It seems everything is arriving early this year: warmer temperatures, spring runoff and, yes, allergy season.
“We’ve been seeing the cedar pollen showing up earlier – since the last week of February,” said Dr. Donald Cooke of Allergy and Asthma Specialists. “Normally, it’s mid-March. It’s probably due to the warmer temperatures, the dryness and, of course, the wind like we had yesterday.”
On Tuesday, a dust storm clouded the typically blue skies above Durango with high wind gusts up to 50 mph. The blustery skies only exacerbated allergies for Southwest Coloradans.
“In town, the poplar pollen – cottonwood and aspen – is also very high,” Cooke said. “Starting this week, it’s been very, very busy.”
At the offices of Southwestern Colorado Ear, Nose & Throat Associates, Dr. Gregory Schackel, booked all day in surgery, found time at the end of his shift Tuesday to herald in the allergy season.
“It definitely picked up here, especially today,” Schackel said. “It’s all that wind blowing pollen in from New Mexico. Mostly juniper – the usual suspect.”
Schackel said pollen can travel, and thereby affect regions so locally that residents on Florida Mesa may be congested and watery-eyed while those in the north Animas Valley can skirt by unaffected.
For the unacquainted, or the unaffected, allergy season works in cycles: first come the juniper, cedar and poplar pollens in early spring, then the grass season peaks in June and then the weed allergies hit from August to September.
The afflicted may have a short respite from cold-like symptoms from November to January – before the season starts all over again.
Yet both Durango doctors agreed the treatment for allergies begins in that period when you’re not suffering from symptoms, and they emphasized prevention is the best method to reduce illness.
Schackel said a pre-seasonal treatment of medicinal drops under the tongue has proven to be one of the most effective prevention methods for allergy symptoms. The trick, he said, is that treatment must begin eight weeks before the season kicks in.
“And most people aren’t thinking about their allergies,” said Schackel, who added he too suffers from allergies and prefers the drops for his own care.
Though most allergy medications have become available over the counter, both doctors said that hasn’t affected their practices. When none of those options work, patients will undoubtedly schedule a visit for a treatment like immuno therapy.
“There’s always a number of people who try everything and nothing works,” Cooke said. “And those are the people we usually see. It takes time, and it’s a commitment, but it’s more of a cure, whereas medicines over the counter are more a symptom reliever.”
Cooke added that allergies will only get worse in Western countries, especially in children. Scientific research has shown immune systems are shifting because children are being raised in cleaner environments.
“But there’s a lot we can do about it,” he said. “People should not be out there and suffer. They don’t need to suffer. Go see somebody.”
Schackel said small steps such as closing windows, especially in the morning when pollen is at its highest, and running a HEPA filter, which helps ventilate air, are simple measures people can take to fight allergies.
jromeo@durangoherald.com
