Spring allergy season brings terrible discomfort to many of us each year -- and there's not much you can do. Sufferers just have to get through it.
Houston allergist Dr. Alnoor Malick says that yellow film you see on your car each morning is tree pollen.
“Pollen that we are seeing on our cars and sidewalks, is probably pine pollen,” Dr. Malick says, “but the one that's creating a lot of the trouble is the oak pollen.”
You may need to talk to a doctor when it gets really bad. When is that?
“You're missing work,” he explains, “missing school, that you're having to take multiple medicines in significant sequential days.”
Allergist Dr. Lyndall Harrison at Kelsey-Seybold, says the best thing to do is to stay inside.
“There's not much you can really do to completely avoid tree allergens,” Dr. Harrison says. “There are things we can do to reduce our exposure.”
If you’re missing work or school frequently, there are medicines the doctors can prescribe to help you. Other than that, there is little relief in sight.
“This time of the year it's mainly oak tree pollen,” Harrison says, “but other trees are starting to bloom, too, and then here pretty soon the grasses will start to bloom as well.”