North Texas – It's a no-brainer to head to the park with your family when the weather is as nice as it was on Saturday. But for allergy sufferers, just getting outside can be a struggle.
“I sneeze a lot, and my throat hurts a lot,” Sofia Carvalho said.
“I have seasonal allergies, so whenever the weather seems to change, I get shocked,” Shakida Lawrence said.
Mother Angela Brown pays close attention to the pollen count each day.
“First thing I do in the morning is check the weather so I can see the pollen count,” Brown said.
Brown's son suffers from asthma caused by his allergies.
“It's a decision between having to take him to the doctor, letting him go to school, or whether I need to leave and stay home, so it's a very big factor for me,” Brown said.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one in four Americans suffer from seasonal allergies, and CVS pharmacist Dr. Timothy Morrison has been seeing a lot of patients with allergy concerns in recent weeks. He says large fluctuations in temperature do not help.
“In Texas, we can go from a very cold day to, hey, we're looking at the 80s. That's a big swing and our body can't adapt fast enough. As it tries to respond, we can get some of those Eyes that cause allergies, itching and some of that discharge.”
Dr. Morrison says prevention is key with allergies, and solutions can be found over the counter.
“Antihistamines, so there are several antihistamines that don't cause 24-hour drowsiness like cetirizine and Zyrtec or Claritin and loratadine. These are what we call kind of the newer generation. So, less drowsiness, a little bit safer to take,” Morrison said.
As COVID-19 and the flu continue to spread, we asked Dr. Morrison how you can tell if your symptoms are related to allergies or something more serious.
“Fever is one of those really good clues, you know, aches, pains that can really tell us that maybe we have something else going on or the flu or COVID,” Dr. Morrison said.
The best way to know for sure is to get tested. If you know you get allergies every year, now is the time to prepare so that allergies don't prevent you from enjoying the outdoors.
