really good question, Jason. And I think this year is going to be a very active allergy season, we had such a great winter with all the snow and moisture. And all that moisture means a good spring and growing season. We're already starting to see that. So we're seeing quite a few of our patients who are complaining of allergy symptoms. Right now, as we move into spring
Jason Gruenauer
An interesting kind of correlation there – between the amount of snow that we get and then the amount of allergy symptoms we may get. Are we thinking that this is going to be a greater than normal allergy season for those of us that kind of have to suffer through it?
Dr. Mark Montana
Well, I would say yes, that's what I'm expecting just based on what I'm seeing. And again, the fact that we had a lot of moisture to really see those plants as they were hibernating over the winter, and now they're coming out.
Jason Gruenauer
So for you and I, if we get those kinds of allergy symptoms, it may be as simple as going to the pharmacy and grabbing something over the counter - some Claritin and nasal spray. For those of us with kiddos, though, who are dealing with some allergy symptoms, I think it can be a little bit more complicated. So What should parents do if they believe their kids are dealing with some seasonal allergies?
Dr. Mark Montana
Well, that's a really good question. We look at our patients in different age groups and little ones - those kiddos under two years old - can get allergies, and they can be miserable, really stuffy congested bags under their eyes. And there are some safe treatments even for the little ones, something as easy as saline irrigation.
So nasal saline irrigation has been shown effective in those really small kids two years of and under. After you get over that two year age, and before you're really an adult, a lot of the treatments are going to be the same as adults. Really the mainstay is going to be a safe nasal steroid. All these medications are over the counter now. So it's really making sure that you pick the right medicine for the age and the condition. We have antihistamines now, again, as you were asking, with our pediatric kit, they may not do as well with some of the older, longer acting more sedating antihistamines. And we like to stick with those longer acting, newer antihistamines which have less side effects, especially in our pediatric patients.
Jason Gruenauer
Before I let you go on the flip side of that, is there anything that whether it's adults or kids, anyone with allergies should not do? What?
Dr. Mark Montana
There are lots of things that that you can do.
I think the things that you shouldn't do is take medicines which are heavy in side effects. So the longer acting antihistamines tend to make us more sleepy, they are sedating. And some of those decongestants can cause problems with our older patients that may cause us to be anxious, the heart rate might go up and may even affect our blood pressure. So really, it depends on age and those age-related side effect.
Jason Gruenauer
And obviously, if you feel like something has gotten to a severe level, check in with your primary care doctor or if needed, head to your local urgent care. Doctor Mark Montana. Thanks so much for the time.
If you're wondering how Denver compares to other cities, Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America ranked the worst cities in the country for battling allergies. The Denver metro area ranked 67 overall in 2023 when compared to other cities. See the full report and rankings here.
