
{"id":65,"date":"2007-03-29T10:43:11","date_gmt":"2007-03-29T18:43:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/2007\/03\/29\/pollen-days-are-here-but-don%e2%80%99t-blame-the-pines\/"},"modified":"2007-03-30T05:32:03","modified_gmt":"2007-03-30T13:32:03","slug":"pollen-days-are-here-but-don%e2%80%99t-blame-the-pines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/2007\/03\/29\/pollen-days-are-here-but-don%e2%80%99t-blame-the-pines\/","title":{"rendered":"Pollen days are here, but don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t blame the pines"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><strong>By Susan Dickson<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/em>Staff Writer<\/p>\n<p>It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s that time of year again. A familiar yellow dust has settled on cars, houses and anything left outside, leaving a trail of sneezing and sniffling victims behind.<\/p>\n<p>But contrary to popular belief, the yellow stuff we can see isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t what makes allergy patients feel so terrible this time of year.<\/p>\n<p>According to Teresa Tarrant, assistant professor in the Division of Rheumatology, Allergy and Immunology at UNC\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s School of Medicine, the plant pollens we inhale can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be seen with the naked eye. The visible yellow dust is part of the plant pollenation process, but is too big for inhalation.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>However, the yellow dust does start to appear at the same time pollen levels increase, and according to Tarrant the allergy center sees more patients this time of year.<\/p>\n<p>She said allergy patients complain of itchy, watery eyes, sneezing, coughing and post-nasal drip, among other symptoms. Tarrant added that asthma patients often see a worsening of symptoms, including shortening of breath, when pollen levels are high.<\/p>\n<p>But according to Wes Wallace, an emergency room physician at UNC Hospitals, the pollens that tend to affect asthma patients most strongly are ragweed pollens, which appear in the fall.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re about to get into the season where we see a lot of tree pollens,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153For most people, tree pollens are not a terrible trigger for ashma.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Tree pollens, Wallace said, can cause conjunctivitis \u00e2\u20ac\u201c which causes red, itchy eyes \u00e2\u20ac\u201c as well as other symptoms, such as a runny nose.<\/p>\n<p>Wallace said that the severity of allergy symptoms that patients experience tends to vary.<br \/>\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153You might think of allergies as sort of like being a bucket,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153You can pour various things into the bucket before it starts to overflow.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Wallace said patients can limit their exposure to allergens in order to curb their symptoms, but that \u00e2\u20ac\u0153it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s difficult to reduce exposure\u00e2\u20ac\u009d in some cases.<\/p>\n<p>Tarrant said she approaches allergy by first discussing symptoms with patients, then conducting a diagnostic test called the prick skin test. For the test, doctors prick patients on their backs with different allergens \u00e2\u20ac\u201c such as pet danders, dust mites or pollens \u00e2\u20ac\u201d then wait to see if a hive develops from any of the pricks. The test helps doctors determine what patients are allergic to, so that they are better able to treat their symptoms.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153A big thing with allergy is trying to avoid the thing you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re allergic to,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Tarrant said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153You can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t really change where you live. You can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t stop the trees from blooming. But you can shut your windows.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Tarrant recommends that patients who suffer from pollen allergies keep their windows closed at home and in their cars, in addition to making sure their homes\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 filtration systems are clean, but acknowledged that for some people that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s still not enough.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153In general,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153allergies are on the rise \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 particularly in developing nations.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<br \/>\nDoctors treat allergy patients with antihistamine medication and, in some cases, allergy vaccines, which can change the immune system to make a patient less allergic, Tarrant said. She added that about one-third to one-half of the allergy patients she sees choose allergy vaccines.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Sometimes people choose [allergy vaccines] for lifestyle reasons,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said, adding that some patients are unable to be vaccinated because of conflicting medications or conditions. In addition, patients who choose the allergy vaccine must get shots once every week or two for three to five years.<\/p>\n<p>She encourages those who are experiencing allergy symptoms to try to learn more about their allergies: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Often times folks don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know what they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re allergic to.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>In addition, allergy patients might have more options now that the Division of Rheumatology, Allergy and Immunology is expanding their allergy department. According to Tarrant, the division has added two allergy fellows who receive specialty training in allergy treatment, and starting in September the division will have a full-time clinical allergist.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153A lot of people with allergies don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t realize there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s stuff that you can do,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s really a lot of options.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Susan Dickson Staff Writer It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s that time of year again. A familiar yellow dust has settled on cars, houses and anything left outside, leaving a trail of sneezing and sniffling victims behind. But contrary to popular belief, the yellow stuff we can see isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t what makes allergy patients feel so terrible this time of&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-65","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}