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" Pick over-the-counter meds carefully. Nasal decongestants may temporarily relieve symptoms, but after seven days of continued use, you rebound and your nasal tissues swell, says Mark Holbreich, MD, an Indianapolis allergist who is a fellow of the American Academy of Asthma &amp;amp;amp; Immunology. However, medications, such as Claritin, Allegra, and Zyrtec, do not cause the rebound effect. &amp;quot;They&amp;#039;re safe for short- or long-term use,&amp;quot; he says. Start taking medications a week before the allergy season starts. &amp;quot;The longer you let your allergies go, the more difficult it is to get them under control.&amp;quot; Why the rebound? &amp;quot;The body reads it as if you&amp;#039;re too decongested,&amp;quot; says Michael Benninger, MD, chair of the Head and Neck Institute at the Cleveland Clinic. Avoid Sudafed, which increases your heart rate and is not effective. And beware of sedating antihistamines like Benadryl, which driving simulators show are &amp;quot;worse than being legally drunk,&amp;quot; he says. &amp;quot;If you want to take a sedating antihistamine like Benadryl, take a half and do it before you go to sleep.&amp;quot; Don&amp;#039;t bring the outdoors in. Consider sleeping with the windows closed. Stop using window fans or attic fans that bring outside air into your house, says Baiju Malde, MD, a Chicago allergist who teaches at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. If you own an air conditioning unit with a filter, use it to clean the air while you sleep, even on nights when it&amp;#039;s not hot, says David Rosenstreich, MD, director of the allergy and immunology division at Montefiore Medical Center in New York City. Set the temperature high enough so that it doesn&amp;#039;t cool the house (and run up your electric bill) \u2014 the outside air will still get filtered. Homeowners with central air can buy high-efficiency filters that remove most allergens, says Rosenstreich. Change your clothes. &amp;quot;Pollen is like dust,&amp;quot; says Rosenstreich. &amp;quot;Anything you can do to keep from bringing the dust from the outside, inside, will help.&amp;quot; You may even want to change your clothes, take a shower, and wash your hair, he says. Avoid hanging clothes on a line outside to dry. &amp;quot;The pollen sticks to your bed sheets or your clothes,&amp;quot; says Malde. Hire someone to mow your yard. Allergies are a great excuse to get out of doing chores! &amp;quot;As you disturb the grass, the pollen that settled on the grass and all the irritating particles that get picked up really bother people,&amp;quot; says Holbreich. (Trees cause allergies in the spring, grasses in the summer, and weeds in the fall.) Check the forecast. Log onto pollen.com, where you can plug in your zip code to use its allergy calculator. Pay attention to other allergies. To reduce allergy symptoms, think about mold and dust mites, too. Put clothes in a hot dryer to kill dust mites, and stay farther away from a potentially moldy swimming area in the summer, says Malde. Also, avoid using humidifiers, which can generate mold spores, says Rosenstreich. If you suffer from mold allergies, Benninger recommends using a dehumidifier. Discover 6 Things You Didn&amp;#039;t Know About Seasonal Allergies "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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