The One Time of Year When Trees Are My Enemy

Usually press releases about health topics play it safe. It’s rare to read words like “staggering,” “severe,” “deluge” and “tidal wave of patients.” But this allergy season has even the medical professionals talking in apocalyptic adjectives.  A tree pollen explosion is causing colossal sneezing from the eastern Rockies to the East Coast. In our house, it's also causing runny noses, itchy eyes, gunky throats and wheezing.

In some places, it's been a record-breakingly bad year. For example, MSNBC reported that the pollen count in Kansas City on Tuesday, April 12, was a record 8,000 – up from 5,000 the day before. Normal pollen counts this time of year are 500 to 800.

To get technical, the “pollen count” measures grains per cubic meter over 24 hours. St. Louis County releases the levels each weekday on a hotline at 314-615-6825 and online here. For those who know which particular pollens aggravate their allergies, the service is a very helpful way to track the days they should avoid being outside or opening the windows. On Friday, for example, oak, ash and mulberry pollens topped the list.

Another way to measure pollen levels is a 12-point scale like the one found at pollen.com. According to that site, St. Louis comes out today at 10.6.

So if you’re ready to cut off your stuffy, runny, sneezing nose, now you know why. And if you or your child are among the 140,000 adults and 45,000 children in the St. Louis region who have been diagnosed with asthma, the increase in allergen triggers may mean you’ve been dealing with those symptoms too.

The St. Louis Regional Asthma Consortium estimates that 100 people die here each year from asthma. In order to avoid those deaths and help the thousands who’re trying to manage the disease it’s hosting an education fair on May 1 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Stanley and Clayton Rice Family Center, 4145 Kennerly Ave. in St. Louis. By then the weed and grass pollen counts, currently very low, will probably be rising fast.

The good news is that the worst of the spring allergy season usually ends around mid-May. If you don’t feel like you can make it until then, call your doctor – there are many prescription and over-the-counter treatments that might bring you relief.

By Amy De La Hunt, Health Blogger for SmartParenting