[Allergy & Asthma Corner]

Ragweed  (click on it, but reduce the size or zoom out if possible)

Imagine you are a heavy weight boxer training for an upcoming fight and your trainer tells you to "put your arms up to guard the punches, right after you get hit in the head by the first few punches".

The first punch or two could knock you out right?

What if you were a rancher and you wanted to keep a very feisty horse from escaping the barn. Would you wait to close the barn door only after you saw the horse lunging for it?

Well, waiting to take most allergy medicines (antihistamines, eye drops, prescribed nasal sprays) until sneezing, runny nose, stuffy nose, eye itching and watering has started is not the smartest thing either.

So, how are you supposed to know when to expect a particular allergy trigger to be a problem?

This is an easy answer for people who suffer from ragweed allergy. Ragweed explodes into the air August 15th of every year, in the temperate areas of the Northern Hemisphere (yes that means the Midwest).

Many of my patients know to start their non-drowsy antihistamines, nasal steroid sprays and in some cases, prescribed eye drops the first week of August. These medications are usually started at a time when allergy symptoms are minimal to nonexistent. Having a 1-2 week jump on the allergy season, by such preparation, may result in very mild allergy symptoms for the following two months.

Ragweed  (click on this pic) 

Ragweed pollen infiltrates the air in the middle of August and doesn’t go away until October or after the first good frost. One plant may emit a billion pollens over the season. The pollen may travel 200 miles on windy days. You don’t have to live around ragweed to be exposed to it. It is essentially unavoidable during ragweed season (unless you stay indoors the entire season with windows, doors and vents sealed).

Ragweed is a slender, non-flowery, non-descript plant that tends to pop up in places where the land has recently been disturbed. Suburban and rural roadsides, river banks, abandoned fields, old farm land and poorly maintained parks often contain ragweed.

Ragweed pollen is more prevalent between 5am and 10am in the morning, which is important information for outdoor runners, walkers, bikers and swimmers.

Although you cannot completely avoid ragweed, you can take several steps to reduce your exposure or limit the impact of pollen exposure.

Tips:

-If avoiding outdoor exercise activities in the morning during ragweed season is not possible, taking your prescribed, once daily antihistamine at bedtime may reduce symptoms from exposure the following morning. Taking it the same morning may not allow enough time (often about two hours) for the pill to get into the system and block histamine.

-Regularly take your prescribed nasal spray, with proper technique (see earlier posting on nasal spray technique).

-Keep your doors and windows shut at home. Run the a/c to keep your home cool and remember to adequately change filters on your cooling system.

-Keep your car windows up and run the a/c. Re-circulate inner compartment air if possible.

-Remove or change clothes after coming in from outdoors. Pollen may cling to your clothing.

-Try to avoid line-drying your clothes outdoors in that pollen will infiltrate them.

-More frequent bathing of pets that are allowed outdoors may reduce pollen coming into your house.

-Consult your allergist if you continue to have problems. Allergy shots may be helpful if you suffer from rhinitis despite the medicines, or are not tolerant of the allergy medications.

Here are two other sites for your review:

www.aafa.org/display.cfm?id=9&sub=19&cont=267  

and

www.slu.edu/readstory/more/1384