Bay Area allergy season is bad and it’s about to get worse. B1
Clouds of pollen are wafting through the air as spring hits the Bay Area, fueling one of the worst allergy seasons in recent years.
“It’s been really, really bad this year and it’s going to get worse,” says Dr. Tina Sindher, an allergist with Stanford Health Care, who says her practice is booming and she is seeing more patients than usual. “Overall, it’s impacting more and more people.”
Spring is always hard on folks with seasonal allergies. But this year’s mix of rain showers, warm weather and high winds may be making it worse than usual. All that weather volatility has given birth to a super bloom of wildflowers and the pollen they generate, which means a miserable time for allergy sufferers. On top of that, the tree pollen count is also peaking right now. Better stock up on tissues.
“It’s really knocking people out,” says Sindher. “These are not mild symptoms we are talking about. People are suffering from
fatigue and headaches. It’s really impacting the quality of life in a way it didn’t previously.”
If you suffer from itchy eyes, sneezing, headaches and a raw, chapped nose from all that blowing, you can take comfort in knowing that more than 50 million people in the United States suffer from allergies and hay fever, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Most seasonal allergies are caused by pollen, the fine powder that comes from the stamens of flowering plants.
Casey Eastridge helps assess levels of pollen, mold and spores for the Allergy and Asthma Group of the Bay Area at Pleasanton’s Pollen Station. She also suffers from allergies. “It’s horrible,” she says.
Sindher says some of the worst offenders in the Bay Area now are oak, pine and birch trees, but she is bracing for the onslaught of grass season, which should start any day. With all the bright green grass sprouting on the hillsides after this year’s heavy rains, the grass pollen could be brutal.
“The amount of rain this year, and the timing, has created ideal growing conditions for grass,” says Dr. Andrew Hope, chief of allergy at Kaiser Permanente Santa Clara Medical Center. “This year could be more severe for grass pollen allergy than we have seen for a while.”
All of the gusts of wind that blew through the region last month just made matters worse.
“Many people don’t realize that the grains of pollen causing the most allergies are invisible and blow in the air for long distances before settling to the ground,” adds Hope. “The amount of wind we have affects how far pollen travels.”
Doctors recommend getting a refill on allergy medication and not waiting until symptoms explode to start taking it. Try closing windows and quickly changing clothes after coming inside.
“A common pitfall in treating allergies is not starting allergy medications at the right time. The medicines work much better if started early in the season, even before symptoms start,” says Hope. “If you stick with daily dosing of the allergy medications and start early, most people can control symptoms well enough to enjoy the outdoors, maybe even during springtime.”
One reason allergy season seems to be getting more brutal may be climate change. Global warming may be at the center of surging pollen counts, some researchers say.
A recent study in the journal Lancet Planetary Health found that airborne pollen counts have been increasing around the world as average temperatures climb.
A majority of the 17 sites studied showed an increase in the amount of pollen and longer pollen seasons over the past 20 years.