Treatment

The best way to manage an allergy is to avoid exposure to triggers. However, molds are common, and you can't completely avoid them.

While there's no sure way to cure allergic rhinitis caused by a mold allergy, a number of medications can ease your symptoms. These include:

• Nasal corticosteroids. These nasal sprays help prevent and treat the inflammation caused by an upper respiratory mold allergy. For many people, they're the most effective allergy medications, and they're often the first medication prescribed.

  Examples include ciclesonide (Omnaris, Zetonna), fluticasone (Flonase Allergy Relief, Xhance), mometasone (Nasonex), triamcinolone and budesonide (Rhinocort). Nosebleeds and nasal dryness are the most common side effects of these medications, which are generally safe for long-term use.

• Antihistamines. These medications can help with itching, sneezing and runny nose. They work by blocking histamine, an inflammatory chemical released by your immune system during an allergic reaction.

  Over-the-counter (OTC) antihistamines include loratadine (Alavert, Claritin), fexofenadine (Allegra Allergy) and cetirizine (Zyrtec Allergy). They cause little to no drowsiness or dry mouth.

  The nasal sprays azelastine (Astelin, Astepro) and olopatadine (Patanase) are available by prescription. Side effects of the nasal sprays can include a bitter taste in your mouth and nasal dryness.

• Oral decongestants. OTC oral decongestants, such as Sudafed 12 Hour and Drixoral Cold and Allergy, can raise blood pressure, so avoid them if you have high blood pressure (hypertension). Other possible side effects include insomnia, loss of appetite, heart pounding (palpitations), anxiety and restlessness.
• Decongestant nasal sprays. These include oxymetazoline (Afrin, others). Don't use these medications for more than three or four days, as they can cause congestion to come back with worse symptoms when you stop using them. Other possible side effects include headaches, insomnia and nervousness.

• Montelukast. Montelukast (Singulair) is a tablet taken to block the action of leukotrienes � immune system chemicals that cause allergy symptoms such as excess mucus. However, concerns about side effects, including anxiety, insomnia, depression and suicidal thinking, are increasing. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently put a warning on the box about the drug's use.

  Like antihistamines, this medication is not as effective as inhaled corticosteroids. It has been used when nasal sprays cannot be tolerated or when mild asthma is present.

Other treatments for mold allergy include:

• Immunotherapy. This treatment � a series of allergy shots � can be very effective for some allergies, such as hay fever. Allergy shots are used for only certain types of mold allergy.

• Nasal lavage. To help with irritating nasal symptoms, your doctor might recommend that you rinse your nose daily with salt water. Use a specially designed squeeze bottle, such as the one included in saline kits (Sinus Rinse, others), bulb syringe or neti pot to irrigate your nasal passages. This home remedy, called nasal lavage, can help keep your nose free of irritants.

  Use water that's distilled, sterile, previously boiled and cooled, or filtered using a filter with an absolute pore size of 1 micron or smaller to make up the irrigation solution. Be sure to rinse the irrigation device after each use with similarly distilled, sterile, previously boiled and cooled, or filtered water and leave open to air-dry.