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Harsh winter results in intense start to allergy season

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Spring finally sprung after a record-breaking winter, and while many people are itching to get outside and enjoy warm weather, others are just itchy.

Thanks to the long, harsh winter and recent stretch of nice weather, this year’s seasonal allergy season is shaping up to be intense.

“Tree pollen is the most explosive. The trees bloom and people become miserable. They go from nothing to everything opening at once,” Deborah Gentile, director of research with the division of allergy at Allegheny Health Network, said. “We are seeing a trend where tree pollen starts earlier and is released at a higher count.”

Gentile said the warm weather the area is experiencing will make this year’s tree allergy season “intense, but short.”

“The warm weather makes everything open up at once,” she said. “We’ve been busy the last couple of weeks.”

Allergy symptoms include itchy, watery eyes, sneezing, a runny nose and congestion, Gentile said. Most people can treat symptoms with over-the-counter antihistamines and nasal sprays like Nasacort or Allegra.

“These should be started one to two weeks prior to the start of the season,” she said. “If they don’t work, you should see your primary care doctor or an allergist.”

Kumar Patel, an allergist associated with Washington Hospital, agrees.

“You can feel (the impact) of allergies immediately,” he said. “It is never too late to be seen. The best time to see an allergist is when your symptoms are so significant that they affect your lifestyle.”

Allergists, Patel said, can prescribe shots or other remedies to relieve symptoms. Other options include staying indoors, avoiding outside activities in the morning when pollen counts are high or wearing a mask when mowing grass.

While there is no official start to seasonal allergy season, those who are suffering can expect brief reprieves in the upcoming months as grass and ragweed replace tree pollen.

“Everyone is different and symptoms and allergens vary,” Patel said. “What affects some doesn’t affect others.”

For those wishing the seasonal allergy season was over. Patel reminds them they have to trade the warm temperatures for snow.

“It generally ends with the first frost,” Patel said.

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