Pediatrician gives advice on how to fight seasonal allergies

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — With spring in full swing, doctors at Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital say they are seeing more complaints about allergies.

One of the doctors helping treat those patients is Dr. Blake Bergeron, the medical director of Le Bonheur’s outpatient clinics.

“The tree pollen has hit. The good news is we’re over the peak of the tree pollen season,” Dr. Bergeron said. “But now grasses are starting to get going so we’re starting to see some environmental allergies from those sources. That’s always itchy eyes, sneezing, a lot of clear nasal congestion, sometimes allergies can make people wake up with sore throats in the morning because you’ve been breathing through your nose all night.”

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While plenty of patients have come to the clinic suffering from allergies, Dr. Bergeron said in some cases, the issues go beyond seasonal discomfort.

“So eye symptoms are with your red eyes, they’ll be itchy and almost always it’s both eyes,” Dr. Bergeron said. “So sometimes with pink eye, we see it a lot just in one eye. So if it’s in one eye but not both, probably more a little bit more likely to be pink eye.”

In addition to itchy eyes, there are other symptoms that Dr. Bergeron said can be hard to distinguish.

“If you start having more fever, body ache-type symptoms, that is less likely to be allergies,” Dr. Bergeron said.

In those cases, he suggests giving your child Tylenol or ibuprofen and giving the doctor a call to make sure it’s not a cold or the flu.

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As for those suffering from seasonal allergies, he said they can be treated with over-the-counter-antihistamines.

“Those are products such as Claritin or Zyrtec or even Allegra,” Dr. Bergeron said. “Then if you have questions about specific dosing, of course, reach out to pediatricians.”

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