West LA Times

• Allergy symptoms include sneezing, a stuffy or runny nose, watery eyes and an itchy nose, eyes or mouth.

• Inflammation is a common cause of allergy symptoms.

• Potential treatment options include over-the-counter medications, nasal sprays and immunotherapy.

Inflammation could be the cause of your allergy symptoms, according to Dr. Matt Hershcovitch of SoCal Breathe Free Sinus & Allergy Centers. The good news is that there are a variety of treatments that can be used to address allergies, the doctor said.

"There are several newer techniques that are extremely beneficial and effective for treating allergies," Hershcovitch told West LA Times. "There are still allergy shots available, and that is an option for people. However, there are several other techniques that are also highly effective. The first one is sublingual immunotherapy. This has largely, in many ways, replaced weekly allergy shots, and people can actually do this from their home, where they take a pill that dissolves under their tongue and treats the allergies appropriately."

The sublingual immunotherapy therapy is "extremely effective," just as effective as traditional allergy shots, Hershcovitch said.

"In addition to sublingual immunotherapy, we also offer biologics," he said. "Biologics are a broad range of medications that often are an injection, but only once a month, to down-regulate your body's response to these allergens. So both sublingual immunotherapy and monthly biologic injections can actually be extremely effective and preferable to the weekly allergy injections, which are still an option for those who are interested, but we do have better options available."

More than 50 million Americans suffer from allergies every year, and allergies are the sixth-most-common cause of chronic illness in the U.S., according to the American College of  Allergy, Asthma & Immunology. Allergic rhinitis, also known as hay fever, can be either seasonal or perennial and can cause sneezing, a stuffy or runny nose, watery eyes and an itchy nose, eyes or mouth.

In adults, chronic sinusitis is often linked to nasal swelling caused by allergies, especially allergies to inhaled dust, mold, pollen or the spores of fungi, according to Harvard Medical School.

Allergy symptoms, such as itchy eyes, can be caused by inflammation, which is a result of the body attempting to protect itself from allergens, according to MBG Health. When someone is exposed to an allergen, the body's natural stress response is to secrete hormones such as cortisol and chemicals like histamine, but studies have shown that those secretions can lead to inflammation, which in turn makes allergy symptoms, as well as asthma, even worse.

Depending on the type and severity of your allergies, your doctor could recommend various treatment options, according to Mayo Clinic. Some treatments options are over-the-counter medications, nasal  sprays, immunotherapy or -- for very severe allergies -- carrying an   emergency epinephrine shot, such as an EpiPen.                   

SoCal Breathe Free Sinus & Allergy Centers offers a free Sinus Self-Assessment Quiz to evaluate your sinus symptoms.