Allergies and Your Family / For the family that suffers from seasonal allergies, springtime doesn’t always bring flowers and sunshine. Sometimes it just means more dust and pollen, which means more congestion. Of course it doesn’t have to be that way; while all the latest medical research says that allergies are incurable and only manageable, that’s not necessarily the case. What are allergies? The word “allergy” means an altered or abnormal tissue reaction after sensitive body tissues are brought into contact with an allergen.