“Can an inhaler help me treat my allergies?”

An inhaler will not directly treat your allergies but it can help with the sensation/symptom of breathlessness. When allergies are fairly intense sometimes they can cause that sensation and the inhaler will releave it. However, I do advise you seeing an allergist if that is the case - a lot of patients have allergic asthma that presents only when their allergies are active and the specialist will be able to evaluate and treat you best to prevent issues in the future.

It is true that allergies can trigger asthma symptoms. In fact, in almost 80% of asthmatics, there is an allergic cause. Though you may not have been formally diagnosed with “asthma”, you may still benefit from a short acting bronchodilator if you are experiencing what you describe as “breathlessness”. It would be helpful if your GP measured your lung function. That would be helpful in determining if an albuterol inhaler would help.

If you have allergic asthma or allergy-induced bronchospasms, the inhaler could/would help you breathe better. It will not treat OTHER symptoms of allergies such as itchy eyes or runny nose or post-nasal drip or itchy throat, etc.

I think it is important to see an Asthma & Allergy specialist. If you have allergies, there is a possibility that you have developed allergic asthma. With allergic asthma you can have symptoms of shortness of breath, wheezing, chest tightness or cough when your allergy triggers are high. There are tests that will help determine if that is the cause of your symptoms (office spirometer and FENO). If these tests are completely normal, there could be others causes of your symptoms that should be further evaluated. An inhaler may help if you have an allergic asthma, but will not help if the symptoms are not coming from a problem with bronchial tubes/lungs.

Dr. Patricia Gomez Dinger, D.O.