Allergy experts in the Chicago area have noted an “unusual” pollen count that could be behind an intense fall allergy season for many sufferers.
What is it? Ragweed.
According to Rachna Shah, the allergist and immunologist who heads Loyola Medicine’s pollen count in Chicago, this year’s ragweed season has started earlier than normal.
“The ragweed season is generally mid-August until the end of September,” she told NBC Chicago. “This year, we started ragweed season a little early, so in early August it started and we’ve had unusually high counts for the past two to three weeks really.”
In fact, the levels are higher than Shah has seen in years.
“So, generally speaking in one season for ragweed, I might see five or six high ragweed days. This has been very, very consistent over the past two or three weeks so this makes it an unusual season in that it’s been more consistently high throughout the season,” Shah said. “And also the counts have been very elevated compared to prior years. The last time we had numbers like this was around 2018.”
That trend continued Thursday.
According to the Loyola Medicine Allergy Count, ragweed, weeds and mold were all at high levels.
Ragweed is a particularly challenging allergen because of its ability to travel long distances.
“This weed is very interesting because the pollen of this weed is tiny and it’s very buoyant. So, it can actually travel in the air even 400 miles,” Shah said. “So, we may not have again any in our backyard but because it is so airborne and it can travel so far, it can be a very significant allergen.”
So what will that mean for you and your symptoms?
Beyond the usual itchy eyes, itchy nose, sneezing and runny nose, seasonal allergies can lead to some unexpected conditions and possibly even more serious infections or colds.
Some of the conditions that many may not realized are associated with seasonal allergies are skin rashes and something known as “oral allergy syndrome,” which causes some sufferers to experience reactions to certain fruits and vegetables.
So why is ragweed so bad this year?
Shah suspects many reasons could be to blame.
“Sometimes it’s difficult to explain why. I think most likely it’s because of just the weather patterns that we’ve had,” she said. “It’s been quite dry and so what rain does is it brings down the pollen from the air and grounds it and so less of it is airborne, less of it is able for us to breathe or interact with and so that really reduces the pollen counts. Because we haven’t had that much rain, but we have had a good amount of wind, I think that we’ve had just more ragweed this season.”
As for the best forms of prevention, Shah suggests avoidance measures to prevent allergies from entering your home, including keeping windows closed, especially when sleeping, and rinsing off or changing clothes are coming in from outside.
For those with particularly bad symptoms, over-the-counter medications can help bring relief.
“There’s antihistamines like Allegra, Zyrtec, Claritin. All of these are really great in helping with itchy symptoms,” Shah said. “So if you have itchy eyes or sneezing or other things like that. It also helps with drippy symptoms, so watery eyes, runny nose … it’ll really help kind of combat those type of symptoms.”
Shah also suggested allergy eyedrops for those with particularly itchy eyes, a symptom she said she’s seen on the rise this ragweed season.
“That’s one of the big symptoms that I’m seeing in my patients with this ragweed season is a lot of itchy eyes,” Shah said.
Nasal sprays can help to combat congestion, increased mucous or inflammation.
“But that takes at least a week to kick in, so you have to be a little patient with it,” she noted.
Beyond that, Shah said those who can’t seem to find relief should seek care from an allergist.
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