Seasonal allergies are coming earlier, hitting harder this year

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Early summer allergies got you down? You’re not alone.

According to Dr. Raj Srinivasan, chair of The Vancouver Clinic’s allergy and pulmonology medicine department, summer allergies are off to a bad start this year, thanks to the unseasonably dry weather and high levels of grass pollens in the air.

“Grass is a bad allergen this year for us,” Srinivasan says. “People who may have thought their symptoms were manageable in the past, are finding that they’re not manageable this year.”

Pollen counts at the Vancouver Clinic’s Salmon Creek office, which recently became an official counting site for the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (AAAAI)’s National Allergy Bureau, show an unusual mix of pollens in the region.

“We are showing all three varieties – tree, grass and weed pollens – right now,” Srinivasan says. “Usually the tree pollens are in the spring, the grasses don’t start until the end of April and then it’s just grasses and weed (pollens) until the end of August.”

Instead of getting hit with tree pollen, then grass pollen, and then weed pollen, people in Southwest Washington were hit with all three in early June. Why? Blame the rain. Or, rather, the lack of rain.

“When we get the rain, it washes the pollen away … but we haven’t had much rain and we’ve seen the full spectrum of tree pollens and grass pollens,” Srinivasan says, adding that the typical allergies of mid- to late summer have come early this year. “It’s the earliest I’ve ever seen it.”

So what can you do if you’re wracked by sneezing fits every few minutes and starting to seriously consider scratching your eyes out with a sharp fork? Srinivasan has some tips for summer allergy sufferers:

• Figure out if it’s allergies or something else: Before you start to treat your allergies, make sure you actually have allergies and not a summertime flu or cold.

One way to distinguish between common allergies and a virus is to check your temperature. Normal? You probably have allergies. Hot? A virus may be the causing your itchy eyes and runny nose.

“Fever is the hallmark of infection,” Srinivasan says.

No fever? You may just have a common cold. But if your symptoms stick around for more than five days, allergies may be to blame.

“A (cold) will usually run its course in three to five days,” Srinivasan says.

Another tell-tale sign that you’ve got something other than allergies? Other members of your family have the same symptoms at the same time.

On the other side of the spectrum, if you’ve never had allergies before – or maybe had mild pollen allergies in the spring, this year may be different for you.

• Avoid the allergen: OK, so you have allergies. Now what?



“The first part of allergy control is to reduce your exposure to it,” Srinavasan says. “There are some simple things you can do.”

Close your bedroom windows — Srinavasan points out that adults spend about 40 percent of their day in the bedroom and children spend even more time in that particular room, so keeping the bedroom windows closed and banning your pets from entering your bedroom during allergy season can help reduce your pollen load quite a bit.

Shower at night — “You don’t want to drag all of the pollen that’s on your hair and skin onto your pillow,” Srinavasan says. “Taking a shower in the evening can really help.”

Know when the pollen counts are highest — This is a tricky one, but Srinivasan recommends checking the National Allergy Bureau website at http://pollen.aaaai.org. To find local pollen counts, click on the Washington state on the map and then look at the Vancouver site. On June 17, the local pollen counts showed low concentrations of tree and weed pollens, but high concentrations of three species of grass pollens. The site has an email sign-up for people who want to receive emails about pollen counts in their areas. You can choose to receive alerts when pollen counts increase or decrease and can pick up to three stations to monitor. For allergy sufferers who wonder exactly what kind of pollen – tree, weed or grass – is causing their seasonal symptoms, this tracking device can be particularly helpful.

Stay inside during peak pollen times — Pollen tends to peak as the day gets warmer, Srinivasan says, so if you can avoid being outside during the late morning to early afternoon hours, you may be able to avoid the worst of it.

• Manage your symptoms: Many seasonal allergy sufferers find that avoiding the pollen is enough to control their allergic reactions, but others may need some extra help.

Try a non-sedating over-the-counter antihistamine — Srinivasan says many patients tolerate the newer, over-the-counter allergy medicines that treat symptoms for 24 hours (like Claritin) much better than the older drugs (like Benadryl), which often make people feel drowsy.

Visit your MD — If your allergies are negatively affecting your quality of life, or if the over-the-counter meds aren’t working, it may be time to visit the doctor. Allergy doctors like Srinivasan will pinpoint exactly what you’re allergic to before prescribing a course of action.

“Testing is very helpful,” Srinivasan says. “I want to connect the dots for patients … to make a proper diagnosis.”

While fewer than 10 percent of his patients choose to undergo allergy shots to treat seasonal allergies, Srinivasan says he’s hopeful about a new allergy treatment that hit the U.S. market just last year.

“This is under-the-tongue immunotherapy,” Srinivasan says. “It’s tablets under the tongue instead of shots.”

Taken a few months in advance of allergy season, the sublingual allergy tablets help your body build a natural immunity. Patients need to start the therapy no later than January to get allergy relief in the spring and summer, and they must take the tablets for three months. Although the therapy is currently only available for grass pollen allergies, Srinivasan says other under-the-tongue immunotherapy treatments are available in Europe and may soon get FDA approval here.

Although this type of therapy has been shown to be very effective, Srinivasan says it’s hard to get patients to think about allergies in the middle of winter.

“They need to make an appointment in December, when they’re not thinking about allergies,” he says.

To find an allergist near you, visit the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology at http://acaai.org/locate-an-allergist and plug in your zipcode.