Springtime tends to bring sneezing and other symptoms to seasonal allergy sufferers. Pre-planning your seasonal allergy treatments can help relieve your worst symptoms.
Allergy season begins as the weather gets warmer in spring. If you have seasonal allergies, you may experience symptoms, such as a runny nose or itchy eyes, as a result of certain allergy triggers. When these triggers enter your body, your immune system treats them as harmful substances and attacks them, which leads to the symptoms of seasonal allergies. Knowing what the most common seasonal allergy triggers are can help you avoid them and correctly treat your symptoms.
Pollen
During spring, plants, flowers, and trees produce pollen for fertilization, but not all of these cause allergies. Plants that have pollen carried by insects usually do not cause seasonal allergy symptoms. On the other hand, plants with powdery pollens tend to trigger allergic reactions when the pollen grains are blown into the air. Pollen from trees triggers many allergy symptoms, including runny noses and sneezing, in early spring. During fall, pollen from ragweed and other weeds are the most likely culprits.
Keep in mind that the amount of pollen in the air from plants, flowers, and trees depends in part on weather conditions. Windy conditions and warm temperatures can cause the pollen count to increase significantly. Pollen counts are also higher after it rains.
Grass
Pollen is usually associated with flowers and plants, but grass also has to be fertilized to grow and spread. Grass pollen is very fine grain, and triggers allergic reactions during the latter part of spring and in early summer. The wind easily stirs these pollen grains and carries them through the air, causing allergy symptoms when you inhale them.
Mold
Mold spores can trigger the symptoms of seasonal allergies when you breathe them into your lungs. These spores come from the molds that grow outdoors in soil, on plants, and on decaying matter like leaf piles. As the weather gets warmer in spring and summer, mold releases spores into the air. As with pollen, the amount of spores in the air will depend on your local weather conditions. More spores are found during heat waves and humid weather, which are very common during Arkansas summers.
Seasonal Allergy Prevention
When warmer weather is on the way, taking the following steps to lower your exposure to seasonal allergy triggers is the most effective way to prevent symptoms:
- Visit your doctor for allergy testing to determine which seasonal allergens can trigger your symptoms.
- Limit your time outdoors during the middle part of the day, which has the highest pollen counts, especially on warm and windy days.
- Don’t leave doors or windows open during allergy season—it allows pollen and mold spores to enter your home.
- Change your clothing when you come in from outdoors during allergy season. This helps prevent spreading pollen and mold spores inside your home.
You can also take measures to better manage your seasonal allergy symptoms if you can’t avoid your triggers completely. These measures can include taking prescription or nonprescription allergy medications, which should be started about two weeks before allergy season starts.
If you have an allergy to pollen, getting allergy shots might also provide you with relief and help prevent or minimize symptoms. Allergy shots allow your immune system to slowly build up a tolerance to allergens.
If you suspect that you are suffering from allergy symptoms, visit with our pharmacists for a recommendation! Smith-Caldwell Drug Store offers specialty and customized seasonal allergy solutions from our compounding pharmacy.
For information on seasonal allergy treatments in Arkansas, please contact Smith-Caldwell Drug Store at 501-392-5470. Our compounding pharmacy can create customized allergy medicines and doses to help with your specific allergy symptoms.
