Everyone is complaining about seasonal allergies. What gives?

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This year, many have been wondering — is this a weirdly bad time for seasonal allergies?

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“Overall, in Canada, over the last 25 to 30 years … we are seeing a trend line — we are seeing more and more pollen in the air as a whole,” said Daniel Coates, director of Aerobiology Research Laboratories, which does pollen monitoring and forecasting for The Weather Network. “We are experiencing more and more pollen, year over year.”

But just how bad pollen season has been varies, said Coates. Pollen favours longer warmer weather. “In eastern Canada, it’s not as bad as it was last year. Last year was really bad, because we had that very, very warm spring, if you remember. Like, early April, people were wearing shorts. This year, it’s not as bad. It’s still bad, but it’s what we call more of an ordinary year in Eastern Canada.”

Western Canada has been hit harder than last year, and slightly later in the season.

One study found a “substantial intensification” of pollen seasons in North America, with the overall season — trees in spring, grasses in summer, weeds in the fall — now about 20 days longer than it was it was in 1990. Pollen concentrations are also increasing. The study was based on readings from 60 sampling stations, including Winnipeg and Saskatoon. “Our results indicate that human-caused climate change has already worsened North American pollen seasons” the authors wrote, “and climate-driven pollen trends are likely to further exacerbate respiratory health impacts in coming decades.”

In a nutshell, “People are breathing in pollen for longer periods of time, and they’re exposed to more of it,” co-author Lewis Ziska, professor of environmental health sciences at Columbia University told Columbia Magazine.

Cities also like to plant male over female trees, Coates said. Female trees have fruit and flowers. They’re messier and require more maintenance. Male trees don’t produce seeds but do produce pollen. “Depending on what cities are planting it could be a contributing factor to increasing pollen counts.”

Birch is the most allergenic tree pollen, followed shortly by oak and maple. All the grasses are basically the same. “We think of Timothy grass as the main one, but all the pasture grasses are very highly cross-reactive with each other,” said Dr. Anne Ellis, chair of the division of allergy and immunology at Queen’s University in Kingston. Come fall, late August and early September, ragweed by far is the most dominant weed allergen, particularly for allergy sufferers in Ontario and Quebec.

People are feeling more miserable than usual because the pollen seasons are more robust, Ellis said. These days, the end of tree pollen season is overlapping with the start of grass season, due to a delayed start to spring. “If you’re allergic to both, you’re getting hit by both at the same time, rather than having a bit of a break from one to the next,” she said.

Seasonal allergies are triggered by wind-borne pollen, “things that are travelling in the wind — so tree, grass, and it’s light tree pollen,” she said. Things like birch, as opposed to pine pollen, which is the only pollen visible to the naked eye and is “so big it just falls to the ground, and you never breathe it in,” Ellis said. Weeds and mould spores also trigger allergies.

There is evidence that climate change is spurring longer and more intense pollen seasons, said Dr. Timothy Vander Leek, president of the Canadian Society of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. “This more significant pollen exposure has not unexpectedly resulted in emerging evidence of increasing rates of pollen allergy in the population,” he said, as well as more “bothersome and more difficult to control symptoms for many.”

With COVID circulating, it’s causing stress and anxiety for people who are really just having allergic rhinitis, because of overlapping symptoms like sneezing, runny nose and cough.

COVID causes, for the most part, a sore throat, “which is not part of allergies, for the most part,” Ellis said. A fever is much more likely to be COVID, while itchy, watery eyes tend to be seen only with allergies, and not so much with SARS-CoV-2.

“Some people did notice that wearing masks at the height of the pandemic did help to block pollen entering the upper airway. It did have a bit of a filtering effect,” Ellis said. “Other people, it didn’t seem to make a difference. They still had just as bad symptoms.”

Non-sedating antihistamines that can be purchased without a prescription may help ease symptoms. The older sedating antihistamines cause a lot of side effects, Ellis said, “not the least of which is sedation, but they’re also not as effective as the newer ones.” Newer prescription antihistamines are also non-sedating. Nasal corticosteroid sprays can help with inflammation and other symptoms.

Failing that, “ask to be seen by an allergist who can help identify exactly what it is you’re allergic to,” Ellis said. One option is immunotherapy — allergy shots or “sublingual” (under the tongue) tablets that try to convince that overactive immune response to settle down.

For non-medical options, nasal saline rinses are safe and well tolerated, Ellis said. If possible, keep windows closed and air conditioners on to minimize the amount of pollen that gets into the house, and don’t dry your clothes on the line outside. Beer, wine, and other spirits contain histamines, which can set allergy symptoms off, according to Aerobiology Research Laboratories, which also recommends keeping lawns trimmed. Short blades won’t trap as much pollen, though the grass also releases pollen when it’s being cut.

As for the grass pollen forecast, Coates’ team is predicting a slightly lower-than-average season for B.C. and a more typical year for the Prairies, Ontario, Quebec and the Maritimes.

Ontario, Quebec and the Maritimes will see a high side of normal ragweed season because of favourable growing conditions (warm weather, and slightly above average levels of precipitation).

National Post

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