2013 List of top 100 worst allergy cities in the Nation!!!

 

                                    

 

Last night the CBS Evening News with Brian Williams had a story about allergies. The Allergy and Asthma Foundation of America (AAFA) has released their 2013 list of Top Allergy Capitals.


Dr. Michael Foggs of the American Academy of Allergy Asthma and Immunology said it's going to be a bad season for allergies. In some areas, they have been having problems with pollen in January! And the season is stretching into late fall. Call it global warming, call it climate change. Whatever you want to call it, warmer temperatures are making pollen worse. Allergy season is going to be long and miserable. Yay.

They interviewed Dr. Nancy Snyderman for the story. She says there are a few things that you can do to ease your symptoms. Exercise in the early morning, and make sure you shower at night to wash all the pollen off. We also keep our windows and doors closed to keep the pollen out. 

There is another story on the CBS website where Dr. Neeta Ogden, an Adult and Pediatric Allergy and Immunologist, talks about people downplaying their symptoms. Sometimes they say "it's just my allergies" but allergies can cause fatigue, headaches and  difficulty concentrating on tasks. It can affect you at work. Unless someone else at work has allergies, they may not understand how it can really wipe you out. 

If it's really causing problems, go see an allergy specialist. There are a lot of medications on the market that can help. Sometimes if allergy medicine isn't enough, you may want to check into immunotherapy (allergy shots.) You can get weekly shots of tiny doses of what you are allergic to. The idea behind that is that your body will build up an immunity to those things and you won't be so miserable when you are exposed to them next time.  There is an article on Webmd that explains immunotherapy.

If you are an allergy sufferer, just know we are in the same boat you are. In fact, daughter Kitty sneezes so loud, she makes people jump! We visited family this weekend, and Kitty started sneezing. One family member threw her arms up and her eyes flew open. She gave me a panicked look. I said, "It's just Kitty sneezing. She does that all the time. " Kitty then sneezed 3 or 4  more times, all equally as loud.

That reminds me, we are running low on tissues. I better add that to my shopping list!