If its any consolation to allergy sufferers, the annual spring assault from blowing pollen is less severe this year than last, said Dr. Donald Cooke, an allergist who practices in Durango.
But its not quite time to breathe easy. The situation could change, he added.
The juniper pollen count was 120 on Wednesday, compared with 480 at the same time last year, Cooke said. The cottonwood and aspen count Wednesday was 240, compared with 640 last year. And the elm count this year was 80 compared with 440 last year, he said.
A few days ago, juniper pollen registered 700 in Albuquerque, Cooke said.
Pollen counts measure the number of grains of pollen in a cubic meter of air. Grains are collected by a Rotorod Sampler, rotating rods about 1½ inches long that collect whats in the air. The rods are examined under a microscope, and grains are counted. A formula converts rod count to air saturation.
Pollen counts are lower in La Plata County now because of cold and moisture, Cooke said. But wait until the weather warms up this weekend.
Anecdotally, the sticky, wind-borne dust from Arizona and New Mexico that coated everything in its path Monday gummed up the sampler, Cooke said.
The rods were so coated with dirt you couldnt see the pollen, Cooke said. I had to redo the sampling.
Juniper, elm and poplar family members aspen and cottonwood are the first pollens on the scene in the spring, Cooke said.
Theyre followed by hay in June and ragweed and sage in the fall. But the half-dozen best-known scourges are only a fraction of about 30 for which Cooke tests new patients.
While Cooke uses the more standard method of shots for treating allergies, alternative-health care practitioners rely on a holistic approach.
Chinese medicine uses acupuncture, herbs and diet to treat acute and chronic allergic reactions, said Todd Flemion, the principal of Root and Branch Medicine in Durango. He treats acute symptoms and then tries to figure out the underlying problem, focusing on the spleen, lungs and liver.
We try to fit the pieces together to find root causes, Flemion said.
Oley Smith at Namaste Health Center also looks at the whole person.
We have an intake (interview) procedure that looks for causes, Smith said. If theres an allergy, there are usually other things going on such as lack of sleep, stress or gluten sensitivity that intensify the allergy. If we make dietary or other adjustments, we can find allergy relief.
But Cookes patients favor the tried and true. The number of patients at his office one day last week didnt bear out his slow-pollen-season assessment.
A couple arrived from Telluride with their daughter to try to determine the cause of her runny nose. Adults, among them Debbie Orrick, dropped by for a booster shot.
Orrick doesnt settle for half-measures such as over-the-counter antihistamines, nose rinses or drops under the tongue.
Steroid shots, which shes been taking for 18 months to build immunity, are the only way to go, Orrick said.
Id developed horrible allergies, from spring to fall, over 10 years, Orrick said. I couldnt have the windows open or use the fan. I sneezed and coughed and had a runny nose and itchy, watery eyes.
Over-the-counter remedies werent cutting it, Orrick said. The shots I get a couple of times a month make the difference between breathing and not breathing.
An allergy is a reaction to a foreign substance, Cooke said.
Two factors are involved predisposition and exposure, Cooke said.
Predisposition is genetic, meaning that theres usually a family history of allergies, he said. If you move somewhere theres often a honeymoon period, but if youre exposed long enough there you develop allergies.
Such was Orricks situation. She had lived in La Plata County 10 years after moving from Denver before allergic reaction to natures bounty of trees, bushes, grasses and weeds set in.
My husband, Kevin, is starting get allergies now, but I dont know how hes going to cope, Orrick said. He doesnt like shots.
daler@durangoherald.com
Physiology of an allergy
An allergy is the response of the bodys immune system to a foreign substance.
In the case of pollen, the reaction starts when, lets say, juniper pollen arrives and attaches to an IgE (immunoglobulin type E) antibody produced by the immune system, says allergist Dr. Donald Cooke. The antibody settles on certain cells in the respiratory tract, which release chemicals, including histamines, that trigger the well-known symptoms itchy and watery eyes, sneezing and runny nose.
There are two types of shots a shot that reduces the IgE or steroid shots that inhibit the release of the chemicals.
