The most common type of treatment for the symptoms of allergy is known as symptomatic medication – examples of which include antihistamines and steroids.

Symptomatic medication can be taken at home in the form of tablets, eye drops or nasal sprays. As this type of medication provides local relief of symptoms, you may find it necessary to take several medications in order to control all of your symptoms, e.g., one medication to treat a blocked nose and another to treat watery eyes.

Temporary relief of allergy symptoms

This type of medication can provide you with fairly rapid relief from your allergy symptoms, but only for a relatively short period of time. Because symptomatic medications, opposed to immunotherapeutic allergy treatment, provide only temporary relief of symptoms and the symptoms will return when you stop taking the medication. This is because the symptomatic allergy treatments do not treat the underlying cause of your allergy.

While some types of symptomatic medication can be bought without a prescription, others require a prescription from your doctor. However, you should always consult your doctor before commencing any kind of treatment.