Why is it hazy, is there smoke from Canada in the sky? No it is actually pollen. Yes it is pollen coming from the trees and grasses in the spring and ragweed and weeds in the fall. The plants are pollinating at extreme levels and this creates a powdery cover over the city. I call this “plant pollution.”
The pollen grains are microscopic down to 10-70 microns in size allowing the pollen grains or their fragments to get down into our lungs and cause anywhere from an allergic reaction to an inflammatory reaction. Asthma, wheezing, and coughing can occur. Of course, all this dust enters into our eyes, nose and sinuses, so when you go outside you feel congested and stuffy causing you to drain from the nose and tear from the eyes.
The high pollen counts can also lead to something called “thunderstorm asthma” which I refer you to another article that has been published on this website. Allergens start to float in the air from tree pollen typically March 15 but over the last few years we have seen pollen as early as the beginning of February.
The Juniper trees are the first thanks to the fact that most Junipers are male in our area. The pollen increases as all the trees in the area come on board. In May, we start with our grass pollen and you can tell when the grass is going to release pollen as the stems show seeds. At this time we have the double whammy tree pollen, and grass pollen at the same time. Fortunately trees start to decrease into the month of June, while grass pollen will continue all the way until Halloween. The beginning of August we will start to see ragweed and the other weed plants release their pollen. This becomes overwhelming because ragweed seems to be a higher level of allergen than many of the other plants in our area.
If you are suffering with allergies or your eyes, nose sinuses are bothered it is best to come in for skin testing, this way you know what is the cause. Typically we recommend the over the counter antihistamines and nasal sprays but these only address part of the problem for most of our patients, since many individuals have not only allergies but are just suffering from the high level of pollen in the air. Undergoing skin testing is the best way to know what is the cause and what will help survive this spring, summer and fall. When you are outside it is not the smoke from Canadian fires overhead it is plant pollution with all of our trees, grasses, and weeds pollinating.
