Spring in North Carolina brings everything to life.  Along with the green leaves sprouting, the oak pollen has started to appear.   That's a problem for people like Gregory Liss.

Liss has had allergies all his life, but after his move to North Carolina from Georgia a year ago, his reactions were too severe for medication alone.  

"My routine was, I would leave my house, get in the car, drive to the office, run inside, wash every exposed area of skin once I got in, go into my office and close the door," he said.

Liss has had allergies all his life, but after his move to NC from Georgia a year ago, his reactions were too severe for medication alone.  

This spring, Liss started going to the Allergy, Asthma and Sinus Center in Cary three times a week for immunotherapy treatment.  He is injected with increasingly stronger amounts of allergens to build his resistance.  The concept has been around for decades, but Dr. Dave Judge says better serum mixtures over the past 10 years have made it the preferred choice for long-term allergy treatment.    

"Once you have those allergies, they are not going to go away," said Judge.

Unfortunately, most people don't know what it is they are allergic to.   That's when we mistakenly blame it on the pollen we can see, like pine pollen.   But Judge says the tiny pollens cause the worst problems. 

"Basically, pollen has to be a certain size so you could breathe through your nose,  breathe through your mouth, or to your eyes," he said.  "So that's what causes the allergic reaction."

Judge says a simple skin test can help identify allergies and determine the best and most effective treatment.  

If you just need to make it through allergy season, Judge said today's allergy medicines can be effective as well and typically don't make you as sleepy as traditional antihistamines.