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The sunny days are coming back… and with them the pollen allergy. According to bulletins published by La Chaîne Météo, air quality linked to pollen is already poor in several regions, in particular due to the presence of cypress and ash and birch pollen. The cold has put a brake on the production of pollen by the trees but will not prevent the return of spring which can quickly become a nightmare for allergy sufferers.
For people suffering from pollinosis, the allergy to pollen, this period often marks the start of a long season of symptoms. Fortunately, a few simple measures and effective treatments can limit the impact of this very common allergy.
An early and devastating pollen season
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We often associate pollen allergies with spring, but certain tree species release their pollen much earlier. Cypress trees, for example, can begin pollinating as early as late winter in some areas. In April the birch explodes. Weather conditions also play a key role. The wind and the mildness favor the dispersion of pollen grains, while the rain tends to make them fall to the ground, and the cold? just a powerful retarder.
Today, respiratory allergies affect about 30% of adults and nearly 20% of children, according to data from the National Institute of Health and Medical Research. To monitor the evolution of pollen in the air, monitoring in France is now carried out by the air quality networks grouped within Atmo France, which have gradually taken over the mission formerly carried out by the National Aerobiological Surveillance Network.
Recognizing Late Winter Cold Pollen Allergy Symptoms
Pollen allergy most often manifests itself as seasonal allergic rhinitis, sometimes called “hay fever”. And for good reason, it has all the appearance of a bad cold at the end of winter.
The most common symptoms are:
- runny or blocked nose
- repeated sneezing
- itchy nose or palate
- red, watery eyes
- fatigue or trouble sleeping due to difficulty breathing through your mouth
In some people, these symptoms can also make existing asthma worse. The difference with a cold caused by a virus? There is no fever and the nose is clear. And finally it lasts, it lasts… The height of these symptoms is the number of different words used to describe the same allergy: pollinosis, rhinitis, hay fever… as if the doctors did not agree with the diagnosis. That is to say, they name illnesses, while the patient names the cause.
In people with allergies, the immune system wrongly identifies certain proteins in pollen as a threat. The body then produces specific IgE antibodies, which trigger the release of inflammatory mediators such as histamine. This reaction leads to inflammation of the mucous membranes of the nose and eyes, highlighting an allergy to pollen when the pollen season begins, i.e. in spring for tree pollen, and in summer for grass pollen, with time shifts depending on altitude.
Good reflexes to limit contact with pollen
Even if it is impossible to completely avoid pollen, certain actions can reduce exposure:
- ventilate the home early in the morning or late in the evening
- avoid gardening or mowing the lawn during pollen peaks
- rinse your hair in the eveningbecause they retain pollen
- change clothes in the hallway when you get home
- keep car windows closed during periods of heavy pollination
Consulting the Atmo pollen bulletins also allows you to anticipate the periods of greatest risk. You still need to know which pollen you are allergic to.
Treating your pollen allergy
To treat a pollen allergy, two complementary strategies are first necessary. First treat yourself with antihistamines (and they haven’t made you sleep for centuries) to regain some comfort in life and stabilize the crisis, then attack the symptoms at the very site of the problems: in the nose with nasal spray and in the eyes with eye drops. The effect is soothing and stops the inflammatory process locally… for a few hours. This is why you have to start spraying and eye drops again two to three times a day.
Allergique.org has also put its nose into a publication which compares these two strategies.
For people who are very bothered by the same pollens every year, another option can be offered by an allergist: allergen immunotherapy, the new way of saying desensitization. With this treatment we are treated in the long term and we have the impression of being cured after 3 years and free of the symptoms of this damn hay fever after 5 years.
Pollen allergy is common and its impact underestimated
Pollen allergy goes away and comes back, so much so that we often consider it a simple seasonal inconvenience. Except that this inconvenience has an impact on daily life: when taking exams, on one’s performance at work, on nights without sleep, on picnics in the countryside which turn into a nightmare… but who said that pollen allergy “was nothing”? And then in addition to the person allergic to pollen, there is their entourage. And hearing an allergic child sniff 48 times in 30 minutes in a classroom gets on your nerves. Meal time when the kid sneezes 12 times a minute into his plate in front of his parents who are also exhausted by their day.
For the peace of all these little worlds, recognizing a pollen allergy and committing to treating it means putting an end to nightmarish springs.
Illustration by Freepik – sources: La Chaîne Météo — Pollen and allergies bulletin; National Institute of Health and Medical Research: Allergies file; Atmo France, monitoring of air quality and pollen.
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