'Unusual spring' makes for pollen nightmare for allergy sufferers

The fine, sometimes-yellow powdery substance covering anything outdoors is also wreaking havoc on people�s eyes and noses lately.

Pollen levels have been unusually high this year.

And though pollen doesn�t affect everyone, allergy sufferers are better off understanding pollen and what type they�re allergic to, experts say. Typically, the most problematic pollen comes from the windblown variety versus pollen spread by insects.

Jennifer Behnken, community forester at Cape Girardeau Conservation Nature Center, said pollen usually emerges in the early spring.

�You�re going to have woodland plants that are going to flower, but problematic issues are going to be from your trees and shrubs,� she said.

Behnken said windblown pollen would be the most prevalent as opposed to pollen that is more insect-driven, which are two pollination methods found in nature.

She said pollen from oak, willow, birch and hickory trees and certain shrubbery, such as hazelnut, could cause an increased allergic reaction.

These types of plants and trees produce �catkins,� which Behnken said is a type of flower, even though it looks nothing like a flower.

They are mostly windblown and because of that, she said, they are going to travel in the air more frequently.

�We�re really getting into the point in the season where that�s going to start transferring over,� she said, �because you�re looking at trees that are going to start setting seeds. So instead of having flowers, they�re going to be moving to seeds as well.�

Behnken said that doesn�t mean there aren�t other plants in nature that are going to produce pollen, however. In the summer, goldenrod and ragweed are going to be some of the �bigger ones� that would still be a problem for some individuals, she said.

On rainy days, when some consider pollen levels to not be so high, it�s because, she believes, the air is not as conducive for pollen to travel with such high moisture content.

But people who are allergic to mildew and fungi still should be concerned. Behnken said those become more problematic during rainy and moist conditions.

Dr. Kent Griffith, a family physician at Regional Primary Care in Cape Girardeau, said what�s unusual about this year is the seasons went from �snow in April, to 90 degrees in May.�

�Everything has bloomed and pollinated on a much shorter time scale,� Griffith said. �So everything is sort of hitting all at once this year. You�re seeing a lot higher concentration of tree, mold and grass pollen.�

Griffith said he�s been seeing more people in the office this year, on average, because of the �unusual spring.�

He said most allergy medications are effective and can be bought over the counter. Griffith recommends taking a once-a-day antihistamine that�s nondrowsy, combined with an over-the-counter steroid nasal spray.

�If you use those two together, that usually will control most allergies,� he said.

If any allergy reaction becomes more severe, he also recommends allergy testing as an alternative to identify specific allergy problems. Those conditions can be treated, he said, with immunotherapy, or �allergy shots.�

In addition, he said Southeast Missouri is well known as being one of the worst areas for seasonal allergies, which does not help the situation.

�Secondly, individual people�s immune systems react differently,� Griffith said. �Some people, even within the same family, you may have one person that allergies don�t affect them nearly as much as the next person.�

In that case, an individual�s immune system could be to blame.

Nasal saline rinses, such as the Neti pot, are affective at rinsing out the sinuses and nasal passages, he said, but doesn�t entirely eliminate the problem.

Griffith encourages those who wish to get a head start on allergy prevention to begin taking allergy medications in March each year.

�It�s much better to start those as a preventive, because if you wait until you�re already sneezing and having symptoms and playing catch up, it takes longer to help,� he said.

Griffith said allergies tend to taper off temporarily in midsummer, but he does see a resurgence of allergy problems around the end of August and leading into September. That�s when all of the �new types of allergens,� like ragweed, start to become more prevalent, he said.

To help minimize the overall effect of outside allergens, Griffith recommends keeping windows closed and using air conditioners to help factor out the allergens.

jhartwig@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3632