The Allergist AnewsletterfromtheOklahomaAllergy&AsthmaClinic Winter2020

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If you recently moved to Oklahoma thinking you would be safe from winter allergies, think again. Certain trees have an aggressive blooming season in the winter months. Cedar pollen can cause a myriad of symptoms including head-ache, conjestion, losing voice, sinus pressure, itchy eyes, post nasal drip, earaches, sore throat, and increased asthma symptoms. OAAC’s Board-Certified Allergist Dr. Laura Chong says cedar pollen kicks in especially during the December, Janu-ary and February months. “It’s kind of an unusual allergen be-cause most people think spring when tree pollen is wafting through the air,” she said. “Cedar pollen pollinates in the winter months catching many people by surprise.”“Try to stay inside especially during windy days and make sure the pollen is washed off your body before you go to bed,” said Dr. Chong. “Treatments can vary for each person. Typically the first line of defense is to try over the coun-ter antihistamines or discuss with your physician about prescription options.”If, however, you are still struggling and miserable, it may be time to be allergy tested and a course of action of im-munotherapy (allergy shots) may be in

order to help build resistance to the al-lergen.WaystoReduceYourExposure toCe-darPollenDr. Chong suggests a proactive ap-proach in dealing with cedar pollen al-lergies.Install a premium, high efficiency par-ticulate air (HEPA) filter to remove bac-teria, mold and other allergens and to improve indoor air quality.Vacuum daily and preferably with a HE-PA-filter vacuum cleaner.White vinegar is your friend (plus very cost effective). Spray air filters, vents and air returns with white vinegar. Wipe with a clean cloth periodically to remove pollen and other allergens.On these warm Oklahoma winter days; it is tempting to open the windows for fresh air to be let inside your home. Dr. Chong recommends closing windows and doors to keep the pollen out and to drive with your car with its windows up. Wipe down surfaces that collect pollen

Sneezing, coughing, and runny nose in the winter?Hello Cedar Pollen Allergy

In 2020, the Oklahoma Allergy & Asthma Clinic celebrates 95 years of service to Oklahoma. Throughout the year, we will be celebrating this prestigious milestone. We invite you to take this journey with us and share your thoughts through the years – your memories of a staff member or allergist that was special to you. How has the OAAC changed your life for the better? Send those memories to tfolks@oklahomaallergy.com

such as your furniture and other areas with a clean cloth and don’t forget your pets!

Cedar pollen invades Oklahoma each winter causing misery for allergy-suffers.

Wipe down your pets as they come into the house from outside to remove pollen.

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Yukon Satellite Clinic Officially Opens!A ribbon cutting and open house was held January 24 to celebrate the official grand opening of OAAC’s newest satellite clinic. Allergy-friendly goodies from Yukon’s 9oh6 Baking Company were available. Yukon Chamber members attended to officially welcome OAAC to the community. OAAC’s Board President Dr. Laura Chong thanked the community for the warm welcome.

Oklahoma Allergy & Asthma Clinic co-workers support several Oklahoma City charities including Positive Tomorrows, a school for homeless children. In 2019, three co-workers joined the Positive To-morrows volunteer program.

Positive Tomorrows has different vol-unteer opportunities, including one-on-one mentors or the opportunity to work with groups of students. The Men-tors commit to one hour a week for one school year to help an elementary stu-dent develop academic and social skills. Each mentor is matched with a spe-cific child and works on aca-demics and relationship building while p r o v i d i n g much-needed consistency in the child’s life. The group vol-unteers work

with different age groups each week and help lead activities and provide en-couragement to the students.

COO Scott Dennis, Nurse Manager An-gela Baker and Director of Information Technology Reza Tavasoli are serving as volunteers.

Baker works with girls, ages 4 to 11, in a Girl Scout’s group.

“We do lots of different activities such as crafts, play games and teach the girls how to present themselves when talk-ing with others,” said Baker. “We try to build their confidence in themselves. The girls have all been receptive to me and the other volunteers that I have worked with.”

Baker tries to spend extra one-on-one time with those who are quiet and shy.

“Prior to volunteering with Positive Tomorrows, when I thought about the homeless, I always associated it with adults and never really thought about the fact children are included in this,” said Baker.

Tavasoli is mentoring a young student. When he arrives at the school, he finds his student and they work together on homework. Then they go outside to play on the playground or gym.

“This is my first experience but so far it’s been great,” said Tavasoli. “My kid-do is very energized, polite, friendly and smart. I have a great time every time.”

OAAC Co-workers Serve as Positive Tomorrows Volunteers

Angela Baker, BSHA, LPN, Nurse Manager, volunteers at Positive To-morrows.

(continued on page 4)Scott Dennis, COO

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“TheAllergist” is published quarterly by the Oklahoma Allergy & Asthma Clinic. Contents are not intended to provide personal medical advice, which should be obtained directly from a physician.

“TheAllergist” welcomes your letters, comments or suggestions for future issues.Sendto:TheAllergist750 NE 13th Street Oklahoma City, OK 73104-5051Phone: 405-235-0040www.oklahomaallergy.com

OklahomaAllergy&AsthmaClinicEditorialAdvisoryBoardDean A. Atkinson, M.D.Laura K. Chong, M.D.Scott B. Dennis, MHARichard T. Hatch, M.D.Bret R. Haymore, M.D.Gregory M. Metz, M.D.Patricia I. Overhulser, M.D.Shahan A. Stutes, M.D.Karen L. Gregory, DNPChelsea E. Robinson, APRN-CNPStefanie E. Rollins, APRN-CNP, AE-CElisa C. Thompson, APRN-CNP

Chronic coughing is an irritating condition that most people have experienced at some time in their lives. Common causes include up-per respiratory viral infections, lung disease, heart failure, acid reflux, choking on food or other foreign bodies in your throat, and medi-cation side effects. It can also be caused by exposure to airway ir-ritants such as tobacco smoke and pollutants or perfumes. Sometimes coughing just becomes a habit. Most coughing rarely lasts more than 1 to 2 weeks.

Chronic cough syndrome refers to a persistent cough that lasts 6 weeks or longer. It could be caused by multiple issues. Those could include heartburn or indigestion, wheezing or shortness of breath. Some may experience chest congestion, a na-sal drip or drainage down the back of the throat and sneezing.

First, talk to your allergist to deter-mine the chronic cough cause. Af-ter taking a detailed history, your allergist will want to know other symptoms you might be experienc-

ing that are causing the cough. It’s important to discuss all medications you are taking including prescrip-tions, any over-the-counter drugs, vitamins, supplements, herbal ther-apies and homeopathic therapies. These steps will help determine which tests, if any are needed, to find the cause of the cough.

Allergy testing can help decide if the chronic cough is caused by al-lergens you breathe in, such as tree, grass or weed pollens, mold, pets or dust mites. Allergy tests should be ordered, performed and interpreted by an allergist. It may be important to limit allergic triggers found at home and work. A mask can protect airways from hazardous chemicals and irritants.

Lung conditions can cause a chronic cough. Asthma can cause a cough. Lung or breathing tests can help your allergist diagnose the cough’s cause. Radiological tests include at CT (CAT) scan of your sinuses and a chest x-ray. Other tests may include a laryngoscope, a procedure using a tube to look inside your nasal cavity and throat.

Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) can also have symptoms of heartburn or indigestion – com-monly known as reflux. This can also contribute to chronic cough or even be the cause of it. You may not even feel or sense the heart burn; you may simply have the cough. Certain procedures can diagnose GERD; your allergist may place you on a GERD medication to see if the coughing symptoms improve.

Some high blood pressure medica-tions such as ACE inhibitors (for ex-ample, lisinopril) can cause chronic cough syndrome. Visit with your primary care physician and your al-lergist to see if changing your high blood pressure medicine could im-prove or eliminate the cough.

If none of this helps, some might benefit with therapies to decrease throat sensitivity, known as cough

hypersensitivity syndrome that can contribute to the cough. Your al-lergist might refer you to speech therapy and discuss the use of suppressing treatment with spe-cific medications to help decrease coughing fits.

A variety of treatment options are available for chronic cough syn-drome – depending on the cause or suspected causes. These include medications taken by your mouth (liquids and tablets), nasal sprays and inhalers. Many common over-the-counter medications are limited because they don’t address the ex-act cause of the cough. In children, codeine is specifically not recom-mended for chronic chough due to safety issues.

More than one condition may be contributing to the chronic cough. With the help of your team of health specialists, they can work together to help address your symptoms.

Chronic Cough Syndrome

NEWPATIENTCLINICSComingSPRING2020April17andMay15!

We have set aside two days where all of our providers will be available to only see NEW patients. Call today! Appointments405/235-0040

Cases of the flu are on the rise, ac-cording to the Oklahoma Department of Health. At press time, 1,026 people have been hospitalized due to the flu and 22 people have died. Health offi-cials urge Oklahomans to help reduce the spread of flu by getting a flu shot. The flu is expected to remain active through April.

People with asthma are at high risk of developing serious flu complications, even if their asthma is mild or their symptoms are well-controlled by medi-cation. This is because people with asth-ma have swollen and sensitive airways and flu can cause further inflammation of the airways and lungs. Flu infection in the lungs can trigger asthma attacks and a worsening of asthma symptoms. It also can lead to pneumonia and oth-er acute respiratory diseases. In fact, adults and children with asthma are more likely to develop pneumonia after getting sick with flu than people who do not have asthma. Asthma is the most common medical condition among chil-dren hospitalized with flu and one of the more common medical conditions among hospitalized adults.

Oklahoma State Department of Health Says Flu Cases are Increasing

Other Preventive Actions for PeoplewithAsthma

In addition to getting a flu vaccine, peo-ple with asthma should take the same everyday preventive actions CDC rec-ommends of everyone, including cover-ing coughs, washing hands often, and avoiding people who are sick.

SpecificHealthActionsforPeoplewithAsthma

• Take asthma medication exactly as your doctor or other medical pro-fessional tells you to do. Know how to use your asthma inhaler if your doctor of other medical profession-al tells you to use one.

• Know and avoid the asthma trig-gers that can cause you to have an asthma attack.

• Follow an updated, written Asthma Action Plan developed with your doctor.

“Give your pets a quick wipe down to remove pollen when coming indoors,” said Dr. Chong.After spending time outdoors in the pollen, Dr. Chong says after showering, changing clothes to remove any remain-ing residue will be helpful. She adds to not line-dry clothes outside when pol-len counts are high.“Check the OAAC website and social media for the daily pollen reports,” Dr. Chong said.Website: Oklahomaallergy.com, Face-book: https://www.facebook.com/okla-homaallergyasthmaclinic/For more information about cedar al-lergy, talk to your OAAC allergist.

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Cedar Pollen Season...

Scott Dennis also works with groups of boy students, ages 4-11, in a Boy Scout’s group. “I was so proud of our older group earlier this year as they served as the color guard for Positive Tomorrow’s fund raising event. They presented both the United States and Oklahoma flags and recited the Pledge of Allegiance, the Oklahoma Pledge and The Positive Tomorrows pledge.” Den-nis stated it was the first time that most of the students were in front of such a large group, roughly 400 attendees.

“Each week brings new opportunities to work with the students and provide them consistency when, at times, that aspect of what we consider everyday life is lacking. I always receive more than I ever provide when I have the great opportunity to work with these wonderful kids.”

Baker spoke to a first grade class at Posi-tive Tomorrows about being a nurse. A few weeks afterwards, she received a

• Follow this Asthma Action Plan for daily treatment to control asthma long-term and to handle worsening asthma, or attacks.

• If your child has asthma, make sure that his or her up-to-date written Asthma Action Plan is on file at school or at the daycare center. Be sure that the plan and medication(s) are easy to get to when needed.

SymptomsandTreatment

Because you are at high risk of develop-ing serious flu complications, if you get sick with flu symptoms call your doctor right away. There are antiviral drugs that can treat flu illness and prevent serious flu complications. CDC recom-mends prompt treatment for people who have influenza infection or sus-pected influenza infection and who are at high risk of serious flu complications, such as people with asthma.

large manila envelope full of thank you notes from the children.

“They were so precious and had drawn pictures on them,” said Baker. She loved her thoughtful gift from the children.

Positive Tomorrows...(continued from page 2)

Tavasoli encourages other to consider becoming a volunteer.

“I always wanted to give back to the community and help out. I feel this is a step towards that goal,” Tavasoli said.

In addition to participating in the vol-unteer program, OAAC co-workers regularly raise funds and contribute children’s clothing, school supplies and food to Positive Tomorrows.

Reza Tavasoli, Director of I n fo r m a t i o n Technology