Fighting Allergy Season

Most of us enjoyed the mild winter, but now we might be paying for it.

Nationwide, this was the winter that wasn't with warm weather during our cold months. But now all that great weather could turn into a bad allergy season. Our Spring allergy season usually starts out toward the end of March and the first part of April. Traditionally the first pollens released are trees, followed over the months by grasses then weeds. Well now clinics are already starting to see allergy related symptoms in patients and those later grasses and weeds might be cropping up even sooner than usual.

But since allergies are starting earlier this year, it's going to be easy to assume those same symptoms of a runny nose, cough, scratchy throat and red eyes are simply a cold. That means you might not be doing the things you need to do to get on top of your allergies.

These steps include taking allergy medicines starting now to prevent symptoms in the first place. Other recommendations include staying indoors during the morning, especially before 10 a.m. and keep track of the daily pollen count. If it's particularly high, or it's a very windy and dry day, stay inside with your doors and windows shut and the air conditioner on. At the end of the day, before you head off to bed, take a quick shower. That will make sure pollen that collected on your hair during the day doesn't spread to your pillow. You'll just end up breathing them in during the night. The goal here is to continue to enjoy the great weather we have without paying the price of a bad allergy day.