Melissa Rycroft Says She No Longer Gets Seasonal Allergy Symptoms Thanks To Immunothreapy

From Woman's Day

Former Bachelor contestant, Dancing With the Stars champ, and Dallas Cowboys cheerleader Melissa Rycroft has quite a few accomplishments under her belt. But her most recent one has had a huge impact on her everyday life: getting her allergies under control.

Rycroft spoke to Woman's Day all about the struggles she's dealt with for years because of her allergies, and how they made working day-to-day both difficult and uncomfortable.

"Being on TV would be tough, working outside would be tough, and then just mom stuff in general, you know, feeling like I always had a cold and scratchy throat and watery eyes," Rycroft said. "It always kind of looked like I had been crying really hard the night before."

It wasn't until about two years ago when Rycroft's daughter, Ava, at the age of 6 began struggling with even more severe allergies that Rycroft decided to do something about it.

"She suffered something fierce," Rycroft said said. "Like, when she would get sneeze attacks, they would be nonstop and her eyes were watering, and that’s when I realized, like, maybe this is not just a way we should be living and try to find something, especially for her. I feel like as a mom sometimes you’re like 'I can take the burden, I’m fine, I’ll function,' and then when you see your little one suffering, you realize maybe how bad you’ve been suffering."

That's when Rycroft discovered immunotherapy. Commonly referred to as "allergy shots," the treatment, given in the form of either a shot or a pill, gives gradually increasing doses of environmental allergens, whether it be pollen, dust mites, or what have you. Immunotherapy goes beyond masking the symptoms of allergies and works to eliminate the allergic reaction altogether by allowing your immune system to become less sensitive to the allergen.

"We just felt like it was time to do something about it, time to educate ourselves about it and, you know, stop taking over the counter stuff that would put a band aid on our symptoms and really figure out what it was that was causing it and what we could do to stop it," Rycroft said.

About a year into Ava's treatment, Rycroft says she saw such amazing results from one allergy season to the next that she and her husband both decided to try the therapy for themselves. And they've been feeling refreshed ever since.

"It’s almost like you kind of started to feel normal and you didn’t know what normal felt like because you’d been suffering for so long, and it wasn’t until we looked back going wait a minute, we haven’t sneezed or coughed during prime allergy time and we’re not having any of the outbreaks that we had been having," Rycroft said. "So it’s almost like you slowly start to see and feel a change and then you look back one day and you’re like oh my gosh I almost feel like a completely different person. I see my daughter and she’s a completely different person. It’s not overnight but you can feel your body change."

For others looking to educate themselves on immunotherapy as a possible treatment for themselves or their family, Rycroft recommends checking out the allergy immunotherapy information hub understandingait.com. On the site, a doc finder helps users locate local allergists, an immunotherapy education center, and an allergy symptom quiz.

"It’s just a great place to go for overall education, conversation starters, and to kind of just set you up for that allergy appointment," Rycoft said. "I think education is key and the more that you know and the more that you learn, it improves your quality of life, and why wouldn’t you want to do that, right?"

You Might Also Like

• 60+ Easy and Satisfying Avocado Recipes You Need to Try ASAP

• "I Used To Love Getting Naked — And Then I Got Pregnant"

• 45 Inspirational Books All Women Should Read in Their Lifetime