Nasal discomfort may be one of the warning symptoms of seasonal or perennial allergic rhinitis, according to data from the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology.

However, people who are experiencing these symptoms may find help at specialized clinics such as the Capitol Breathe Free Sinus & Allergy Centers.

"The techniques have gotten more patient-friendly, less invasive. In skin testing now, the needles that are used are very tiny and tolerated extremely well," Dr. Manish Khanna, a physician at the Capitol Breathe Free Sinus & Allergy Centers, told Maryland Business Daily. "Patients barely feel the prick, and whether it's on their shoulder on their back area, that's tolerated well relatively fast. Patients just have to be off their antihistamine medications for 10 days prior -- and that is probably more the issue with patients, as opposed to the actual discomfort from the procedure itself."

Allergies are currently the sixth most common cause of chronic illness in the U.S., costing more than $18 billion annually and affecting more than 50 million Americans, according to a study published by the medical journal The Laryngoscope.

Seasonal allergic rhinitis symptoms are caused by allergic sensitivity to pollen and usually appear in the spring, summer or early fall.

"You're doing your spring cleaning, and you breathe in a bunch of dust. This inflammatory process clogs those little tiny openings, and when those openings are clogged, the mucus that the sinus lining is producing just hangs around in the nasal passages," Khanna explained. "That's a nice culture medium for bacteria to overgrow and lead to a sinus infection, which can also lead to really thick post-nasal drip that patients feel and lead to a lot of throat clearing, and they start to feel that mucus in the back of their throat, so that's a common symptom of patients who have allergies."

Patients diagnosed with allergic rhinitis may find that their symptoms improve by avoiding, eliminating or reducing their exposure to the irritants or allergens that cause their symptoms, as well as through medicine and immunotherapy.