For most people, seeing yellow in the spring is a welcome sign. It means flowers are blooming and forsythia leaves are sprouting. With it comes warm weather and time to ditch heavy coats, hats, and gloves. But for more than 25% of the U.S. population, the only yellow they see is the pollen that is everywhere — on cars, driveways, windows, and even houses.
You don’t have to have a medical degree to know that with pollen comes seasonal allergies — runny nose, itchy eyes, sneezing, scratchy throat… It’s not the enjoyable change from winter that the other 75% of the country enjoys. And like it has been for much of the past decade, this allergy season could be worse than the previous one.
“We have certainly noticed in at least the past 10 years, each year seems to be a greater pollen burden than the previous spring,” said Camellia L. Hernandez, M.D., an allergist and immunologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and a Wayland resident. “With global warming, there are earlier bloom times and increased pollen because the warm air gets trapped in the ozone and has nowhere to go.”
Image courtesy American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology
So with pollen getting worse and no cure in sight, what can sufferers do?In addition to buying over-the-counter medications or seeing a specialist for allergy shots before the pollen and symptoms appear, follow these “environmental modifications”:
- Keep windows closed
- Change air filters in your house every three months and use high-grade options that filter out the small particles
- Use air purifiers – this can work but they need to have enough capacity for the amount of space
- Shower often – many people rinse off after being outside
“People come to me and ask, ‘what am I allergic to so I can avoid it?’” Hernandez said. “I tell them if you’re going to go outside, you can’t avoid it.”
If other measures don’t work, seeing an allergist may be the solution. “We can provide a lot of different options,” she said. “I lay out the options and they can pick what they want.”
