From cold and flu season to other stuff that floats around in the air. I thought this topic would be timely when I saw the green coating on both my car and on my cycling jersey after my ride today. If you live in Central Virginia, you are in one of the top 10 worst allergy places in the country -- sorry, that is the trade-off for having some great riding. For the next four to six weeks, there will be a lot of us that are suffering from allergies, and will find our performance less than ideal. Below are a couple of pointers about what you can do for allergies.

An allergy is simply the body overreacting to a common chemical. By definition, allergies react the same way chemically but may show different signs depending on the location or the part of the body involved. In a nutshell, histamines are released, and everything goes downhill from there. Sneezing, runny nose, congestion, itching eyes, wheezing, fatigue etc. Other than staying inside on the trainer for two more months what else can you do?

Antihistamines -- these are probably the oldest and most frequently used medications for allergies. Basically you can think of these medications as sponges. When the allergic process starts, antihistamines are released, these medications soak them up hopefully before they can cause a problem. Benadryl is probably the oldest and most commonly known antihistamines. It works great, but it has a big downside. This medication and all of the over-the-counter antihistamines (other than Claritin) can penetrate into the brain and causes a fair amount of sedation. This is not a good thing as your riding down the trail at 30 miles an hour. The other problem with Benadryl is that it only lasts for about six hours. About 10 years ago a new breed of antihistamines came out on the market -- Claritin, Allegra, Zyrtec. There are more similarities than differences with these medications. Essentially they all last for 24 hours and have a very low incidence of sedation. Claritin and Allegra have now gone generic which makes them a little cheaper. In my experience and Zyrtec is probably the most potent but has about a 10% chance of some sedation. The biggest problem these can have is that they can dry you out, but otherwise they are not bad for occasional allergies.

Antihistamines/decongestant -- basically this is anything labeled ______D. The decongestant that is always used is Sudafed. If you are having a hard time breathing through your nose, the decongestant may be helpful. If it is only a matter of sniffling, avoid the decongestant. I am not a big fan of decongestants in athletes as they can raise the heart rate and blood pressure and make you feel jittery. I am also not a big fan of the combination pill, as most of the combinations will last for at least 12 hours. If you feel like you need a little decongesting, combine over-the-counter Sudafed (or generic) with one of the above the antihistamines.

Nasal steroids – (Flonase, Nasonex, Rhinocort, Nasacort etc. prescription only) for those of you with pretty solid allergies for the next month, this may be the way to go. Nasal steroids are once a day, and statistically are more powerful than the antihistamines. The biggest downside is that it takes several days of continuous use to achieve full affect. The nice thing with these medications is that they stop the allergy process before it starts. The only other side effect I see with these is occasional nosebleeds. This is usually because the person is squirting the medicine against the septum and not up into the sinus cavity. There are directions that come with these medications and explain their proper use, look them over. Also, from an athletic standpoint these medications are not illegal despite being steroids. Very little of this medication actually gets into your bloodstream.

Leukotriene inhibitors – (Singulair) this is a pretty interesting medication. It is only by prescription. It originally came out to help people with mild asthma but was found to also be helpful in nasal allergies. In my opinion it is not as effective as the above two categories of medications but if you have mild asthma you may be able to kill two birds with one stone. It is only once a day and its side effect profile is excellent.

Nasalcrom - This is an often forgotten about medication. It is an over-the-counter nasal spray, and it also works to prevent the allergy cascade from starting. The reason it is often forgotten about is because it is useless once allergies have kicked in and it only lasts for about six hours. I have found this medication to be very helpful though in situations where a person knows that they will put themselves in harm's way. If you are going to a friend's house with a cat, this can be a great medication to help prevent runny nose. There are essentially no side effects either.

Nasal saline -- although not a medication, this can be particularly effective. Essentially this is salt water that you use to rinse your nose. There are recipes you can find on the Internet are there are multiple brands available over-the-counter. You are basically giving the inside of your nose a bath and washing out all of the irritants that you sucked in on the trails. Most people don't initially like doing this, but for those who get used to it, they all tell me that it makes a huge difference in how much they suffer both allergies and sinus infections.

Hopefully this has given you a little insight into the world of allergy treatments. There are additional medications that can be used if the eyes or lungs are involved, but essentially they are the same type of medicines in a different dispenser. Getting in touch with your family doctor or an allergist can be helpful with fine-tuning this program to allow you the least amount of symptoms during the allergy season.

Keep Riding
Matt