DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) — Allergy season is in full swing in the Miami Valley, and the weather has a big impact on how you feel.
Rachel Parks, a Miami Valley resident, said, “Just starting out it has been very bad.”
The time when new life begins for wildlife, and eye-catching flowers begin to bloom, but so is pollen. Pollen gets spread from not only birds or insects, but also changes in pressure which creates wind.
Dr. Jordan Knox, Family Medicine Family Physician at Kettering Health Springfield, said, “Change in pressure can really affect things like our sinuses and changes how that sort of airflow is coming around. It seems like wind really can kick up a lot of that dust and those allergens.”
A common myth is that thunderstorms can relieve allergies, but the exact opposite is true.
Dr. Joseph Allen, regional medical director with Premier Health, said, “It just makes all these things airborne. It tends to get a lot more of the stuff that can cause allergies, the pollens and the other, you know, other kind of bio matter up into the air. We’re breathing it in much more.”
Taking an allergy medication daily is the best defense against allergy symptoms.
Dr. Allen said, “Make sure you stay on your allergy medication. Typically, allergy medications are excellent at preventing these things from occurring once they already settled in it’s a little harder for them. They don’t work quite as well. Still worth trying them, but they don’t work quite as well at that point.”
If allergy symptoms persist, visiting your doctor is the best option for relief.
Dr. Knox said, “There are nasal steroids. There are actually nasal antihistamines. Sometimes those need a prescription, but a couple other topical treatments that we can use.”
To find out about your triggers, you can get a skin prick test from an allergy specialist.
