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Livescience_2014 03365.txt

#'Pollen Vortex'?'Long Winter Worsens Allergies in Spring This year's long brutal winter may mean the country's headed for pollen eruption and a harsh allergy season in the spring doctors say. The freezing temperatures of the prolonged winter may have delayed the blooming of trees and now that it's finally warming up trees are expected to bloom at the same time as grasses causing a dramatic rise in pollen allergy experts said. People who may have both tree allergies and grass allergies are probably going be impacted doubly because both of those things are going to be said blooming at the same time Dr. Lolita Mcdavid a pediatrician at University Hospitals Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital in Cleveland Ohio. The 5 Most Common Allergies About 8 percent of U s. adults suffer from seasonal allergies according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Symptoms of these allergies typically include stuffy and runny noses watery and itchy eyes sneezing and wheezing especially on days with high pollen counts. The allergy seasons seem to be getting intense in the last few years. We are not quite sure why Mcdavid said. We don't know if it's the climate change. It may be. Some doctors also contend that people have more allergies today perhaps because they are exposed less to allergens such as pollen than they used to be said Mcdavid. We used to get exposed to all kinds of things. We didn't have air conditioning or air filtration systems. The severity of each year's allergy season depends on the temperatures precipitation and amount of flowering grasses in an area that year studies have shown. This year in addition to low temperatures heavy precipitation in many areas of the country especially in March may have suppressed temporarily pollen release. But that same precipitation may have encouraged actually the growth of trees and grass resulting in greater pollen release later in the season experts said. On top of the rain and humidity melting of the recent snow is also contributing to mold growth which can worsen allergies Mcdavid said. To fight off an intense allergy season Mcdavid suggests people who have allergies change their clothes when they get home so that they don't walk around the home with the pollen they brought in. Experts also recommend people wash their hair before getting in bed. If you have pollen on your hair and you're sleeping on a pillow you're basically putting your face back down in the pollen Mcdavid said. On days with high temperatures and high pollen counts Mcdavid suggested people with allergies close the windows and turn on air conditioning. Lastly people can take an antihistamine before going to bed which helps prevent allergic reactions for 24 hours. You can take them at night so that you won't be drowsy in the day Mcdavid said. Email Bahar Gholipour or follow her@alterwired. Follow us@Livescience Facebook & Google+.+Original article on Live Science S

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