Navigating allergy season can be a humbling experience, even if you\u2019ve been here many times before. You can take your medications as prescribed and still wind up with a stuffy nose, itchy eyes, and cough, making it fair to wonder where you\u2019re going wrong.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf your symptoms don\u2019t improve or are worsened through the initial few weeks of spring season, that\u2019s a sign that your medications are not effective enough,\u201d Aleena Banerji, MD<\/a>, a Mass General Brigham allergist, clinical director of Allergy and Clinical Immunology at Massachusetts General Hospital, and professor at Harvard Medical School, tells SELF.<\/p>\n But that doesn\u2019t necessarily mean you need to switch medications. Instead, you may want to consider something called \u201cdosing flexibility,\u201d where you ramp up the dosage of your medication to meet the conditions you\u2019re dealing with, David Corry, MD<\/a>, professor of immunology, allergy and rheumatology at Baylor College of Medicine, tells SELF.<\/p>\n As you can imagine, there\u2019s a lot to unpack here. And, of course, you should only do this with the help of a healthcare provider. Here\u2019s how allergists recommend navigating this process.<\/p>\n Signs your current allergy medication regimen isn\u2019t working for you<\/p>\n There are some people who feel like a million bucks after they start allergy medication, but that\u2019s not the case for everyone.<\/p>\n \u201cThe best indication of efficacy of allergy medications is simply, are you feeling better?\u201d Dr. Corry says. (He says that doctors will usually view \u201cbetter\u201d as an 80% or more reduction in your allergy symptoms.)<\/p>\n