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Caitlin Whyte (Host): Now picture this, you always have a box of tissues nearby. You check the pollen count obsessively, or you're constantly asking yourself, is this allergies or a cold. That sound familiar? Joining us today to help end the allergy versus cold debate is Dr. Paul Walker, a Board Certified Ear, Nose and Throat Physician, and Allergist with Baptist ENT specialists with offices in Fleming Island and Bay Meadows. This is Baptist Health Radio. As the most preferred healthcare provider in Northeast Florida, we are here to help you stay informed with the latest news, views and resources for your health and wellbeing. So, Dr. Walker, let's start off with the basics. What exactly is an allergy?

Paul Walker, MD, FACS, FAAOA (Guest): Great question. You know, if I were to describe allergy, it would be an exaggerated response to a, an exposure to something. You know, a lot of people think that allergy is sneezing, runny nose, itchy eyes, and it is all three of those. But depending on what part of the body is affected, allergy can declare itself as ear pressure, sinus congestion, post-nasal drainage. And it can exacerbate asthma and even be a rash associated with certain allergies.

Host: Now, the symptoms of a sinus infection, a cold or allergies, you know, they're all so similar. How do I know which one I have?

Dr. Walker: That's another good question. I wonder sometimes myself, when I started getting sick, is this allergy or is this a virus? And so sometimes it's not that easy to tell. I would say that there's certain other factors that could lead you towards the viral diagnosis, including fever, body aches, chills, maybe another family member who has similar symptoms. Second one you asked about sinus infections, sinus infections, you know, there's a kind of a misconception that if there's yellow or green drainage, that that automatically means that you've got a bacterial infection. We know nowadays through multiple studies that the yellow green discoloration is really the response of your immune system to fighting an infection. So, it still could be viral when you see that discoloration. So, sinus infections in terms of bacterial ones, typically are something that develops over time, usually starts as a virus. Or may have been started with, with an exacerbation of allergies, but over time, the symptoms exacerbate over five to seven days.

Host: Is there such thing as an allergy season? And if so, why are some months or seasons worse for allergy symptoms than others?

Dr. Walker: Once again, it's a personalized thing in terms of allergy. When people discuss, they have symptoms in the fall, that tends to be a weed sensitivity. When symptoms are primarily in the spring, that tends to be a tree sensitivity. We have some unfortunate patients that have symptoms year round, and they may have a mold allergy. They may have a dust sensitivity, some have sensitivities to animal dander, which can of course affect them all year round as well.

And then one of the great challenges of Florida is that our seasons go on and on and on. Our tree season for example, runs from late December even into may. So, it's not just a bad week where you're, everybody's car turns yellow and our symptoms are, are bad for a few days. A lot of our patients that are sensitive, have symptoms for weeks and months on end.

Host: So I've heard a lot about some natural remedies like eating local honey or pollen. Are there any truth to those?

Dr. Walker: You know, there may not be any studies that prove the efficacy of local honey, but there are a lot of patients that swear by it and the concept or the theory for using the local honey is similar to the use of allergy drops, which are one of my favorite natural treatments for allergy. You may or may not be familiar with the allergy drops, but similar to allergy shots, when someone has this exaggerated response to their immune system and medications can't control their symptoms, there are ways to retrain that immune system, little by little and the way you do that is by exposing the immune system to small amounts of what they're, they're allergic to.

And so in the form of drops, we can actually, after we test someone and find out what they're allergic to, we can actually make a mixture that can be put under the tongue that little by little retrains that immune system to develop what we call tolerance. And that's the idea of the a local honey, is we're trying to expose that immune system and teach it that it doesn't need to freak out when it's exposed to tree pollen.

Hey, it's, it's in the environment. Don't worry about it. It's, it's not dangerous, you know, just carry on as usual. So, that's the, the, the thought process for both local honey, but also for allergy drops, which really have shown there's over 200 peer reviewed studies, looking at the efficacy of the allergy drops.

Host: Wrapping up here, you know, when should I see a doctor about my allergies or sinus infections and what should I expect during that appointment?

Dr. Walker: Great. So when did I think the two words that I would use are consistency as symptoms and severity of symptoms. If the symptoms are a couple of times a year for a few days, and it's, it's a little bit of an annoyance, then you may want to stick with either over the counter remedies or more, some of the more natural remedies.

Once the symptoms are affecting quality of life on a regular basis, then I think getting an expert's thoughts may be beneficial. In terms of what happens at an office visit with an ear nose and throat/allergy specialist; the first thing we do is we take a history. We try to figure out just like you had mentioned, are there triggers for the symptoms and what are the symptoms?

And so, history is really, really important. Second thing is we will do a physical exam and we'll look for the clues that may be suggestive of an allergy component to their symptoms. And then occasionally we'll talk about medication options. And sometimes we'll talk about testing. And the testing that we do is a special form of skin testing that is very accurate and very sensitive, well tolerated by our patients. But it's, we believe in testing, not guessing. When the symptoms have been going on for a good, long period of time. We want to know who the bad guys are and how bad are the bad guys.

Host: Great. Well, doctor, is there anything else you'd like to add in our conversation about allergies, especially for those who might be suffering as they're listening right now?

Dr. Walker: We're always happy to see you. I think that one of the things that happens with allergy is we live with it. We live with it. Think that this is just our lot in life, that we're going to have these symptoms and sometimes we start to they, they nag on us and they can zap energy out of you. And there could be almost a form of depression as these symptoms seem to linger on.

And so we see patients that are just tired of being tired. And so once you realize that things are, are moving along in that poor direction, please come and find us. We're happy to help you. We were big fans of breathing here.

Host: Well, it's always good to hear. Thank you so much for your time Doctor. We appreciate it today.

Dr. Walker: Thank you. I enjoyed our conversation. Do you have a good day now.

Host: Allergies or sinus symptoms affect your quality of life. To book an appointment with Dr. Walker or another Baptist Ear, Nose and Throat specialist in your area, call 904-202-ENTS. That's 904-202-3687. Or visit us This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. This has been Baptist Health Radio. I'm Caitlin Whyte. Stay well.