Updated: 03/20/2013 8:25 PM KSTP.com By: Jennie Olson
Our delayed spring weather means a delay in allergy symptoms – but they’re on the way, and you can expect them to be bad.
Doctors say what you’re allergic to will affect the time of year you have symptoms, so if you have symptoms in April and May you’re generally allergic to tree pollens. In May and June you’re generally allergic to grass.
Dr. David Lang at the Cleveland Clinic says tree pollens and grass pollens generally cause the same symptoms. They include a runny nose and itchy, watery eyes. He says over-the-counter allergy medications can provide relief for most of us.
But Dr. Lang says many people tend to suffer more in the first few weeks of the spring allergy season because they’d rather open a window than crank up the air conditioner.
"It's not yet warm enough for people to use air conditioning in buildings and in cars and they have a much greater level of exposure, particularly in the early morning,” Lang says. “You sleep with the windows open; people like that, but the daylight is a stimulus for a lot of plants to release their pollen."