'Seasonal' Allergies Usually Aren't

Spring unfairly blamed for sneezing, wheezing

By Nancy A. Melville
HealthScout Reporter

SATURDAY, April 7 (HealthScout) -- Noses across America soon will be twitching, sniffling, running and wreaking havoc on our sense of well-being.

It's spring, after all.

But doctors say most who suffer from the allergic unpleasantness of spring likely have allergies in other seasons as well, and the flowery season's reputation as the great instigator of allergies is perhaps unfair.

"If you tend to be allergic, you tend to be allergic," says Dr. James Bonner, professor of medicine and director of the allergy program at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

"As often as not, people who are allergic to grass in the spring are also allergic to ragweed in the fall," Bonner says. "The majority of patients will tell you that both spring and fall are the bad seasons for them."

But culprits lurk year-round.

"In early spring, it's trees, later spring is grass and later summer/fall is ragweed," Bonner explains. "And molds, depending on the climate, may be present all year-round."

In fact, he says, nasal allergies -- officially called allergic rhinitis -- are thought to afflict about 36 million Americans to one degree or another.

But Dr. Frank Virant, physician director of the Northwest Asthma and Allergy Center in Seattle, says one of the main reasons spring gets so much attention from allergy sufferers is that the allergens of the season are particularly hard to avoid.

"Spring is worst typically because of the sheer volume of exposure with tree pollen," Virant says. "Also, compared to, for instance, dust mites or animal exposures, there's very little you can do to avoid the exposure, aside from running from building to building."

And not only are tree allergens all around us, but they're out there in force, he adds.

"Compared to other pollens, there's really no comparison to tree pollen in terms of degree of exposure," Virant says. "When tree pollens are high, we often get pollen grain counts in the thousands. When grass is high, it's maybe just a few hundred."

"It's not that grass can't cause a lot of miserable symptoms, too," he says, "but it's just the sheer level of exposure that makes tree pollen so bad."

And while the causes of seasonal allergies are varied, so are the effective treatments.

"The remedies haven't really changed that much recently," Bonner says. "The standbys are antihistamines, various nasal sprays containing topical steroids and allergy injection therapy."

The encouraging news of late, he says, is that research now indicates that, after about four years of allergy shots, many people remain allergy-free without the shots.

But for those who do have problems, simply keeping windows closed and air conditioning on can reduce exposure to allergens and ease symptoms.

And if all else fails, many allergy sufferers can at least look forward to one aspect of getting old: Their allergies likely will fade.

"As you get older, the allergic type antibody tends to be produced less and the allergy symptoms tend to fade," Bonner says. "You may be on hormone replacement, but at least you may be able to get off your allergy medicine."

What To Do

For more on allergies, visit the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology or the Food and Drug Administration. Information on allergy shots is available at the American Academy of Family Physicians.

Or, you might want to read previous HealthScout articles on seasonal allergies.

SOURCES: Interviews with James Bonner, M.D., professor of medicine and director, allergy program, University of Alabama at Birmingham; and Frank Virant, M.D., clinical professor of pediatrics, University of Washington, Seattle, and physician director, Northwest Asthma and Allergy Center, Seattle

Copyright © 2001 Rx Remedy, Inc.

Last updated 4/7/2001 8:00:00 AM.

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