Allergy medicines should only be taken after you have symptoms is one of the myths about allergy. Dr. Manuel Torres, Family Medicine Physician at Baptist Health Primary Care, explains it is the wrong thing to do.

“One of the things that I try to explain to patients is these are antihistamines and a histamine is a way that cells communicate in your respiratory tract, and the histamine response is the effect of your immune system responding to the allergen. So if you are congested and have the symptoms there’s already been a histamine release, so if you’re taking one of the over-the-counter antihistamines after you have your symptoms it’s probably too late,” he says.

Another myth is allergies are just for kids. The doctor recommends if you were allergic as a kid you need to be mindful of these possible exposures to those allergens as an adult.