Can You Develop Allergies Later In Life Answering Your Spring Questions
But the exact seasonal patterns vary depending on where in the country you live. For instance, if you’re in the South, you might experience spring and tree pollen season a little earlier than the rest of the U.S., Corbett said. And some allergens are known to be particularly severe in certain areas, like the “cedar fever” that plagues areas of Texas and Oklahoma, Blair added.
Contrary to popular belief, though, the colorful flower blossoms we see in the spring aren’t a major cause of allergy symptoms. Pretty things dont typically produce a lot of airborne pollen, Corbett explained. Thats why they have the insects the bees that pollinate them.
Why Are My Allergies So Bad This Fall
The transition from summer to fall means back-to-school timefor many people, but for allergy sufferers, the seasonal switch means anunwelcome change in their symptoms. For those feeling the impacts of fallpollens such as ragweed and mold, you’re not alone. According to the CDC,symptoms from allergic rhinitis, including sneezing, runny nose, andcongestion, affectas many as 60 million people a year in the United States.
If you’re in Indiana and Ohio, these effects can becompounded by weather patterns that alternate between wet and dry periods, triggeringthe release of allergens into the air. Dr. Thomas Huth, Vice President of MedicalAffairs, mentioned in a recent interviewwith WHIO that “allergies may be aggravated by the dry weather as it driesout the ragweed plants and releases the pollen in large amounts this time ofyear.”
In addition to ragweed, mold has been high for most ofsummer and into the fall. Dr. Huth explained that “at times we have had a lotof rain and the moisture will encourage mold growth, but then when we get intoprolonged dry spells, that causes release of mold spores into the air.”
As leaves dry out, die, and fall this season, that processalso will release mold into the air, making it likely allergy season willcontinue to ramp up as we near fall.
What is ragweed?
How do I know I’m experiencing allergy symptoms and notsomething more severe like COVID-19?
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Seasonal Allergies: What You Need To Know
Pollen is an airborne substance that comes from grass, flowering plants, trees, and weeds. In the past 12 months, 19.2 million adults and 5.2 million children under 18 were diagnosed with hay fever, the name given to allergic rhinitis caused by pollen. When someone has hay fever, their immune system identifies pollen as a threat and releases signals that lead to congestion, itchy eyes, runny nose, and sneezing, as well as problems like sinus pressure and allergic conjunctivitis .
The amount of pollen in the air depends on the season and the geographic area in which you live. The study reported in PNAS found the most pronounced effects in Texas and the Midwestern United States. However, the Northeast can have a significant spring allergy season as well, Dr. Leeds says. Tree allergies are especially common in New Englandparticularly due to birch and oak. Pollen allergies can also cause a cross-reaction with certain foods in some people symptoms include an itchy or tingling mouth and throat after eating raw fruits and vegetables, seeds, and nuts.
People may also have allergic reactions to grass pollen in the late spring to early summer and weed pollen in the fall. Many people are multi-sensitized, so they are allergic to more than one type of pollen, and they can be symptomatic through all of the warm weather seasons, Dr. Leeds says. Pollen can be carried by the wind, so windy days are the worst.
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An Early Spring Means High Pollen Counts
After a long, long year we were all thrilled to see spring come early. Unfortunately, humans weren’t the only ones rejoicing in the rapid return of warmer weather. Pollen celebrating getting an early start on its season by going forth and multiplying even faster than the aforementioned rabbits, and Peters warns that this means allergy season “will last longer as pollen will continue to be produced until summer hits at a normal time.”
Not only are pollen counts right now much higher than they would be were temps still down in the normal early spring range , but more people are outdoors breathing them in. There’s a natural tendency to want to be outside once winter comes to an end, as well as the fact that under current circumstances, as Peters points out, we’ve all been feeling cooped-up by pandemic precautions.
Manage Your Allergy Symptoms
While there are changes you can make to your day-to-day activities to decrease your pollen exposure, medication remains a mainstay of allergy treatment. Still, the last thing you may want to do is to add another tablet to your pillbox. So its important to find the right medication strategy to manage your symptoms. Start with a nasal steroid spray, such as fluticasone , triamcinolone or . These reduce nasal swelling and mucous to clear your sinuses, and are known to stop the immune response called by allergies and prevent severe symptoms, says Donald Dvorin, M.D., an allergist in Mt. Laurel Township, New Jersey. Ideally, theyre started in advance of when symptoms normally start, as they can take a week to work. Use these daily and as directed . Shooting this up your nose may not be the most pleasant sensation, but consistency is key.
As for which one to choose, Dvorin says that some sensitive patients find Flonase irritating because it contains alcohol, so try Nasacort first. One note : These are different than oxymetazoline , a nasal congestion spray. Nasal steroid sprays can be used long-term, whereas you should not use Afrin for more than three consecutive days, otherwise rather paradoxically congestion could get worse.
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Bu Today: What Can People Do To Decrease Their Pollen Exposure
Fred Little:Unlike somebody with a food allergy, who can control their exposure to that food, its very hard to control exposure to pollens, as theyre so pervasive. Even indoors: as we come in and out of our houses, we wear the clothes we were wearing outdoors and bring pollens into the house. There are some things that can be done to minimize pollen levels in the house. For one, if you have the resources, keep windows closed during the night and day and use air conditioners to keep the air cool. For people with really bad allergies to pollens, they might want to change out of their outside clothes when they come inside and wash them . That can be helpful for people who have severe allergies and want to keep the house as pollen-free as possible. But no house or apartment is airtight, so it can be hard to keep the outdoor environment from coming indoors.
You Think It’s Bad Now
Pollen season severity and duration fluctuate year to year, but there’s a long-term trend that spells bad news for those who deal with hay fever and asthma.
That’s right: climate change is affecting when plants release their pollen.
We know this from observations in the real world, mostly Europe and the US , as well as experiments in greenhouses, where temperature and carbon dioxide levels can be adjusted to see how they change how a plant pollinates.
Those greenhouse studies usually match up pretty well with observations, Dr Beggs says.
Some plants use temperature as their cue to start making pollen. When it gets warm enough, they start pumping it out.
As temperatures creep up, some plants start making pollen earlier, or keep producing it later than they normally would.
“Not every species, not every location, but for many species and many locations, there are changes in the timing of the pollen season,” Dr Beggs says.
“So if it’s a longer pollen season, then you’ll have symptoms over a longer period.”
Where plants grow as temperatures rise will change too.
Those that thrive in warmer areas will be able to spread from the tropics towards the poles, or up to higher elevations, potentially exposing people to new pollens and new allergens.
Plus even relatively low increases in carbon dioxide can nudge pollen production up too.
Plants use carbon dioxide as part of photosynthesis to make sugar, which they can use as energy.
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Allergy Season Is About To Get Worse
Certain pollen-producing plants will have longer growing seasons with the warmer weather climate change is causing, says a new study.
The arrival of spring brings with it allergy season for millions of people around the world as flowering trees and plants release allergy-inducing pollens. Now, thanks to climate change, allergy season is about to get worse: The warming planet is extending the growing season, and along with it allergy-caused risks to human health.
By 2100, the amount of pollen produced during the flowering season could rise by 40 percent, according to new research published on Tuesday in Nature Communicationsraising an urgent need to better understand the factors driving that increase. Even as drought and heat damage forests and grasslands, some grasses, weeds, and trees that produce allergy-inducing pollens thrive on rising temperatures and higher carbon dioxide concentrations, growing larger and producing more leaves.
Previous work examining historical trends estimates that, on average, the pollen season in North America arrives 20 days earlier and lasts eight days longer, and releases 20 percent more pollen into the air than it did 30 years ago.
The new research extends this picture to the end of the century, attributing a 40 percent increase in pollen produced to a pollen season that will begin as much as 40 days earlier and stretch out 19 days longer.
How To Reduce Your Allergy Symptoms
If youre suffering from allergies but dont want to deal with the fog and tiredness that come with antihistamine medications, there are several steps you can take to limit your exposure to this seasons excessive pollen. For starters, keep pollen out of your home by closing the windows and using the air conditioning system to circulate air. This will keep your home comfortable without allowing pollen in. You can also limit your time spent outside by exercising indoors and only going out when its absolutely necessary.
If you want to be especially careful, you might even consider changing your clothes and shoes and taking a shower whenever you come in from outside. This will keep pollen from spreading inside your home and get it off of your skin and hair before it can cause an allergic reaction. This step may be unnecessary for mild allergy sufferers, but its a good idea if you or someone you live with suffers from severe allergies, asthma, COPD or other respiratory illnesses.
Finally, you can protect yourself with a high-quality HEPA air purifier. The fine filter material in a HEPA purifier can easily capture grains of pollen, removing them from the air in your home. By capturing pollen before it has a chance to cause an allergy flare-up, you can reduce your overall symptoms during the heavy allergy season of 2020. Some of our top recommendations for allergy control include the Amaircare 3000 HEPA, Airpura I600, Austin Air Allergy Machine and Rabbit Air Minus A2.
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How To Alleviate Your Allergy Symptoms
Leeds recommended wearing a brimmed hat and sunglasses to keep pollen out of your eyes and nose. A solid rinse can also work wonders after spending time outside.
Wash your hands and face after being outdoors for long periods of time, and consider changing your clothes, she said.
If you are particularly sensitive, limit your time outdoors on poor air-quality days. Consider washing your eyes and nose with a saline solution. You might also want to swap out your contact lenses for eyeglasses, as pollen can cling onto lenses and irritate the eye. Cleaning your lenses more frequently and opting for daily disposable contacts can also help relieve itchy, watery eyes.
Pollen can get trapped inside your home, so keep your windows shut and car doors closed. Vacuum often to get rid of allergens trapped in your carpet. If you have AC, set it to nonrecirculated air.
AAFA also recommends using a HEPA air filter to purify the air in your house. And pets can be pollen magnets, so giving them a good rub down is a good idea after a springtime walk, Gupta said.
You might also want to hold onto your face mask a bit longer. The masks we use to protect ourselves against the coronavirus act as a barrier against pollen, too. The better the mask, the better the protection.
N95 masks are ideal for this, but standard masks most people are using to protect one another from COVID-19 also work, Mendez said.
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Doctor Reveals Why Allergy Season Will Be Particularly Brutal This Year
Spring is here at last! How can we know for sure? Well, there are all the usual sights: robins bobbin’, bunnies multiplying as they are wont to do, and people out and about wearing only as much clothing as is mandated by law. Not just sights, but sounds of spring abound as well: The air is filled with birds singing, lawnmowers mowing, baseball announcers announcing, and allergy sufferers sneezing and wheezing.
Ugh, those springtime allergies. So unfair to be in this much misery when everything is sunny, bright, and beautiful. Well, to wax all philosophical about it, without pain, there can be no pleasure – the pleasure, in this case, being that of taking a really good antihistamine that makes those allergy symptoms go away for a few hours. Here’s hoping you’ve laid in a good supply of your preferred allergy medicine, though, since Dr. Shirin Peters, an internist with New York City’s Bethany Medical Clinic, tells The List in an exclusive interview that this year’s allergy season is going to be a bad one.
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The Northeast And Southeast Will Experience More Pollen Production While Allergy Season In The Pacific Northwest Could Start A Month Earlier
If you head to Georgia, you will find sprawling southern live oak trees older than the Declaration of Independence. Often adorned in Spanish moss, the evergreen mammoths are featured in postcards and movies as a symbol of the South.
Of course, you may not notice the impressive attributes of Georgias state tree through the bouts of sneezing, coughing and itchy eyes they also famously cause with their pollen.
Patients, sometimes when they have significant allergies to the pollen, tell me that they just cant function. They feel run down. They dont have the energy they used to have, said Stanley Fineman, a physician at Atlanta Allergy & Asthma, one of the largest allergy practices in Georgia.
The problem has only worsened. In Finemans four decades of private practice, he has seen pollen season start earlier and become more intense. Years ago, he used to tell patients to take their allergy medicine from St. Patricks Day through Memorial Day. In recent years, he now tells them to start their medication around Valentines Day and continue through the summer. This year, pollen counts were high on Feb. 14 in the Atlanta region, at 846 pollen grains per cubic meter of air.
Unfortunately, neither the oak tree nor Atlanta is unique. The culprit? Climate change.
Why Has The Allergy Season Of 2021 Been So Bad
The bad allergy season so far is largely the result of the mild winter seen across most of the country. Mold that would normally die off in the winter months remained due to warmer temperatures. That, combined with unusually high levels of tree pollen, has set off severe allergies for many people. Even individuals who normally suffer from no allergies or very mild symptoms have had bad reactions this spring. So, if youve noticed abnormal allergic reactions in 2021, youre far from alone.
More broadly, the unusually bad allergy season ties back to climate change. As mentioned above, warmer winters are less likely to kill off allergy-inducing molds. Because winter temperatures are growing progressively warmer across large parts of the world, we can expect to see a continuance of bad allergy conditions in the coming years.
In addition to allowing more allergens to survive until spring, a warming climate can lengthen the annual allergy season. As winter temperatures arrive later and depart earlier, both fall and spring allergy seasons are extended. This can be a real problem for severe allergy sufferers, who now find themselves living with allergies for large portions of the year.
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More People Becoming Allergic
There will be more people becoming allergic to pollen, Zhang said. Its not only like people that already have allergies or more severe symptoms to the pollen allergy.
All of this is bad news for people like Mark Clarke, who said he moved to Newark from the Bronx nearly four years ago and developed allergies around that time.
My eyes get real burny, like watery, Clarke said. Sometimes it turns into like a sinus headache. Like Ive got a headache for a minute where I cant even be out in a bright light. So I have to have it shaded until it goes away. I kind of wait it out.
For people with severe allergies, or with compounding conditions like asthma, the threat goes beyond just being uncomfortable. It can even be deadly.
Amir Sapkota, of the University of Maryland, led a study published in 2020 that identified a connection between early onsets of spring and increases in asthma-related hospitalizations in Maryland.
The study found that earlier spring pollen seasons drove asthma hospitalizations up 17% because different trees propagated their pollen loads all at once. Sapkota, an environmental health scientist, said he suspects it repeats during fall ragweed season and expects to see the same relationship in New Jersey.
Climate change is impacting people. In our backyard, in our community, right now, Sapkota said.
Sapkotas data doesnt reveal the impacts on those suffering from extended, intensified pollen seasons without requiring hospitalization.
