If you're one of the many Americans who suffer from spring allergies, or hay fever, the changing seasons may be miserable. There are steps you can take to reduce or get rid of your symptoms. First of all, it's important to determine that you do, in fact, have allergies and not a cold. According to a study I read last year over 50 percent of Americans misdiagnose themselves when it comes to allergies, they either think their cold is allergies or their allergies are a cold. Plus, when you get diagnosed you can find out exactly what is causing your symptoms and avoid the trigger altogether (or as much as possible). Here are some other tips for spring allergies.

• don't go outside in the morning when pollen counts are higher
• since pollen can settle on your clothing when you are outside change your clothing when you come back inside
• keep your car windows rolled up and the windows of your home closed
• using a neti pot or saline rinse can help remove pollen that your may have inhaled

If you've already taken these measures and are still suffering you can take an antihistamine. Antihistamines are readily available over-the-counter and include Allegra, Claritin, Zyrtec and Benadryl. You can also control congestion by using pseudoephedrine. You may also consider immunotherapy or allergy shots. For more information on allergies you may wish to read:

• Diagnosing and Treating Seasonal Allergies
  What Causes Hay Fever
• Coping With Nasal Allergies
• How to Use a Neti Pot

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It is really common to have a bloody nose for about 24 hours after sinus surgery. For this reason, ENT docs generally tell their patients to stay away from aspirin and ibuprofen, but a new study shows that a similar medication, ketorolac (Tordol) is safe.  Smaller studies have indicated that ketorolac may increase the risk of bleeding after surgery but some doctors question the way these studies were conducted. Now a large scale study has shown that there is not an increased risk of bleeding in patients who receive ketorolac after sinus surgery. This is good news if narcotic pain medications don't agree with you. The results of this study appear online in  the International Forum of Allergy and Rhinology.

There are shocking statistics regarding the number of Americans who suffer from chronic pain,  in thousands of years science hasn't come up with a really great way to treat chronic pain. Migraines, fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis, back pain, sinusitis and other conditions are major culprits affecting (according to most studies) about one in three adults. Pain is the number one reason that people call in sick to work, yet many doctors are either reluctant or inadequately trained to treat it. What you might not realize is that living a life full of pain will shave years off your lifespan.

The pathway in the brain that registers pain has a cascading effect, triggering multiple neurotransmitters and hormones. This pathway is complex, which is one of the reasons that experts have not found the key to treating chronic pain. One of the key hormones in this process is cortisol, you may know it as the stress hormone or the "fight or flight" hormone. Once cortisol is released many changes in our bodies occur; our heart beats faster, our blood pressure goes up, many internal organs slow down as blood is shunted to skeletal muscles, our pupils dilate, even our immune system is suppressed. When released in infrequent  bursts cortisol functions as a self preservative so to speak, (it gives us what we need to run away or fight back), when released constantly over long periods of time it can have detrimental effects on our health including heart problems and high blood pressure, even a reduced ability to heal. Researchers have even been able to predict which heart patients will live the longest by measuring their cortisol levels. Patient's with less cortisol live longer.

So why are doctors afraid to treat pain? Well, abuse is the first factor that usually comes to mind but the truth is that very few patients using narcotics to legitimately treat a painful condition actually become addicted. The other reason is that there are so many undesirable side effects with narcotics, and unless you find the root cause of a person's pain it's like using a band aid on an amputated arm - it just doesn't work long term; all good reasons to seek the correct treatment. You never know, all those migraines might be the result of a very treatable sinus problem. If you can't find the cause of your pain, cortisol is just one factor proving that it is perfectly reasonable to insist that your doctor treat it anyway.

Sinus surgeries seem more and more common to me lately. In fact 3 of the 4 members of my immediate family have had it and numerous friends and colleagues.  The benefits of sinus surgeries, (surgeries such as nasal septal repair, submucousal resections, ethomoidectomies, polypectomies and more), can be numerous, especially for those suffering frequent sinus infections or severe congestion and sleep apnea, but what are the risks?

The good news is that complications from sinus surgery are rare, but all surgery has risks. Besides the usual (pain, complications of general anesthesia...) these are the possible complications of nasal sinus surgery:

• hemorrhage - a fair amount of bleeding is actually normal after sinus surgery but in rare cases it becomes too much
• infection - can usually be cured with the proper antibiotics
• numbness in the face - this is almost always temporary
• cerebrospinal fluid rhinorrhea - a rare complications in which brain and spinal fluid leak and run out the nose
• damage to the eye and surrounding tissue or even the brain (obviously rare)
• loss of smell or taste
• voice changes - I don't know that I personally consider this a complication. The sinuses contribute to voice resonance and some people may have a "less nasally" voice after the procedure.

So is it worth it? There's no right answer to this question but I can tell you that in my family's case we've had none of the above listed complications and all 3 family members felt tons better after their surgery. For more information try reading some of the following articles:

An Overview of Sinus Surgery

Study Reports on Benefits of Endoscopic Sinus Surgery

Tips on Surviving Sinus Surgery

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