Under more typical circumstances that stuffy nose and those watery eyes would be clearing up by now as we head into June. This year's unusually cool spring not only delayed spring around the country, it also extended the allergy season for many.
Experts are claiming that depending on the air quality and weather patterns where you live, the allergy season could extend well into the summer months this year.
"Because we've had the late onset of the spring ... what we don't know is what the weather going to be in terms of blooming of other pollens like weeds. We could certainly have this parade of one leading into the other, that the tree pollen leads to the grass pollen leads to the ragweed," explained Dr. Jacqueline Eghrari-Sabet, of Family Allergy and Asthma Care in Gaithersburg, Md. "And you can have a stuffy nose through every single month of the whole spring and summer."
Two new pills have recently been approved by the FDA to help grass and ragweed sufferers. Eghrari-Sabet said patients should treat allergies and asthma now, before they worsen.
"The reason you want to know about that now is you need to start the therapy for that about four months beforehand," Eghrari-Sabet said.
These new tablets are of the once-a-day variety and dissolve very quickly once placed under the tongue. Once in the system, the drug steadily raises tolerance to grass or ragweed pollen.
Drug makers Merck and Stallergenes produced the pills and explain that the sufferers must actually begin taking the pills a few months before the dreaded grass or ragweed pollen season begins. Despite the late start to spring this year, the pill makers claim it's too late for people with grass allergies, but the not too late for ragweed allergy sufferers.
The American Academy of Allergy Asthma & Immunology offers up its most recent numbers on allergy sufferers in the United States:
- Roughly 7.8 percent of people 18 and over in the U.S. have hay fever.
- In 2010, 10 percent of U.S. children aged 17 and under suffered from hay fever in the past 12 months.
- In 2010, white children in the U.S. were more likely to have had hay fever (10 percent) than black children (7 percent).
- Worldwide, allergic rhinitis affects between 10 percent and 30 percent of the population.
- Worldwide, sensitization (IgE antibodies) to foreign proteins in the environment is present in up to 40 percent of the population.
The bottom line on all this sneezing and wheezing is this, according to the experts: the first step toward better managing your allergies is to schedule an appointment with your doctor. Aaaachoo!
